The lasting influence of Portuguese civil procedural law in China

2024 marked the 25th anniversary of Macau’s Code of Civil Procedure, drawn up under the Portuguese administration of a Chinese territory which, since Macau’s reunification with China, has been a Special Administrative Region.

Although adapted to the reality of Macau (in particular by enshrining bilingualism in proceedings and shaping the rules on jurisdiction to the organisational structure of Macau’s courts), and showing the influence of the local culture (for instance, in not importing recent legislative changes in Portugal) and of Chinese culture (for example, in avoiding any terminology that might touch on the sovereignty of Macau), the code derives from a Portuguese cultural model, and adopts the same principles and general features of the rules established by the Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure, in the version in force in Macau in 1999.

Since then, the Code has undergone few changes, in line with the commitments made in the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the provisions of the MSAR Basic Law.

Changes to the Code continue to show the influence of Portuguese legislation, which might be due to the continued existence in Macau’s political structure and legal profession of a small Portuguese community, to the teaching of Macanese Law at a local university and the possible common ground (requiring further study) between the cultures of Portugal, China and Macau, on matters relevant to the design of a civil procedural model.