Huang Wenyi: Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law Scientifically Guides the Construction of Legal Professional Ethics
The construction of legal professional ethics is a foundational project for the development of the legal workforce and the building of a legal professional community; it directly influences the quality and level of national rule of law development. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that "in comprehensively advancing the law-based governance of the country, it is of vital importance to build a high-quality legal workforce possessing both professional competence and moral integrity," requiring us to "adhere to the guidance of Marxist legal thought and the theory of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, foster virtue through education, cultivate both moral integrity and legal proficiency, and train a large number of high-quality legal talents." Every profession exercises corresponding specialized duties, and professional ethics consist of the moral standards and codes of conduct that must be followed in the exercise of those duties. Compared to other professions, the legal professional group exercises important responsibilities such as legislation, law enforcement, and the administration of justice; consequently, it requires the establishment of stricter and higher standards of professional ethics. Centering on major theoretical and practical issues in the construction of legal professional ethics in our country, Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law has put forward a series of original, landmark new ideas, viewpoints, and judgments. These provide the fundamental guidance for improving the knowledge system of legal professional ethics and building a discourse system of legal professional ethics with Chinese characteristics, scientifically guiding the development of legal professional ethics in our country.
Upholding Party leadership over the construction of legal professional ethics to lead the way toward a new horizon. The leadership of the Communist Party of China is the soul of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics and represents the greatest difference between our country's rule of law and that of Western capitalist countries. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "The Party's leadership must be implemented throughout the entire process and in all aspects of the law-based governance of the country." Upholding Party leadership over the construction of legal professional ethics is an inherent requirement of implementing the Party's leadership throughout the entire process of building the legal workforce. The legal workforce in New China [1] was established under the leadership of the Party and has flourished under the leadership of the Party. An important component of the Party’s management of legal workforce development is leading the construction of legal professional ethics, establishing the principles and policies for such construction, deciding on major matters, and formulating the basic norms of legal professional ethics.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has strengthened leadership over the construction of legal professional ethics, making a series of top-level designs and strategic deployments, leading the construction of legal professional ethics to open a new horizon. First, it has scientifically proposed the requirements and goals for building legal professional ethics. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must educate and guide personnel in legislation, law enforcement, and the judiciary to firmly establish the concept of socialist rule of law and abide by professional ethics in accordance with the requirements of being politically steadfast, professionally competent, responsible, disciplined, and upright in conduct, ensuring they remain loyal to the Party, the country, the people, and the law." The Plan for Building the Rule of Law in China (2020–2025) proposed: "Firmly grasp the general requirement of loyalty to the Party, the country, the people, and the law; vigorously improve the ideological and political quality, professional work capacity, and professional ethical standards of the legal workforce; and strive to build a high-quality legal workforce with both moral integrity and professional competence." These "Four Loyalties" embody the organic unity of the political and legal nature, as well as the people-centered and professional nature, of our country’s legal professional ethics; they apply not only to specialized legal teams but also to the legal service workforce. Second, it has systematically proposed basic ethical norms for various legal professions. Establishing legal professional ethics in the form of Party policy documents is a distinctive feature of our country's legal professional ethics construction. A very important aspect of the Party’s management of the legal workforce is formulating professional codes of conduct. Important documents such as the Opinions on Strengthening the Development of the Political and Legal Workforce Under New Circumstances issued by the CPC Central Committee, as well as the Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Lawyer System and Opinions on Strengthening Legal Education and Theoretical Research in the New Era issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, have clearly put forward the basic professional ethical norms for the political and legal workforce, the lawyer workforce, and the ranks of legal scholars.
Adhering to the fundamental position of serving the people and unequivocally establishing the "people-centered nature" as the fundamental attribute of the legal profession. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The name of our country and the names of our state organs at all levels are all prefaced with 'People'; this is the basic positioning of our Chinese socialist state power." "We must always persist in being people-centered, ensuring that the rule of law is for the people, relies on the people, benefits the people, and protects the people. We must implement the embodiment of people's interests, the reflection of people's wishes, the protection of people's rights, and the improvement of people's well-being throughout the entire process of building the legal system." The legal profession is usually understood as a public profession and should possess a public spirit of serving the public. Most legal professions in our country are prefaced with the title "People," such as people's judges, people's procurators, people's police, and people's lawyers. Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law adheres to a people-centered approach, profoundly revealing the "people-centered nature" of legal institutions and the legal profession in a socialist country, and establishing the fundamental position of serving the people.
Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law systematically discusses adhering to a people-centered approach in legislation, law enforcement, justice, and legal services, establishing the basic ethical standards for the legal profession to serve the people. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "For the professional conscience of political and legal organs, the most important thing is law enforcement for the people"; "Strive to let the people feel fairness and justice in every legal system, every law enforcement decision, and every judicial case"; and "Build a modern public legal service system covering both urban and rural areas." The legislative workforce must abide by the concepts of putting the people first and legislating for the people, integrating the extensive investigation of popular sentiment, the broad acceptance of the people's will, and the pooling of the people's wisdom into the entire legislative process, so that legislation fully reflects the people's will, protects the people's interests, and wins the people's support. The law enforcement workforce must persist in law enforcement for the people, systematically study and solve the prominent problems strongly reflected by the masses, improve the level of strict, standardized, fair, and civilized law enforcement, and continuously enhance the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security. The judicial workforce must persist in "people's justice for the people," accelerate the construction of a fair, efficient, and authoritative socialist judicial system, and continuously improve judicial quality, efficiency, and credibility, allowing the sunshine of fairness and justice to shine into the hearts of the people. The legal service workforce must center on better meeting the people's needs for a better life, accelerate the construction of a public legal service system covering urban and rural areas, and ensure the people truly feel that legal services are by their side.
Adhering to the comprehensive and strict governance of the police to clarify the stricter standards and higher requirements for the professional ethics of the political and legal workforce. Many countries in the world have strict regulations on the contact and interaction between lawyers, judges, and procurators, strictly forbidding private meetings and prohibiting them from entering hotels or entertainment venues together, or even sharing an elevator. In our country, documents such as the Provisions on Recording and Accountability for Internal Personnel of Judicial Organs Intervening in Cases and the Several Provisions on Further Regulating the Contact and Interaction Between Judicial Personnel and Litigants, Lawyers, Persons with Special Relationships, and Intermediary Organizations have established professional ethical standards for judicial personnel in handling internal and external relationships.
Among all legal professions, the professional ethical standards of the political and legal workforce [2], which bears the responsibilities of law enforcement and justice, should be stricter and higher. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "For such a large workforce of over three million people, who hold great power in their hands and face many tests and temptations, the strict governance of the police cannot be relaxed for a moment." Comprehensively and strictly governing the police is the discursive expression of the professional ethical practice of our country's political and legal workforce, reflecting the stricter standards and higher requirements of its ethical construction. To highlight the extraordinary strictness and severity of these ethics, political and legal practice in our country typically uses terms such as "iron rules and prohibitions" and "iron discipline" to describe political and legal professional ethics. In recent years, relevant departments have also issued documents such as the List of Prohibited Businesses for Close Relatives of People's Court Personnel, the List of Prohibited Businesses for Spouses and Children of Procuratorial Personnel and Their Spouses, and the Opinions on Further Regulating the Practice of Law by Personnel Departing from Courts and Procuratorates. These have clarified iron rules and prohibitions regarding post-employment restrictions and business prohibitions for close relatives of political and legal cadres and police [3], building a corruption-proof wall for the workforce. Under the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, our country's political and legal organs have persevered in strengthening the construction of discipline and style, improving "iron rules and prohibitions," building long-term mechanisms for rectifying conduct and enforcing discipline, and creating a high-quality political and legal workforce that is loyal, clean, and responsible.
Insisting on placing the construction of political ethics in an important position, highlighting its extreme importance to legal professional ethics. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Work related to the rule of law is professional work with a strong political nature, and also political work with a strong professional nature." Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law unequivocally puts forward the political ethical standards of the legal profession and places political ethics at the forefront of legal professional ethics construction.
