The eighth lecture in the series of academic lectures of "Legal History Lecture Hall" sponsored by China Institute of Legal History was held online on the afternoon of September 18th, 2023. The lecture, which took "Historical Characteristics of the Development of the Legal System of the Community of the Chinese Nation” as its theme, was given by Xu Xiaoguang, a distinguished professor at the Law School of Jiangsu Normal University, and presided over by Professor Wang Shirong from the Northwest University of Politics and Law. Professor Yu Zhaofei from Shen Junru Law School of Hangzhou Normal University and Professor Nanjie Longyingqiang from Jiangsu Normal University Law School spoke as guest speakers. More than 70 people, including experts, scholars, teachers and students from universities and research institutes all over the country, attended the lecture.
Professor Xu Xiaoguang pointed out at the beginning of the lecture that China has been a unified multi-ethnic nation since ancient times and the legal systems of ethnic minorities and the legal system of Han nationality had gone through thousands of years of development, which was inseparable from the long-term exchanges between and blending of ethnic groups in history. From this point of view, he discussed the main characteristics of the development of the legal systems of ethnic minorities in China from the following perspectives:
First, the exchanges between and blending of ethnic groups as the main line of development of legal systems. Second, the leap-forward development of the legal systems of ethnic minorities by drawing on and introducing the Han culture. Third, realizing the development of law in the process of "tempering justice with mercy" and “handling affairs according to their own customs”. And fourth, unity of legal systems and "national autonomy".
Finally, through specific laws and cases, he demonstrated that the cultural blending of all ethnic groups was completed through the coordinated settlement of conflicts and contradictions, and legal rights also became gradually clear in the conflicts and their resolutions.
At the end of the lecture, Professor Xu Xiaoguang stressed that the pattern of pluralistic and integrated development of the legal systems of all ethnic groups in China determined that the legal history of ethnic minorities was an integral part of Chinese legal history, and the "Chinese legal system" is the product of long-term blending of legal thoughts, legal consciousness, legal principles and legal systems of all ethnic groups with Han nationality as the main body.
