China's top legislature adopted Saturday the nullification of eight laws, including one covering police stations that dates back to 1954, as part of an effort to eliminate redundant, contradictory and obsolete laws.
The laws include those covering police stations, urban neighborhood offices, the use of state-owned wasteland and barren hills by overseas Chinese and the establishment of schools with donations by overseas Chinese, four laws that date back to the 1950s.
The other four laws cover taxation, tax evasion, law implementation inspection and cross-border human trafficking. They have been replaced by or contained in the later laws.
The eight laws are among the first package suggested to be abolished in more than two decades, experts said.
These laws were "not applicable to the current economic and social development, especially to the needs of a socialist market economy," said Li Shishi, director of the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, while briefing lawmakers on Monday.
The top legislature started streamlining laws last July and "has offered 1,972 clearing-up advisories about more than 200 laws," Li said.
As of June 26, 2008, China had 229 laws, with categories including the Constitution, civil and commercial law, administrative and economic law and criminal law, among others.
"Some laws are not consistent with each other, while some laws are not feasible or are hard to enforce through state power," Li said.
Zhou Wangsheng of the Beijing University Law School said a mature legal system needed to take obsolete laws off the books.
Han Deyun, director of the Suotong Law Office in southwestern Chongqing Municipality, said although China's legal system had taken shape, some laws were poorly formulated or not feasible.
"Clearing up laws should be a priority" for legislators, Han said.
The top legislature announced the nullification of 111 laws in 1987 in a comprehensive overhaul of laws passed between 1949 and 1978. The State Council, or cabinet, has conducted 10 overhauls of regulations since the reform and opening-up drive began in 1978.
The ninth session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress ended its six-day, bi-monthly session Saturday.