Firm ideal convictions and strict political discipline are the concentrated embodiment of the political ethics of the political and legal workforce. Firm ideal convictions are the political soul of this workforce. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Education in ideal convictions must be placed first in the development of the political and legal workforce to continuously solidify the ideological foundation of upholding the flag, following the Party's command, and being loyal to the mission. We must insist on the supremacy of the Party's cause, the people's interests, and the Constitution and laws, forging an 'indestructible golden body' [4] and perpetually maintaining the political character of loyalty to the Party, the country, the people, and the law." The nature of political and legal work dictates that the workforce must maintain strict discipline. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Political discipline is the most important and fundamental discipline; the political and legal workforce must always hold the bottom line of political discipline." This workforce must engrave discipline into their souls and fuse it into their blood, using iron discipline to forge a "political and legal iron army."
Upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China and upholding our country's socialist rule of law are the fundamental political ethical requirements for the legal service workforce. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must take upholding the leadership of the CPC and upholding our country's socialist rule of law as the basic requirements for legal service personnel. We must strengthen education, management, and guidance to lead legal service workers in adhering to the correct political direction, practicing in accordance with laws and regulations in good faith, earnestly fulfilling social responsibilities, and devoting themselves with full enthusiasm to the construction of a socialist country under the rule of law." Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, our country's legal service workforce has insisted on placing political ethics first, comprehensively strengthening ideological and political construction, and effectively enhancing the consciousness and firmness of following the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. For example, the Measures for the Administration of Lawyers' Practice as revised in 2016 established "upholding the leadership of the CPC and upholding socialist rule of law" as a basic requirement for practicing law. It also established requirements such as "shall not publish or disseminate remarks that negate the fundamental political system and basic principles established by the Constitution or endanger national security" as vocational codes of conduct. This has further strengthened political guidance for the lawyer workforce and is an effective measure to promote the high-quality development of the legal profession.
Insisting on improving the system of legal professional ethical norms to provide a strong institutional guarantee for their construction. The system of legal professional ethical norms in our country is composed of various forms including national laws and regulations, rules and orders from competent departments, and regulations and systems of industry associations. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Some law enforcement and judicial personnel hold great power but do not respect themselves, taking bribes and perverting the law for personal gain, handling 'money cases,' 'power cases,' and 'favor cases,' which seriously damages the authority of the rule of law. We must formulate and improve iron rules, prohibitions, and disciplinary regulations, using systems to manage key personnel, key points, and key matters." Only by building a scientifically sound and comprehensive system of legal professional ethical norms can the behavior of the legal professional group be effectively constrained.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, an important achievement in the construction of our country's legal workforce has been the insistence on Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law as guidance to formulate and revise a series of documents related to legal professional ethics, powerfully promoting the improvement of the norm system. First, a batch of new normative documents concerning legal professional ethics has been issued. For example, the "Ten Strict Prohibitions" for political and legal cadres and police in the New Era, jointly issued by six departments including the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission in 2022, demarcated the bottom lines and red lines of professional ethics in the form of iron rules and prohibitions. Second, a batch of laws and regulations concerning the management of the legal profession has been revised and improved, with legal professional ethical norms and systems added or updated. For example, the Judges Law and Procurators Law as revised in 2019 stipulate the professional ethical norms for judges and procurators, such as diligence and responsibility, integrity and honesty, taking facts as the basis and law as the criterion, and maintaining an objective and fair stance. They also improved implementation systems for professional ethics, such as the recusal system for appointments.
Insisting on integrating legal professional ethics education throughout the entire process of cultivating legal talents, guiding legal workers to internalize legal professional ethics in their hearts and externalize them in their actions.
