Evaluation (Legal aspect)

• The establishment of modernized legal systems:

  • The Late Qing Reform also covered the modernization of legal systems.
  • The Company Law, copied from the Western model, was enacted in 1904.
  • It gave legal recognition to the independence of business from politics.
• The establishment of modernized legal systems:

  • A Draft Commercial Law was promulgated in 1910.
  • Moreover, a new criminal law was adopted.
  • It abolished torture and corporal punishment, and implemented individual responsibility.
• The establishment of modernized legal systems:

  • These measures were generally accepted by the foreign powers, and paved way for the cancellation of extraterritoriality in China.
  • They also became the foundation of legislation for the Republic of China.