Normative oder semantische Verfassung? Der Diskurs in der Volksrepublik China um die Vereinbarkeit des Sachenrechtsgesetzes mit der Verfassung

Before the adoption of the Chinese Property Rights Law in March 2007, Chinese scholars of private law and constitutional law engaged in a debate on the constitutionality of the draft of the Property Rights Law. The article explores the constitutional discourse articularly in view of the Constitution's binding force in relation to the legislature. This approach differs from other studies which focus on the application of constitutional provisions by the judiciary in order to determine the normative character of the Chinese Constitution. Eventually, the results of the analysis are used to substantiate the notion of the 'socialist rule-of-law state' which was inserted into the Constitution by the 1999 amendment.