Improve the implementation and supervision system of the Constitution (study and implement the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee)

　　The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee is a very important meeting held at the decisive stage of building a well-off society in an all-round way. The plenary session adopted "the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s Decision on Several Major Issues of Comprehensively Promoting the Rule of Law" (hereinafter referred to as the "Decision"), which made a top-level design and strategic deployment for comprehensively promoting the rule of law, clearly outlined the grand blueprint for the construction of China ruled by law, and specifically defined the road map and task book for comprehensively promoting the rule of law in various fields. It is a landmark programmatic document. The "Decision" makes an incisive exposition on safeguarding the authority of the Constitution, strengthening the implementation of the Constitution, and carrying forward the spirit of the Constitution, and puts forward clear requirements, which will surely raise the full implementation of the Constitution to a new level.

　　1. The Constitution is the fundamental law of the country, and it is the general charter for governing the country and safeguarding the country.

　　The "Decision" pointed out: "The Constitution is a concentrated expression of the will of the party and the people and a fundamental law formed through scientific and democratic procedures." We should fully understand the important position and role of the Constitution in the political and social life of the country, and earnestly enhance the consciousness and firmness of observing and safeguarding the Constitution.

　　The constitution is the concentrated expression of the common will of the party and the people. China’s Constitution is closely linked with the arduous struggle and brilliant achievements made by the Party and the people, the road ahead opened by the Party and the people and the valuable experience accumulated. As early as 1940, Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out that "after the success of the revolution had democratic facts, a fundamental law was promulgated to recognize it, which is the Constitution". Since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening up, the major principles and policies determined by the Party’s previous congresses have been fully reflected in the Constitution. For example, the 1982 Constitution and its four subsequent amendments timely wrote the Party’s major theoretical achievements such as Deng Xiaoping Theory, Theory of Three Represents’s Important Thought, Persistence in Reform and Opening-up, Primary Stage of Socialism, Socialist Market Economy, Ruling the Country by Law and Builders of Socialist Cause into the Constitution. The current constitution, in the form of the fundamental law of the country, establishes the development achievements of Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s road, theoretical system and system, reflects the common will and fundamental interests of the people of all ethnic groups in China, and is a high degree of unity of the party’s ideas and the people’s will. Safeguarding the legal authority of the Constitution means safeguarding the authority of the common will of the Party and the people, safeguarding the dignity of the constitutional law means safeguarding the dignity of the common will of the Party and the people, and ensuring the implementation of the constitutional law means ensuring the realization of the common will of the Party and the people. It is necessary to fully understand that only by earnestly respecting and effectively implementing the Constitution can the development of the cause of the party and the state and the happiness and well-being of the people be fundamentally guaranteed by law.

　　Constitution is a direct reflection of people’s democratic rights and wishes. The "Decision" pointed out that "the CPC Central Committee proposed constitutional amendments to the National People’s Congress and carried out constitutional amendments in accordance with the procedures stipulated in the Constitution." This fully embodies the organic unity of the party’s leadership, the people being the masters of the country and governing the country according to law, and highlights the distinctive characteristics of China’s socialist democracy. In the process of formulating and amending the constitution of our country, democracy is fully promoted, and procedures are strictly followed to ensure the extensive participation and high recognition of the whole party and society. When China’s first constitution was formulated in 1954, more than 8,000 representatives from state organs, Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, democratic parties, people’s organizations and all walks of life were organized to participate in the discussion, and more than 6,000 opinions were put forward after sorting out. In the subsequent national discussion, 150 million people participated, and more than 1 million amendments and suggestions were received from all over the country. In 1982, the draft amendment to the current constitution was fully discussed by the whole people for four months, and the opinions and suggestions from all sides inside and outside the party were widely solicited for the next four amendments. It can be said that the formation and development of the Constitution is a process in which the people directly exercise their democratic rights and reflect their democratic will, and it is also a process in which the wisdom and consensus of the whole party and the people of the whole country are highly condensed. It is necessary to fully understand that the constitution is formed and developed through scientific and democratic procedures, and it is the most extensive and true embodiment of socialist democracy in China.

