Albert HY Chen (陳弘毅) was born in and grew up in Hong Kong. He graduated from the Bachelor of Laws programme of the University of Hong Kong in 1980, and obtained the Postgraduate Certificate in Laws there in 1981. He then undertook postgraduate study in comparative law and theories of law and development at Harvard University, and was awarded the Master of Laws in 1982. Between 1982 and 1984 he worked in a solicitors' firm in Hong Kong; in 1984 he became qualified to practise as a solicitor in Hong Kong. In the same year he began his academic career as a Lecturer in Law at the University of Hong Kong. He served as Head of the Department of Law in 1993-96 and as Dean of the Faculty of Law in 1996-2002. He is currently the Chan Professor in Constitutional Law in the Department of Law. He has taught the subjects of legal system and legal method, constitutional law, administrative law, law and society, jurisprudence, the legal system of the People's Republic of China, research methodology, and the use of Chinese in law. In addition to the present work and over 150 journal articles and book chapters in English and Chinese, Professor Chen is currently a member of the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee under the Standing Committee of China?s National People's Congress, a member of the Strategic Development Commission of the Hong Kong Government, and a Justice of the Peace. He is an honorary professor at several universities in mainland China, and a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Institute of Law of the Academia Sinica, Taipei. He is also Associate Editor of Hong Kong Law Journal, and a member of the editorial or advisory boards of several journals published in Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, and overseas, including China Review, Journal of Comparative Law, Transnational Legal Theory, National Taiwan University Law Review, and Hong Kong Journal of Social Sciences.

The first edition of this book, which appeared in 1992, was one of the first books in the English language on the Chinese legal system written from a comparative jurisprudential perspective. This fourth edition now provides an up-to-date account of this system's history, constitutional structure, sources of law, major legal institutions (such as the courts, the procuratorates, the legal profession and the Ministry of Justice), as well as the basic concepts and principles of procedural and substantive law.

As China's economic and political importance in the twenty-first century world continues to grow, the international community has become increasingly interested in China's legal framework. This book enables readers to have a comprehensive and systematic overview of the historical background to the thinking behind and the current situation of China's legal development. It draws on a wide range of materials in Chinese and English, and also provides guidance on sources of information for further research.