| The litigation archives of “The Main Hall of Ziyang County” preserved by Shaanxi Provincial Archives are records of land dispute cases brought by the parties to the governments in the Qing Dynasty. The land transaction norms presented in these archives include: “the landlord determines the transaction”, the transaction should be “clearly priced” and “no dispute over purchase afterwards”. These norms standardized trading activities and corroborated with laws, customs and judicial precedents at the levels of the initiation, the procedure and the result of transaction. Through the petitions of both parties, the government's judgments and its statement in the judgments, land transaction norms had been continuously strengthened and followed by parties, governments and villagers. Transaction norms regulated not only trading activities, but also litigation procedures and adjudicative results and, as such, were generally recognized by members of society. The private law ideas embodied in these land transaction norms include: respecting the will of the selling party, guaranteeing the freedom of transaction, facilitating the transfer of property, reducing transaction costs, preventing and reducing disputes, maintaining the stability of transactions, promoting the keeping of promises and optimizing the trading environment. Land transaction norms also embodied the balancing the interests of both parties, indicating that the Chinese private law culture is endogenous to its sources, and China should attach great importance to its creative transformation and innovative development. |
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