2020 (in force 2021) · Civil codes

Civil Code of the People's Republic of China

China

China's first Civil Code, which brings together earlier laws on property, contracts, torts, family and inheritance, with a General Part at the front.

Why it matters

It is one of the largest codification projects of recent times. Its structure, a General Part and then separate parts, follows the German tradition.

Built on

1896 (in force 1900)

German Civil Code (BGB)

Germany

uses a German-style General Part and structure

1999

Contract Law of the People's Republic of China

China

took the Contract Law as its contract part

Went on to shape

No later text on this timeline is recorded as built on it.

Countries in the Legal Families Atlas

China

Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

TheLawToKnow Tools’s timeline lists links of influence only where the borrowing is widely documented. Historians sometimes disagree about how much one text shaped another. It is an educational overview, not legal advice.