Caposaldi romanistici nei principi generali del Codice civile cinese 2020
Abstract
The study of the general principles of the recent Chinese Civil Code illustrates the
presence of a systematic Euroromanist approach which, by inserting these principles in the initial
and general part of the legislative body, does not confine them there, but elevates them to
fundamental elements of the entire system. Furthermore, the connection with Roman law emerges,
in a manifest and substantial way, from the recognition of Roman law cornerstones in these general
principles. Through the diachronic comparison to the law of ancient Rome, three fundamental
elements of Roman private law are depicted – aequitas, bona fides and freedom of contract – and,
thus, the presence of Roman law roots within Chinese civil law is highlighted. The Chinese Civil
Code 2020 therefore seems to definitively affirm the belonging of the Sinic civil law system to the
Romanist tradition. Indeed, albeit flanked by the existence of contributions from other legal models
and by "typically Chinese" elements, the influence of the continental-Romanist model seems
evident as well as the persistence of Roman law as a living juridical point of reference.