w88 casino News Network (provided by the Law w88 casino)December 4, 2022 is the ninth National Constitution Day. In order to conscientiously study, publicize and implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Party and promote teachers and students to learn and publicize the Constitution, the w88 casino of Law of the w88 casino held the "Shen-Feng" Legal Famous Lecture and a special academic lecture on the 40th anniversary of the promulgation and implementation of my country's current Constitution. Professor Wang Lei, vice president of the Constitutional Studies Research Association of the China Law Society and Peking University Law w88 casino, was specially invited to give a lecture on "The Spirit of the Constitution". Professor Wang Jingbo, Vice President of the w88 casino, Professor Mei Xiaying, Dean of the Law w88 casino, Professor Zheng Yafang, Vice President of the Foreign Rule of Law Institute, Professor Li Weigang, Associate Professor Zheng Haiping, and Associate Professor Kong Xiangwen of the Law w88 casino served as the panellists. Teachers and students of the w88 casino and more than 10,000 online viewers attended this lecture. The lecture was hosted by Assistant Professor Man Yishan of the Law w88 casino.
At the beginning of the lecture, Assistant Professor Man Yishan extended a warm welcome to Professor Wang Lei for coming to the cloud, and introduced the guest speaker and panelists to the audience who participated in the live lecture through Peking University Magic, Tencent Conference, etc.
In this lecture, Professor Wang Lei gave a detailed interpretation of the spirit of the Constitution from four aspects: First, the Constitution is the fundamental law. He pointed out that the Constitution is a fair scale, it is the law of the law, and it represents the highest value judgment of whether it is legal or not. Professor Wang Lei combined with the text of my country's 1982 Constitution to explain in depth why the Constitution is the fundamental law and how to protect the Constitution's fundamental law status.
Second, the Constitution is a human rights protection law. Professor Wang Lei believes that "the taste of the Constitution is sweet." Professor Wang Lei pointed out that from the perspective of citizens, "freedom exists without express provisions of the law" is the basic value orientation of the Constitution, and explained the spirit of human rights protection in our country's constitution from three aspects: the characteristics of the 1982 Constitution, the classification of citizens' basic rights, and the inclusion of human rights in the constitution. Comparing my country's 1982 Constitution with the May 4th Constitution, the 1975 Constitution and the 1978 Constitution, we can find that there are two main points of improvement: first, the position of the chapter on the basic rights of citizens. The 1982 Constitution places the chapter on citizens’ basic rights before the chapter on state institutions, indicating that state power belongs to the people. It also reflects the trend of our country’s constitution to increasingly highlight the status of the people and focus on protecting citizens’ basic rights. Secondly, the content of citizens’ basic rights is richer and more substantial than the previous three constitutions. In March 2004, the 24th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted to write “the state respects and protects human rights” into the constitution.
Third, the constitution is an authorized law. Professor Wang Lei believes that for public power, "prohibition without express provisions in law" is another important value orientation of the Constitution, and discussed this issue in detail from the aspects of people's sovereignty, state power allocation, political power organization form and state structure form.
Fourth, the Constitution is a power-limiting law. Professor Wang Lei combined constitutional reservations, legal reservations, and the principle of proportionality to explain the basic connotation of "locking power in a cage." Professor Wang Lei particularly emphasized that the essence of the principle of proportionality is to weigh interests, which should not only take into account the horizontal configuration of public powers such as legislative power, administrative power, supervisory power, procuratorial power, judicial power, and the power to command the armed forces, but also pay attention to the boundaries between public power and the market, the boundaries between public power and society, and the boundaries between public power and civil liberties. Professor Wang's explanation in simple terms and vivid images comprehensively explained the spirit of our country's constitution.
In the discussion session, Vice President Wang Jingbo combined his own research experience and pointed out that the relationship between the Constitution and administrative law is very close and is the foundation of one's life. As an important instrument of the country, the Constitution plays an important role in national governance and economic development. The spirit of the Constitution can combat people's intolerance. She pointed out that Article 3 of our country’s Constitution provides principled provisions on central-local relations. How to achieve specific regulation of central-local relations on the basis of constitutional provisions is an issue that requires further consideration, especially how to explain the current swings in central policy implementation at local levels. Professor Wang Lei believes that there are two main reasons for this phenomenon. One is the alienation of the relationship between power and responsibility, and the other is the differences in the reality of different regions.
Dean Mei Xiaying said that this lecture gave everyone a special understanding of the function and connotation of the Constitution. Combining his own research in the field of civil law, he pointed out that the constitution has a dual nature: firstly, the constitution is public law, used to solve problems in the operation of power; secondly, the constitution is mother law, which is the basis for the formulation of all laws and is the mother of all laws.
Vice President Zheng Yafang pointed out that the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized legislation and major decision-making procedures in foreign-related fields in "improving the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics with the Constitution as the core". These issues should be further interpreted and studied from a constitutional perspective. He believes that my country's Constitution itself contains elements of openness, and Article 18 of it stipulates foreign enterprises, other economic organizations and individuals. In addition, the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has written major decisions into the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics with the Constitution as the core, indicating that scientific decision-making, decision-making in accordance with the law, and constitutional thinking must be continuously integrated into the major decision-making process.
Professor Li Weigang talked about three thoughts and insights from the perspective of an observer of constitutional phenomena: First, this lecture is titled "The Spirit of the Constitution" and captures the foundation of the construction of the rule of law. Second, the spirit of the Constitution is being turned into practice in a peaceful, rational, and legal manner. Third, we look forward to more positive interactions between the spirit of the Constitution and the practice of the Constitution in the future.
Based on this topic, Associate Professor Zheng Haiping shared his views on the role of courts in the implementation of the Constitution and the relationship between constitutional interpretation and implementation.
Associate Professor Kong Xiangwen believes that the 1982 Constitution has played an important role in building consensus and promoting reform, and has the spiritual temperament of reflection and tolerance. Teacher Kong also pointed out that taking the present as a new starting point, where the 1982 Constitution will "start again" in the future is a question worth thinking about.
Professor Wang Lei’s lecture content was close to the reality of life. Students asked questions enthusiastically, and the atmosphere was very lively. He gave detailed and detailed answers to several representative questions. This lecture allowed faculty, students, and more than 30,000 online viewers to fully grasp the spirit of our country's Constitution and gain a new understanding of the historical significance of the 40 years since the promulgation of the 1982 Constitution. The w88 casino of Law of the w88 casino held this academic dialogue during the fifth "Constitution Publicity Week" to conduct in-depth study, publicity and implementation of the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of my country. It deepened the understanding of the value connotation of "adhering to comprehensive rule of law and promoting the construction of a rule of law in China" in the report of the 20th National Congress, and strengthened the students' belief in our country's Constitution.
