In reality, many separate legal instruments enacted by Macao have not been fully brought in line with the provisions of the Civil Code, either logically or systemically. And, the laws enacted by the local legislature of Macao, either in terms of quality or contents, have not been sufficient enough to solve such problems as that there is a lack of ready laws and legal instruments and that some laws and legal instruments have become out-of-date, which come as a result of not introducing into Macao the amendments to part of the Civil Code of Portugal and not extending some newly enacted Portuguese laws to Macao for their application in the region. Moreover, many contents in the Civil Code and other laws and legal instruments are out of line with the social development of Macao and such characteristics of Macao as that the region has close and frequent contacts with the outside world, that it has a multiethnic population, and that the region is in a small area with plural cultures and a unique way of living. And, there are situations that some legal instruments that are needed have not been enacted but some others that are not necessary have been enacted. So, the existing civil law of Macao can not fully meet the real requirement of the society.

Stylistically, the new Civil Code of Macao follows the structure of the Civil Code of Portugal that was applied in Macao in the past. Namely, it belongs to the model of the German Civil Code. The new Civil Code of Macao consists of 2,161 articles in five volumes – the General Provisions, the Law of Obligations, the Law of Property, the Law of Kindred and the Law of Succession.

Volume One of the new Civil Code of Macao – the General Provisions – is in two parts. The first part is about the laws, the interpretation of the laws and legal instruments on their application. Besides, this part also includes principles on what laws should be applicable when subjects in juridical relations have different nationalities or are living in different habitual residences or when a certain fact or certain facts in juridical relations occurs or occur in regions under the jurisdiction of different legal systems. Namely, it is a part of "international private law" or "rules of conflict."

The other part of Volume One is on juridical relations. It defines relevant provisions on "persons" as subjects in juridical relations, and more specifically lists the contents of personal rights for natural persons. It also provides for the general and special protection of personal rights. As far as corporations are concerned, the new Civil Code of Macao specifically includes "partnerships" and "companies" in the section of "joint-venture organizations," which is in the chapter on "corporations," and affirms the nature of partnerships as corporations, in an approach obviously different from that of the Civil Code of Portugal simply including contracts of partnership in the part of "various contracts," which is in the volume of "law on obligations."

The part in Volume One on juridical relations also provides for some basic concepts on "properties" and "juridical facts" as objects or targets in juridical relations and ways of classifying them. In particular, it points out the importance of the "meaning" expressed by parties concerned as an essential factor in acts of law and also the legal consequences resulting from the flaw caused by the lack or incompleteness of it. On the other hand, this part also points out the importance of "time" to juridical relations. For example, it has provisions on prescription, the term for forfeiture and so on.

Volume Two of the new Civil Code of Macao is the law on obligations. As the longest of all the volumes in the civil code, it consists of 784 articles in two parts, with the first part on general provisions of obligations and the other part on various contracts. The part of general provisions of obligations consists of eight chapters – general provisions, sources of obligations, types of obligations, transfer of obligatory rights and obligations, general guarantee of obligations, special guarantee of obligations, fulfillment and nonfulfillment of obligations and causes of expiration of obligations out of fulfillment. What deserves particular emphasis here is that the new Civil Code of Macao admits that unilateral legal acts in types defined by law can constitute sources of obligations⁽²⁾. The provisions on liabilities for rights infringement of the new Civil Code of Macao are included in the section of civil responsibilities in the chapter of sources of obligations in accordance with the structure of the Civil Code of Portugal, instead of making up a separate chapter⁽³⁾. And, its provisions on the guarantee of property rights are included in the chapter of special guarantee of obligations. Therefore, the provisions in the volume of Law of Obligations also include those relating to property rights. On the other hand, because of the reason that legal instruments should be turned into law and systemized, the legal instruments on the rights of the promising buyer of immovables enacted by the former Legislative Assembly of Macao have been included in a corresponding part of the new Civil Code of Macao, namely in the sub-section of promissory contracts of the section of contracts in the chapter of sources of obligations, as a set of relatively complete legal instruments introduced into the civil code to support the principles of the whole law. This will better assist members of the general public and users of law in systematically understanding or interpreting relevant legal provisions.

The part on various contracts separately lists 14 types of contracts, two types less than the number defined by the Civil Code of Portugal, with one type being partnership contracts mentioned in the above, and the other being joint husbandry contracts. The former type of contracts is not included in this part because the legislators concerned would specifically define partnerships as a type of corporations. They were of the view that since partnerships would be included in the part on corporations, it was unnecessary to define them again in the part on various contracts. But actually, partnership contracts are a type of typical contracts⁽⁴⁾ particularly regulated by law. As for joint husbandry contracts, the legislators concerned, in consideration of the realities in Macao, held that it was quite unnecessary to continue defining them in the new Civil Code of Macao in the form of typical contracts. Therefore, there are no provisions on such contracts in the new civil code. On the other hand, as the new Civil Code of Macao is a major collection of laws reformulated to regulate civil juridical relations, the regime for the lease of urban area real estate – which is closely related to the people’s livelihood – has once again been included in it, and such contracts are regulated by it as a type of lease contracts.

