The 19th National Congress is an important milestone in the implementation of the Constitution of our country

Source: Special Commentator of Legal Network

December 4th this year is our country’s fourth National Constitution Day. The establishment of the Constitution Day is of great significance for enhancing the constitutional awareness of the whole society, promoting the spirit of the constitution, and comprehensively promoting the rule of law and the rule of the country according to the constitution. Of course, if the ideals and spirit of the constitution really take root in people's hearts, it still depends on the effective implementation of the constitutional provisions in social life. The Communist Party of China has always attached great importance to the construction of the rule of law and plays an important leading role in the implementation of the Constitution. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of my country put forward many measures, which provided guarantees for the implementation of the Constitution at the system and ideological levels, and was an important milestone on the road of constitutional governance in my country.

First of all, the constitutional review system is an important prerequisite for the implementation of the constitution. In order to promote the implementation of the Constitution, most countries in the world have established a constitutional review system that suits their own national conditions, and through a set of effective mechanisms to correct normative documents that violate the Constitution and specific behaviors that violate the Constitution. In his report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly proposed to promote constitutional review. This is the first time that the Chinese Communist Party has introduced the concept of "constitutional review" in the party's authoritative documents. With the improvement of the constitutional review system, the "teeth" of the constitution become sharper, and the life and authority of the constitution can be better protected.

Secondly, the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party is the political guarantee for the implementation of the Constitution. The leadership of the party, the people being the masters of the country, and the rule of law are a unified whole. The Communist Party of China is the representative of the people's interests. The Constitution and laws are formulated by the party under the leadership of the people. Its fundamental purpose is to protect the basic rights of citizens, and the basic rights are the manifestations of the people's interests at the constitution and legal level. Therefore, the core of improving the socialist rule of law lies in the leadership of the party, and strengthening the leadership of the party can effectively promote the implementation of the basic rights clauses in the constitution. It should be noted that although the constitution and laws are formulated by the party under the leadership of the people, the party must operate within the scope of the constitution and laws, and only the ruling party takes the lead in observing and implementing the constitution, and other parties, organizations and the masses It will act and implement the Constitution consciously. This point was also put forward as a key content in the report of the 19th CPC National Congress.

Third, citizens’ constitutional awareness is the ideological condition for the implementation of the constitution. The implementation of the constitution is the condition for the generation of citizens' constitution and legal consciousness. The citizens' constitution and legal consciousness also have an active reaction to the implementation of the constitution, and the two promote each other and are the prerequisite for each other. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that it is necessary to intensify the popularization of civil laws, build a socialist rule of law culture, and establish the rule of law that the constitution and the law are supreme and that everyone is equal before the law. Only by strengthening citizens’ awareness of the constitution and laws can we create a social environment that abides by the constitution and laws, and a good law-abiding environment will also strengthen citizens’ awareness of abiding by the constitution and laws.

Fourth, the supervision of the public power of the state is a means of implementing the Constitution. An important mission of the Constitution is to protect the basic rights of citizens by controlling the public power of the country. On the one hand, the Constitution sets limits for the exercise of public powers of the state and prevents them from wantonly trampling on the rights of citizens. On the other hand, it stipulates the positive obligations of public powers of the state to protect the basic rights of citizens. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that no organization or individual shall have the privilege to exceed the constitutional law, and it is never allowed to use words to replace the law, use power to suppress the law, pursue profit and violate the law, or pervert the law for personal gain. Regarding the exercise of public power of the state, "no law is forbidden", the exercise of any power must be based on the authorization of the law, and there is no power beyond the constitution and laws.

Fifth, upholding the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics is the direction for the implementation of the Constitution. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that China must adhere to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The formulation and implementation of the Chinese Constitution is a core component of the socialist road with Chinese characteristics. Due to different national conditions, no country has the same constitutional system and its implementation. In the process of implementing the constitution, China was influenced by Western legal thoughts. Some constitutional concepts that were not in line with China’s actual conditions were introduced. Some scholars even used Western standards and Western constitutional theories to evaluate and resolve China’s constitutional issues without discrimination. . However, China is a socialist country, and China's fundamental political system and basic political system are different from Western countries. This actual situation determines the uniqueness of the implementation of the Chinese Constitution and the incomplete duplication of Western experience. Therefore, in the process of implementing the constitution, we must pay attention to the summary of China's constitution implementation experience and reflection on China's own problems, and then make necessary system innovations in accordance with China's specific national conditions.