Legal professional ethics education plays a vital role in the cultivation of rule of law personnel and must permeate the entire process of higher education in law and on-the-job training. During his 2017 inspection of the China University of Political Science and Law, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Legal education must persist in fostering virtue through education [5]; it must not only improve students' level of legal knowledge but also cultivate their ideological and moral character." The vast number of law students must cultivate both virtue and law [6], combine clear understanding of the law with resolute practice, lay a solid foundation of legal knowledge, strengthen their moral cultivation, and foster a spirit of the rule of law. The National Standards for the Quality of Teaching in Undergraduate Law Programs, issued by the Ministry of Education in 2018, listed the "Legal Professional Ethics" course as a core compulsory course for law majors. At present, law schools generally offer legal professional ethics courses and place legal professional ethics education in a prominent position, integrating it into all processes and aspects of law teaching. This guides law students to keep professional codes in mind and moral laws in their hearts, ensuring they "button the first button" [7] of their professional careers correctly.
Legal professional ethics education is a compulsory course for the on-the-job training of the rule of law work force. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must make the strengthening of impartial and clean professional ethics a compulsory course, educating and guiding the vast number of officers and personnel to consciously restrain themselves with professional ethics. They must realize that partiality and corruption are the greatest shames. They should achieve 'zero tolerance' toward things the masses abhor and 'zero negligence' toward things the masses urgently need and expect, establishing a noble spirit of punishing evil, promoting good, and enforcing the law as immutably as a mountain." "We must strengthen discipline education and improve discipline execution mechanisms, using discipline to regulate behavior, restrain officers and personnel, and protect cadres. We should guide the vast number of officers and personnel to engrave observance of discipline into their souls and forge it into their blood, creating an 'iron' political and legal affairs [8] team through 'iron' discipline." It must be recognized that occurrences of injustice in law enforcement and judicial corruption often stem from the collapse of the professional ethics and disciplinary defenses of law enforcement and judicial personnel. Rule of law departments must take legal professional ethics education as a key component of on-the-job training, integrating it into the entire process of strengthening the discipline and work style [9] of the rule of law work force. This guides practitioners to internalize legal professional ethics in the mind and externalize them in action, always holding the ethical bottom line.
Persisting in the strict implementation of legal professional ethics demonstrates the distinct practicality of legal professional ethics construction
The strictness of China’s legal professional ethics is reflected not only in their formulation but, more importantly, in their implementation. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The vitality of a system lies in its execution; having a system without strict execution will lead to a 'broken windows effect.'" Strict implementation of legal professional ethics is a fundamental requirement for defending the authority and binding force of the legal professional system.
Legal professionals who understand the discipline yet violate it, or who know the law yet break it, should be subject to severe legal and disciplinary sanctions. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Isolation walls must be set up and 'high-voltage wires' [10] connected at every stage of law enforcement and case handling. Whoever violates the system must be given the most severe punishment, and those whose actions constitute a crime must be held criminally responsible according to the law." For acts by legal professionals that violate professional ethics, we must use heavy canons and administer heavy punishments [11]. This increases the cost of violating legal professional ethics, ensuring that practitioners dare not, will not, and do not think of violating them. Corruption in law enforcement and justice within the political and legal affairs team not only seriously violates legal professional ethics but also severely infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of the masses. Taking a clear-cut stand against corruption is a decisive battle that the political and legal affairs front must win. Political and legal affairs organs should have the courage to "turn the blade inward" [12] and "scrape the poison off the bone" [13], removing corruption in the political and legal fields with the firmest will and most resolute action, and resolutely purging the "black sheep" from the team. Regarding the violation of discipline and law by political and legal officers and personnel, we must always maintain "zero tolerance." Whether it is a "tiger" or a "fly," whether it is a "protective umbrella" for underworld and evil forces or "micro-corruption" occurring at the side of the masses, all must be seriously investigated and handled according to discipline and law.
Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law scientifically answers major questions such as the leading force, fundamental position, general requirements, basic standards, primary tasks, regulatory systems, ethical education, and ethical implementation of legal professional ethics construction. It is the guiding ideology and fundamental follow-on for the construction of legal professional ethics in our country. We must deeply study and resolutely practice General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on the construction of legal professional ethics, compose a new chapter for China’s legal professional ethics construction, and contribute Chinese wisdom to the construction of legal professional ethics globally.