Volume Three of the new Civil Code of Macao is on property rights. With the smallest number of articles of the whole code, it consists of 286 articles in five parts – the Law of Possession, the Law of Proprietorship, the Law of Usufruct, Right of Use and Right of Habitation, the Law of Superficies and the Law of Predial Servitude. As compared with the Civil Code of Portugal formerly applied in Macao, the new Civil Code of Macao does not have the provisions on emphyteusis (right of lease in perpetuity)⁽⁵⁾. Moreover, it is necessary to include in this part the relevant separate laws which were applied in the past, in order to more systematically include relevant legal systems in the new Civil Code of Macao. Therefore, the juridical regime of hierarchical proprietorship has once again been included in the new civil code, with some improvements or systematic readjustments made to part of its contents.

Volume Four of the new Civil Code of Macao is the Law of Kindred. This law has been made on the basis of the corresponding part in the Civil Code of Portugal applied in Macao in the past, with relatively great changes. One of the major changes in the new law from the previous one is that the law no longer maintains the equal importance of the Catholic marriage and the civil marriage. Instead, the new law defines the civil marriage as the only marriage model recognized by the new civil code on a unified basis, on the ground that since Macao is to return to China, the peace agreement signed between Portugal and the Roman Curia will no longer be binding to Macao and that all religions will be of the equal status in the region. Therefore, the legislators concerned only recognize the civil marriage in the new civil code on a unified basis⁽⁶⁾.

What I would like to specifically point out here is that the new law has provisions on a relatively sensitive issue – de facto marriage. The new Civil Code of Macao specifically points out that de facto marriage may lead to some consequences. One point that can not be ignored is that the relationship of de facto marriage defined by the civil code does not refer to cohabitation or even illegal concubinage, but refers to the relationship of "living under a situation similar to that of a spouse," which is still restricted by certain conditions. For example, when one of the two sides is still in a marital relationship that has not been unlocked, he or she can not form a relationship of de facto marriage with the other side as defined by the civil code. As a matter of fact, de facto marriage has always been a focal issue for law. In the past, de facto marriage was mentioned in individual provisions of law, and the definition of de facto marriage and its application were based on concepts produced by scholars and also judicial practice. The new Civil Code of Macao, however, is by no means innovative on this issue.

Another change in the new Civil Code of Macao concerning the marriage system is the change in the system of property of married couples, which is mainly reflected in supplementary or alternative regime. The system of alternation applied in the past was meant to achieve the co-ownership of property. The system of alternation defined by the new civil code is meant to achieve the sharing of property. In the past, the system of property was defined in the ante-nuptial agreement, and once it was defined, it could not be changed. Under the new civil code, either side of a married couple is free to choose the ownership of their property. For the approach to achieve the sharing of property as an alternative to determine the ownership of property, it is totally based on the operating mechanism designed to redress, under the concept of maintaining the unity of families, anything in the system of property that does not meet the social realities in Macao, in order that either side of married couples can be free to dispose of his or her property. On the other hand, according to the new civil code, when the marriage of a couple comes to an end and the ownership of their property needs to be redefined, the side mainly responsible for increasing the post-connubial property of the couple should share the surplus of property with the other side. In fact, this means to achieve the co-ownership of property in another way.

The parts of major contents of the new Civil Code of Macao mentioned in the above are mainly the General Provisions in Part One and the provisions on marriage in Part Two of Volume Four – the Law of Kindred. Part Three of the Law of Kindred is on affiliation and Part Four of it is on adoption. What should be pointed out here is that the new Civil Code of Macao no longer differentiates simple adoption from full adoption. Instead, it provides for a model of general adoption, mainly in consideration of the realities in Macao, relevant system applied in the mainland of China and the establishment of the complete family and domestic relations between adopters and adoptees. On the basis of these considerations, the new Civil Code of Macao is legislatively innovative on this issue.

