This book examines the relationship between law and China's economic and human development. It explores the development of the Chinese legal system both from China's historical perspective considering the specific political and socioeconomic factors that are shaping Chinese law and from a comparative perspective, exploring the interaction between China and the rest of the world. It considers the both the linkages between the formal law and China's economic development, and issues of law, human rights, and social justice as they relate to economic and human development.

1. Introduction, Guanghua Yu 2. A Tale of Two Chinese Courts: Economic Development and Contract Enforcement, Xin He 3. Economic Institutions and Firm Behavior and Performance in China: Did Institutions Matter and How Did They Come into Being?, Julan Du, Yi Lu and Zhigang Tao 4. Contract Enforcement in China: Theory and Evidence, Guanghua Yu 5. What Are Property Rights Good For? Insights from the Chinese Experience, Frank Upham 6.From Economic Development to Human Flourishing: China's Evolving - but Limited - Engagement with International Human Rights Law and Norms, Jacques deLisle 7. Human Rights for Human Development: The Rhetoric and the Reality, Dan Banik 8. China and the Jasmine Revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa, Randall Peerenboom 9. Embedded Socio-Legal Activism: The Case of Yirenping, Hualing Fu 10. Economic Development, Environmental Preservation and International Policy Learning In China: Venturing Beyond Transnational Legal Process Theory, Roda Mushkat 11. Social Justice and Intellectual Property Protection in China, Haochen Sun