　　The constitution is the highest code of conduct that the whole society must strictly abide by. Since the reform and opening up, China’s current constitution, with its supreme legal status and strong legal power, has guaranteed the people to be masters of their own affairs, promoted reform and opening up and socialist modernization, promoted the process of a socialist country ruled by law, and safeguarded national unity, national unity and social stability. Practice has proved that this is a good constitution that conforms to the national conditions, reality and the requirements of the development of the times. The Decision emphasizes that "all organizations and individuals must respect the legal authority of the Constitution" and that "people of all ethnic groups, all state organs and armed forces, all political parties, all social organizations, and all enterprises and institutions in China must take the Constitution as the fundamental criterion for their activities, and have the responsibility to safeguard the dignity of the Constitution and ensure its implementation", which further demonstrates the clear attitude and firm determination of the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader Comrade as the general secretary in upholding the rule of law and governing the country according to the Constitution, and establishes the Constitution in the national governance system and institutions. We must always uphold the supremacy of the Constitution and fully understand that the Constitution, as the fundamental law to ensure the prosperity and long-term stability of the Party and the country, has the highest authority and must be fully respected and resolutely safeguarded.

　　Two, the life of the constitution lies in the implementation, and the authority of the constitution lies in the implementation.

　　The strength of the constitution is not only due to its lofty status, but also due to its effective implementation. Otherwise, the constitution can only stay at the level of "political declaration" and text. The "Decision" puts forward clear requirements for strengthening the implementation of the Constitution. We must persistently strengthen the implementation of the Constitution as the primary task and basic work of building a socialist country ruled by law, and pay close attention to it to ensure that the leading role of the Constitution in national governance and social governance is fully exerted.

　　Conscientiously fulfill the constitutional mission and work together for the prosperity of the country, the rejuvenation of the nation and the happiness of the people. The Constitution confirms the brilliant achievements made by our Party in leading the people’s long-term struggle, stipulates the nature and fundamental system of state power under the people’s democratic dictatorship, and defines the fundamental task and general goal of the country’s future construction and development. It is the highest embodiment of the central work, basic principles, major principles and important policies of the Party and the country in the new period. We should bravely shoulder the historical heavy responsibility and sacred mission entrusted by the Constitution, persist in emancipating our minds, comprehensively deepen reform, make overall plans to promote the construction of socialist economic, political, cultural, social and ecological civilization, and strive to achieve the goal of "two hundred years" and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese dream by the Chinese nation. We must adhere to the constitutional concept that all state power belongs to the people, adapt to the new requirements of promoting economic and social development and expanding people’s democracy, and mobilize and organize the people to manage state and social affairs, economic and cultural undertakings through various channels and forms in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and laws, so as to jointly build, enjoy and develop together, so as to maximize the realization and maintenance of the people’s yearning for a better life.

　　Always abide by the constitutional principles and adhere to equality before the law. Equality is the basic attribute of socialist law. China’s Constitution stipulates: "All citizens of People’s Republic of China (PRC) are equal before the law." All citizens in China are equal in the application of laws, regardless of nationality, sex, occupation, family background, religious belief, education level and property status. The "Decision" once again reaffirms this important principle, emphasizing that any organization or individual "must operate within the scope of the constitutional law, must exercise power or rights, perform duties or obligations in accordance with the constitutional law, and must not have privileges beyond the constitutional law". It is necessary to safeguard the unity, dignity and authority of the national legal system and effectively ensure the effective implementation of constitutional laws. No one will be allowed to substitute words for laws, suppress laws and bending the law with power under any pretext or in any form. It is necessary to focus on standardizing and restraining public power, strengthen supervision, make sure that the right must be held accountable, the right to use it is supervised, and those who violate the law must be investigated, and resolutely correct those who fail to abide by the law, enforce the law lax, and fail to investigate the law.