Volume Five of the new Civil Code of Macao – the Law of Succession – is also a part with a relatively small number of articles, which stands at 298 in total. This volume consists of four parts – Successions, Legitimate Succession, Legal Portion Succession and Testamentary Succession. It should be pointed out here that in this volume, the legislators concerned, in an effort to coordinate the relevant contents in this volume with the contents of other volumes, have defined in the part of Legitimate Succession the status of persons in a relationship of de facto marriage with the decedent. The legal basis for this definition is that legitimate succession can be tenable on the basis presumption – a kind of presumption of the will of the decedent. Namely, if a decedent did not give a testament on the disposal of his or her bequest, it should be presumed that the decedent wished to leave his or her bequest to the persons in the closest relationship with him or her. On the basis of such presumption, if a decedent had neither a spouse nor a descendant or ascendant in a lineal relationship by blood, the sisters and brothers as well as nephews of the decedent would be entitled to inherit his or her bequest in accordance with the order of succession. Then, however, if such a decedent had been cohabiting with another person in the form of de facto marriage for a pretty long period of time before his or her death⁽⁷⁾, should his or her sisters, brothers and nephews still be the only ones entitled to inherit his or her bequest? And, should the long-time cohabitant not be entitled to inherit anything from him or her under such a situation? In particular, even under the law applied in Macao before the new Civil Code of Macao goes into effect, the person who had maintained a relationship of de facto marriage with the decedent for a period of not less than two years until his or her death has the right to inherit the status of a lessee from the decedent, and even has the right to demand a share from bequest of the decedent as the cost of support. Therefore, the approach of the legislators concerned to define in the part of Legitimate Succession the persons in a relationship of de facto marriage with the decedents as part of those in close relationships with them entitled to inherit their bequests can not be viewed as legislatively innovative. As far as Legal Portion Succession is concerned, the existence of a relationship of de facto marriage can not be recognized as a legal basis for such succession.

Another change in this part of the new Civil Code of Macao from the old law that deserves mentioning here is a change in the system for legal portion succession. Under the Civil Code of Portugal applied in Macao in the past, the legal portion should make up half of the bequest (when the spouse or only one child was entitled to succeed) or two-thirds of it (when the spouse and children or when more than one children were commonly entitled to succeed). That’s to say, the portion that the decedent could dispose of freely according to his or her will would only be half or one-third of the bequest. Such a legal provision excessively restricted the right of the decedent to dispose of his or her bequest in the capacity of its owner when there had been the system of support for the livelihood of dependants of the deceased. Therefore, the legislators concerned reduced the legal portion to one-third of the bequest (when the spouse or only one child is entitled to succeed) and to half of it (when the spouse and children or when more than one children are commonly entitled to succeed).

Limited by the length of this article, I can only briefly introduce here some major contents of the civil law of Macao, particularly the new Civil Code of Macao. However, I am confident that along with the promulgation of the new Civil Code of Macao in both languages and unswerving efforts of both the government and the general public to promote its implementation, the residents in Macao will gradually understand this part of the legal system of Macao, which is so closely related to their daily life. And, to do a bit in this respect is part of the obligation of all legal workers who understand Macao law. On the other hand, I firmly believe that the legal system of Macao will continue to develop under the flag of the Macao Special Administrative Region, and will continue to improve toward meeting the social realities in Macao and coordinating with the overall Chinese legal system under the principle of one country, two systems.

1. There was no Chinese version of the Civil Code of Portugal, which was applied in Macao before October 1, 1999.
2. This is a system extended from Portugal. Please refer to Article 457 of the Civil Code of Portugal and relevant supplementary provisions for more details.
3. This part of the new Civil Code of Macao may be somewhat different from the corresponding part of the future civil code of China. Many legal experts in the mainland of China are of the view that the law on acts of infringement should be based on theories independent from those of the legal system of obligations. For more details, please refer to the article On the Formulation of the Civil Code of China written by Wang Liming, which was published by the Political Science and Law magazine of China on Page 51 of the 5^th Issue of 1998.
4. According to a view generally held by Portuguese legal experts, typical contracts are different from named contracts, with the former being those particularly regulated by law and the latter being limited only to the contracts that have been named. That’s to say, typical contracts must be part of named contracts, but named contracts will not necessarily be part of typical contracts.
5. Portugal nullified emphyteusis in as early as 1976. However, because the relevant legal provision on this nullification did not extend to Macao, emphyteusis has always existed as a legitimate right in the region. Although the new Civil Code of Macao does not provide for emphyteusis, it recognizes this right given in the past. Therefore, there is a transitional provision on emphyteusis in the decree to promulgate the new Civil Code of Macao, stating that this property right will continue to exist in the region until the expiration of its ownership.
6. As for the persons with the authority to preside over wedding ceremonies, the law recognizes particular clergy of certain religions authorized through special legislation, in addition to competent civil registrars, but the law does not give the clergy of an individual religion the authority to preside over wedding ceremonies.
7. The law requires this period to be four years or longer.