Zhu Yan

　　Law School, Renmin University of China

　　Abstract:The civil law system is divided into an internal and an external system. The value orientation of the internal system guides the external system, whose components (concepts, norms and institutions) serve as a vehicle for the internal system. As the social foundation changes, the internal system of modern civil law has developed such basic principles as private autonomy, protection of the disadvantaged, protection of reliance interests and selfliability, principles that have permeated into the concepts, norms and institutions of the external system. The formulation of the Chinese civil code should take into account the foundations of Chinese society and give due weight to the construction of a dual system of civil law. By defining “person” in civil law, clarifying the expression of the internal and external systems in both the law of real rights and the law of obligations, and examining flaws in specific branches of civil law, we hope to advance the formulation of China’s civil code.

　　Keywords: internal system of civil law, external system of civil law, social transformation