　　Vigorously carry forward the spirit of the constitution, and effectively embody and run through the whole process of governing the country according to law. The core of the spirit of the Constitution is that the people are the masters of the country. The "Decision" emphasizes that it is necessary to "improve the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics with the Constitution as the core" and "make every legislation conform to the spirit of the Constitution, reflect the will of the people and win the support of the people". This is an important premise and foundation for the correct and unified implementation of the Constitution. By the end of 2013, there were 243 effective laws, 731 administrative regulations and 9347 local regulations (including autonomous regulations and separate regulations) in China. It is important to keep these laws and regulations consistent with the spirit of the Constitution. The basic principles and systems established by the Constitution, the basic spirit of regulating state power and realizing citizens’ rights, etc., need to be refined through laws, regulations and other normative documents, and more importantly, the state administrative organs, judicial organs, procuratorial organs, all social organizations and all citizens need to consciously abide by them to implement them. It is necessary to regard the Constitution as the highest legal norm, strictly follow the clear statutory authority and requirements of the Constitution, scientifically legislate, strictly enforce the law, justly administer justice, and abide by the law by the whole people, so that the spirit of the Constitution can be fully reflected in all aspects of the rule of law.

　　Effectively safeguard the authority of the Constitution and resolutely investigate and correct all acts that violate the Constitution. It is the basic requirement of governing the country according to law and an important embodiment of the implementation of the constitution to abide by the law and prosecute those who violate the law. The current constitution meets the needs of building a well-off society in an all-round way and realizing the Chinese nation’s great rejuvenation of the Chinese dream, and its core position in the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics has been formed. However, in real life, some departments just regard the Constitution as a supreme law. Many people think that the Constitution has little to do with ordinary people, and violations of the Constitution occur from time to time. In view of these problems in the implementation of the Constitution, the Decision emphasizes that "all acts that violate the Constitution must be investigated and corrected". It is necessary to formulate and improve the system of investigating the violation of the constitution, make clear provisions on the constitutive requirements, responsibilities, measures and procedures of investigating the violation of the constitution and strictly implement them, so that violations of the constitution can be stopped and corrected in time and the supreme authority of the constitution can be respected and safeguarded.

　　Adhere to the party’s leadership and unify the party’s leading the people in formulating and implementing constitutional laws with the party’s adherence to activities within the scope of constitutional laws. This is a profound summary of our party’s experience in governing the country, a deepening understanding of our party’s ruling laws, a fundamental embodiment of constitutional principles with people’s sovereignty, basic human rights, power restriction and socialist rule of law as the main contents, and the key to the implementation of the constitution. Our party leads the people to formulate the constitution, and leads the people to abide by and implement it. To govern the country according to law, we must first govern the country according to the constitution; The key to governing according to law is to govern according to the constitution. To strengthen the implementation of the Constitution, we must always adhere to the leading core role of the Party in taking the overall situation into account and coordinating all parties, adhere to the organic connection between the internal laws and regulations of the Party and constitutional laws, be good at making the Party’s ideas become the will of the state through legal procedures, be good at making the candidates recommended by the Party organizations become the leaders of state organs through legal procedures, be good at implementing the Party’s leadership over the country and society through state organs, and be good at using the principle of democratic centralism to safeguard the central authority and the unity of the whole party and the whole country.

　　Three, improve the supervision mechanism and procedures for the implementation of the Constitution, and effectively enhance the effectiveness of constitutional supervision.

　　Constitutional supervision is an important institutional form to ensure the implementation of the constitution and safeguard its authority and dignity. The implementation of the constitution cannot be separated from the constitutional supervision. Since the promulgation and implementation of the 1954 Constitution, especially the 1982 Constitution, China has continuously explored and gradually established a constitutional supervision system with China characteristics. Promoting the rule of law in an all-round way and strengthening the implementation of the constitution have put forward new and higher requirements for constitutional supervision.

