Basic Rights and Basic Analysis Methods in Civil Law

The core mission of civil law is to legislate for civil rights. In real life, because of the complexity and variety of civil activities and because the types of civil rights are numerous and complex, it is necessary to classify and analyze civil rights in both legislation and judicial practice. A classification analysis of basic types is necessary to provide theoretical guidance for civil legislation and judicial practice to achieve the purpose of unifying legislation and judiciary by type. This type of analysis is also necessary for administrative practice involving civil rights. In China’s civil law theory, the division of personal rights and property rights is the basic type of civil rights. Although this division has the advantage of being easy for the public to understand, it is difficult to provide accurate guidance for judges and judicial and administrative officials to enforce the law because of the various civil rights. In the final analysis, the exercise depends on the true will of the obligee. Whether it is for the administrative management of civil rights or judicial adjudication, it is necessary to make analyses and judgments based on the true intention of the obligee. Therefore, in the division of the basic types of civil rights, the type of legal practice that provides accurate analysis is the theory of the division of civil rights into absolute and relative rights, i.e., the theory of domination and claim rights. Regarding the division of absolute rights and relative rights, i.e., the division of dominance rights and claim rights, the combination of legal theory and legal practice in China is not entirely unknown; however, the civil law theoretical writings that have been in a dominant position for a long time have introduced the theory and practical value of this aspect. In addition, the existing research is not very accurate. This article starts from the relevant historical data, i.e., the origin of the distinction between absolute right and relative right and the distinction between domination and claim rights, combined with the actuality of civil law theory and practice in our country, and makes a comprehensive discussion on the theory in this aspect, with the aim of making up for a major defect in the basic theory of China’s civil law articles for our country.