The application and development of law beyond family law is not only feasible but also indispensable. Certain norms of the General Part and other special parts of the Chinese Civil Code are directly applicable to family relations. The formal unified force of the norms of the General Part is, in principle, limited to property relations between family members. In the case of pure family relations, it is unnecessary to exclude the application of the norms of the General Part as a prerequisite for determining an open gap, but it is necessary to make a substantive comparison between the appropriateness of applying the norms of the General Part and the appropriateness of law development within family law. In the case of property relations between family members, the judge needs to argue for limiting the application of the norms of the General Part before considering the question of the development of the law within family law. Where the elements of both the family law norm and the norm of another special part are met, the former usually constitutes lex specialis. The latter may also constitute lex specialis based on special considerations of the purpose of the norm. In the absence of special provisions in family law, the judge is likewise obliged to make a teleological reduction argument in respect of the related norm in other special parts before considering the question of the development of the law within family law. Since the external analogy stipulated by law regarding family relations is an abstract analogy, the burden of argumentation on the judge is largely equivalent to that of the analogy by the judge. Because of the relative independence of the internal system of family law, priority is given to the internal development of the law over the external analogy stipulated by law and law development in principle. The determination of the sequence between the application and the development of the law within and beyond family law ultimately relies on teleological considerations. |