　　Improve the constitutional supervision system of the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee. China’s Constitution stipulates that the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee are responsible for supervising the implementation of the Constitution. This reflects the system design that the National People’s Congress is the highest organ of state power and exercises state power on behalf of the people. Practice has proved that it conforms to China’s national conditions. The "Decision" emphasizes "improving the constitutional supervision system of the NPC and its Standing Committee", which not only highlights that the NPC and its Standing Committee have the highest constitutional supervision power, but also points out the direction of efforts to promote the institutionalization of constitutional supervision. It is necessary to improve the supervision mechanism and procedures, further clarify the object, scope and methods of constitutional supervision by the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee, and make the principle requirements specific and procedural, so as to make the constitutional supervision more standardized and effective.

　　Give full play to the role of constitutional interpretation. According to the spirit of the Constitution, it is very important to explain the contents, meanings and boundaries of the Constitution, so as to ensure and supervise the full implementation of the Constitution. In the face of the complicated international situation and arduous domestic tasks, especially in the decisive stage of building a well-off society in an all-round way, it is necessary to pay attention to the use of constitutional interpretation and strengthen the function and effectiveness of constitutional supervision to solve the new situations and problems faced by reform and development according to law and safeguard national unity, national unity and social stability. In order to promote the concretization and institutionalization of constitutional interpretation, the "Decision" emphasizes "improving the procedural mechanism of constitutional interpretation". It is necessary to establish and improve the system of constitutional interpretation, clarify the conditions for submitting constitutional interpretation, the initiation and acceptance of requests for constitutional interpretation, the deliberation, adoption and publication of constitutional interpretation cases, ensure the implementation of constitutional interpretation, complement the advantages of constitutional amendment, and advance with legal interpretation, so that our constitution can keep pace with the times and keep pace with the times on the basis of maintaining stability and authority.

　　Strengthen the record review system and capacity building. It is an important content and link of constitutional supervision to record and review laws, administrative regulations and local regulations. According to statistics, by the end of 2013, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) had received a total of 502 administrative regulations, 22,253 local regulations (including autonomous regulations and separate regulations) and 189 judicial interpretations. For the problems found in the review that are inconsistent with the constitutional laws, the enacting organs have been urged to amend or abolish them. The "Decision" emphasizes strengthening the record review system and capacity building, including all normative documents in the scope of record review, revoking and correcting unconstitutional and illegal normative documents according to law, and prohibiting local governments from issuing documents with legislative nature. It is necessary to improve the filing and review mechanism, improve the execution and binding force of the system, strengthen the cooperation between legislative supervision institutions, establish and improve the coordination and communication mechanism, effectively improve the filing and review ability, enhance the actual efficiency of filing and review, and safeguard the unity of the Constitution and the law.

　　Guide all sectors of society to actively participate in constitutional supervision. All power in our country belongs to the people, and every citizen has the responsibility of consciously respecting and maintaining the constitution itself, as well as the right and obligation to participate in supervision. According to statistics, since 2004, there have been 1,137 censorship suggestions put forward by citizens and organizations, of which 475 are within the scope of filing and censorship in the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC). It is necessary to give full play to the important role of socialist deliberative democracy in constitutional supervision, pay attention to the democratic supervision role of the CPPCC and the United front, organize and guide democratic parties, people’s organizations and people from all walks of life to conduct in-depth investigations and studies on major issues related to the implementation, revision and interpretation of the Constitution, and actively make suggestions and suggestions. It is necessary to expand the channels for citizens to participate in constitutional supervision in an orderly manner, explore the establishment of an opinion processing and feedback mechanism, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all sectors of society to participate in constitutional supervision, so as to have a broader consensus and a solid foundation.

　　Fourth, the foundation of the constitution lies in inner support, and the power of the constitution comes from sincere belief.

