Page:Stanley Kuhl Hornbeck - The Situation in China (1927).djvu/15

 extraterritorial system; also, suggestions with regard to the removal of abuses while the system continues in existence. Among other things, they have pointed out that the new codes have not been put into effect by legally prescribed processes, that some have not been put into effect at all, that some are not yet completed, and that the work of preparing some has not even been begun.

This whole problem of legal reform in China is one which presents great difficulties. Chinese conceptions of law, justice, punishment, etc., differ radically at some points from those of the Occident. Even among nations in the Occident, there are substantial differences. Yet the effort is being made to produce in and for China a body of laws which will meet with the approval of all of the important Treaty Powers. China's new codes are being based principally upon French and German models or Japanese adaptations thereof. The inevitable result has been and will be that the codes contain many provisions which are not an outgrowth of Chinese thought and experience, which are inconsistent with Chinese conceptions, and which will run counter to traditional Chinese habits and practices. If China's new laws satisfy the foreigners, will they be suited to the Chinese? If they are suited to the Chinese, will they satisfy the foreigners? Can there be produced a system of law which, both as to regulations and administration, can be applied equally, with justice and with satisfaction, to the Chinese people and to the nationals of some twenty foreign Powers who reside, travel and do business in China?