(5) Private Property.

Since the reform and opening up, the economy has been developing rapidly, the people's living standards have continued to improve, and private property has been increasing with each passing day. Effective protection of private property of citizens is not only stipulated by the Constitution and is what the Party stands for, but also the general aspiration and urgent demand of the people. The draft property law stipulates, "Individual persons shall be entitled to enjoy ownership of such immovables and movables as their lawful incomes, houses, articles for daily use, means of production and raw materials." "Lawful deposits and investments of individual persons and the gains derived from their investments shall be protected by law." "In accordance with the provisions of law, the State protects the rights of individual persons to inheritance and their other lawful rights and interests." "The lawful property of individual persons shall be protected by law, and illegally taking possession, looting and destruction of such property by any unit or individual is prohibited." These stipulations serve to further improve the legal system for protection of private property and are conducive to stimulating people's initiative to create and accumulate wealth and to promote social harmony.

Along with the reform of the housing system, more and more urban residents have come to possess their own houses, the bulk of which are in residential districts, therefore, the condominium right has become an important right in the individual persons' rights to immovables. Proceeding from the purpose of maintaining the lawful rights and interests of the owners of buildings, the draft property law explicitly stipulates that the owners shall enjoy ownership over the special parts within a building, such as the residential units and the units for business purposes, and enjoy the right of sharing and jointly managing the common parts other than the special parts, such as the public facilities like the lifts and public places like the greens. Moreover, the draft has also made stipulations governing such matters as ownership of the garages and parking lots, the functions of the owners' committee and the relations between the owners and the property services.

(6) Compensation for Expropriation.

Expropriation of collective- owned land and the houses of urban and rural residents has a bearing on the immediate interests of the people and is a general concern of the society.

As it is, China is a country with a huge population and insufficient cultivated land. At present, the land retained for cultivation throughout the country only totals 1.83 billion mu (or 122 million hectares), with only 1.4 mu (or about 0.0933 hectares) per head, accounting for one-third of the world average level. As is fixed in the Outlines of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan approved at the Fourth Session of the Tenth National People's Congress, by the year 2010, the amount of land retained for cultivation must be kept at 1.8 billion mu (or 120 million hectares), which is a constraint figure, a base line that must not be exceeded. Applying the most strict land administration system and, in particular, effectively protecting the capital farmland are the most urgent and herculean tasks confronting our country today. The draft property law explicitly stipulates, "The State provides special protection for cultivated land through strictly restricting the transformation of land for agriculture into land for construction and keeping under control the total amount of land used for construction. No entity shall expropriate collective-owned land by exceeding the limits of power or in violation of the procedures as provided for by law."

In accordance with the Constitution, the draft property law stipulates that, for public interests, land owned by collectives and the houses and other immovables of the units and individuals may be expropriated within the limits of power and according to the procedures as provided for by law. At the same time, the draft provides for the principles for compensation for expropriations and the specific items to be compensated for.

With respect to the question of expropriation of collective- owned land, the draft property law stipulates, "For expropriation of collective-owned land, such fees shall be paid as compensations for the land expropriated, subsidies for resettlement, compensations for the fixtures and the young crops on land, and the premiums for social security of the farmers whose land is expropriated shall be allocated in full, in order to guarantee their normal lives and safeguard their lawful rights and interests. "This stipulation reflects the principle of the Party and the State that compensation for expropriation of land and for resettlement must be sufficient to guarantee that the living standards of the farmers whose land is expropriated will not be lowered and their livelihood will be ensured for a long time to come. On the question of expropriation of the houses and other immovables of units and individuals, the draft stipulates, "Compensation for resettlement shall be paid to the units and individuals whose houses or other immovables are expropriated, in order to preserve their lawful rights and interests; where the residential unit of an individual is expropriated, his living conditions shall be guaranteed." In view of the unbalanced development of different areas, the specific compensation standards and measures shall be formulated in the relevant laws such as the Land Administration Law in compliance with the principles for compensation and the items to be compensated for, as prescribed in the draft property law, and in light of the specific circumstances.

In view of the fact that in actual life compensations for expropriation are not duly paid and that such compensations are misappropriated, the draft property law expressly stipulates, "No unit or individual shall embezzle, misappropriate, illegally share, withhold or pay in default, the compensations for expropriation or other fees." Any unit or individual that violates this stipulation shall bear legal liability in accordance with law.

In addition, the draft property law contains the following:

One, on the question of correct handling of adjacent relations, the draft made stipulations governing matters that give rise to adjacent relations, such as use of water, drainage, passage, ventilation and light, which will help develop production, provide conveniences in people's lives, protect the rights and interests of the adjacent obligees and promote harmony in the neighborhoods.

Two, on the question of security rights, on the basis of the Guaranty Law, provisions on the property that can be used for providing guaranty are added in the draft, which serves to further improves the guaranty system, in order to promote financing and economic development.

Three, on the question of protection of property, the draft made comprehensive stipulations governing the ways and means of protection of property, and provides that any unit or individual that infringes on the property right shall bear, apart from civil liability, administrative or criminal liability according to law, thus improving the system for protection of property. And four, on the question of possession, the draft mainly provides for the protection of possession and the liability for tort committed by illegal possessors, to maintain public order and protect the lawful rights and interests of the obligees.

(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2007)