　　Only when the constitution is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and enters the masses of the people can it truly become the conscious action of all the people. It is necessary to enhance the conscious awareness of the whole society to be loyal to, abide by, safeguard and apply the Constitution, establish the belief and awe in the Constitution, and provide spiritual motivation and ideological guarantee for comprehensively promoting the rule of law and building a socialist country ruled by law.

　　Constitutional education is widely carried out in the whole society. The constitution is "a piece of paper with people’s rights written on it", which should be mastered, observed and used by the people. The "Decision" clearly designated December 4th, when the current Constitution of China was promulgated and put into effect, as the "National Constitution Day" every year, which provided an important opportunity for the centralized publicity and popularization of the Constitution. It is necessary to further improve the legal education system, highlight and strengthen constitutional education, make full use of various media to popularize constitutional knowledge, explain the spirit of the constitution, spread constitutional ideas, form a strong atmosphere for studying the constitution, and make the constitution a household name. It is necessary to bring constitutional education into the whole process of national education, starting with dolls and cultivating constitutional awareness from an early age. Through constitutional education, all the people should realize that the constitution is not only the highest code of conduct that must be observed, but also the most powerful weapon to protect their rights, fully believe in the constitution, actively use it, and become loyal advocates, conscious followers and firm defenders of the constitution.

　　Party member cadres should take the lead in safeguarding the dignity of the Constitution. Party member cadres and state functionaries have an important leading and exemplary role in observing and maintaining the Constitution. The "Decision" requires that party organizations of people’s congresses, governments, CPPCC, judicial organs and procuratorial organs at all levels should lead and supervise their units to abide by the constitutional laws. It is necessary to establish and improve the system for party and government leading cadres at all levels to study the Constitution, regard the Constitution as the study content of the theoretical study center group of the Party committee (party group), as an important aspect of cadre education in party member, and list it as a compulsory course for Party schools and administrative colleges, so as to comprehensively strengthen the study and mastery of the contents and basic spirit of the Constitution. It is necessary to educate party member cadres, especially leading cadres, to take the lead in establishing constitutional consciousness, cultivate constitutional thinking, and take the constitution as the criterion for judging right and wrong; Take the lead in acting in strict accordance with the Constitution and enhance the ability to observe, analyze and solve practical problems according to the Constitution; Take the lead in promoting constitutional practice, conscientiously perform the duties entrusted by the Constitution, and fight against all acts that undermine the authority and trample on the dignity of the Constitution, so that the Constitution truly becomes the highest rule of state governance and the fundamental principle that must be followed in carrying out its work.

　　Establish a constitutional oath system. The "Decision" clearly stated that "a constitutional oath system shall be established, and all state functionaries elected or appointed by the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee shall publicly take an oath to the Constitution when they officially take office". The oath ceremony of the constitution strengthens the spirit of the constitution through solemn forms, which helps to enhance the sense of awe of the constitution and remember the solemn commitment made to the constitution; It is helpful to improve constitutional consciousness and cultivate constitutional belief. This innovative measure is of great significance for carrying forward the spirit of the Constitution and showing its authority. At present, among the 142 countries with written constitutions in the world, 97 countries have stipulated the oath system, and China is constantly exploring and practicing it. In March 2013, General Secretary of the Supreme Leader said at a meeting of the 12th National People’s Congress: "We will faithfully perform our duties entrusted by the Constitution, be loyal to the motherland, be loyal to the people, fulfill our duties, stay up all night in public, serve the people and do our best for the country." In December of the same year, 501 judges in the Supreme People’s Court solemnly swore allegiance to the Constitution and laws facing the national flag in accordance with the Provisions on Judge People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s Oath (Trial). We should conscientiously implement the constitutional oath system, clarify the specific procedures, contents, supervision and legal responsibilities of the oath, and make it a new important institutional form to ensure the implementation of the constitution and safeguard its authority and dignity.