Sovereign Power and the Law in China: Zones of Exception in the Criminal Justice System

In China the coexistence of arbitrary detention and a transition towards a rule of law is either seen as an oxymoron, or as an aberration. This book analyses under-researched institutions and practices in China’s criminal justice system, arguing that derogations from the rule of law constitute an organic component of the legal order. Hidden behind the law, there lies sovereign power, a power premised on the choice to handle certain issues through procedures that derogate from rights. This theoretically sophisticated study overcomes the current impasses in analyses of China’s criminal justice. The result is an highly innovative reading of law and legality in the PRC, useful to scholars of contemporary China, mainstream political theorists, philosophers of law and policy makers.

This important book heralds a new chapter in the comparative study of Chinese law and society…it presents and analyses a tremendous wealth of information, above all from contemporary Chinese sources…[the book] provides a new basis for deeper comparisons of the emerging Chinese ‘reforming Leninist’ model with the ‘rule of law’ and its suspension in Western countries. - Magnus Fiskesjoe, Cornell University