Provisions of Civil Code on Public Order and Good Customs

The Civil Code stipulates that civil subjects engaged in civil activities shall not violate the law or public order and good customs. Civil disputes should be handled according to law, and the law does not stipulate that customs can be applied, but they must not violate public order and good customs; A civil legal act that violates public order and good customs is invalid. This shows that observing public order and good customs is the principle and bottom line for civil subjects to engage in civil activities, and it is also an important principle for civil law legislation and justice. The Civil Code also embodies the requirements of public order and good customs in many specific provisions. For example, it reflects strong behaviors against people such as routine loans, campus loans, and usury. It is explicitly forbidden to lend at high interest rate, and the loan interest shall not be deducted from the principal in advance. This also strongly shows that it is not only feasible but also necessary to properly restrict the autonomy of the will with public order and good customs.

I. Relevant legal basis:

The principles of abiding by the law, public order and good customs stipulated in Articles 1 and 8 have two requirements: abiding by the law and observing public order and good customs. Not breaking the law is the primary requirement, but the law always lags behind, so it is supplemented by public order and good customs to achieve the balance between individual interests and public interests of civil subjects.

2. Article 10 on the basis of handling civil disputes, that is, the source of civil law, refers to the source of judgment basis in the process of law application and is the authoritative reason for judgment. The word "law" in this article should be understood broadly, that is, the general name of legal norms formulated by state organs with legislative power according to the legislative law, including laws formulated by the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee and administrative regulations formulated by the State Council, as well as local regulations, autonomous regulations and separate regulations. Habit refers to the life and trading habits that are well known and generally observed by the public in a certain area based on long-term production and life practice. As the origin of civil law, "custom" is usually limited to customary law, that is, civil custom recognized by the state. It is some behavior rules formed by people in their long-term production and life practice. A specific group is convinced that it is a behavior rule and restricts their own behavior, so they are consciously or unconsciously bound by it.

3. Three conditions should be grasped when applying custom to handle civil disputes: (1) There is no provision in the law.

(2) This habit does not violate public order and good customs.

(3) When the parties claim that there is a certain habit, they should bear the burden of proof first.

4. The civil juristic act is invalid because it violates public order and good customs, which reflects the restriction of the law on the autonomy of the will. However, due to the flexibility of the concept of public order and good customs, it should be carefully applied in specific cases to avoid excessive impairment of the autonomy of the will of civil subjects.

5. The theory of civil law generally uses typology to classify acts that violate public order and good customs, including but not limited to the following:

(1) endangering national politics, economy, finance, taxation, finance, public order and other types;

(2) the types of behaviors that endanger family relations;

(3) Types of harmful moral behaviors;

(4) Types of behaviors that violate human rights and personal dignity;

(5) Types of behaviors that restrict economic freedom;

(6) Types of acts violating fair competition;

(7) Types of acts violating the protection of consumers' rights and interests;

(8) types of behaviors that violate the protection of workers, etc.

6. The Guiding Opinions on Deepening the Integration of Socialist Core Values into the Interpretation and Reasoning of Judgment Documents promulgated by the Supreme Court and implemented on March 1 2026 requires strengthening the application of socialist core values in the interpretation and reasoning of judgment documents, and stipulates the situations and types of cases that should be applied. Among them, Article 4 (the types of cases that should be explained by using socialist core values) and Item 4 clearly include "public order and good customs", that is, "cases involving public order and good customs, customs and habits, equal rights, nationalities and religions, etc. , controversial, may cause widespread concern in society "

7. Article 1009 is about engaging in medical and scientific research activities related to human genes and human embryos. According to this article, the restrictions on medical and scientific research activities related to human genes and human embryos are as follows:

(1) Abide by laws, administrative regulations and relevant state regulations. If a skill is not mature enough to be applied to human body, it will bring great risks to human life and body. Therefore, the laws of most countries stipulate that medical and scientific research activities related to human genes and human embryos should not harm human health.

(two) shall not violate the ethics, shall not harm the public interest. If technological development goes beyond the boundaries of ethics, morality and law, it may pose a threat or even a disaster to mankind. Many countries prohibit human cloning technology and strictly restrict gene editing, which is also based on ethical and human security considerations.

8. Article 10 12 concerns the right to name. This provision has the following meanings:

(1) The subject of name right can only be a natural person. Legal persons and unincorporated organizations do not enjoy the right to name, but they do.

(2) Any natural person has the right of name, including the right to decide, use, change and permit others to use it.

(3) All natural persons have equal right to name. There are no differences or different guarantees due to ethnic, gender, age and other factors. In addition, it should be noted that in the process of deciding, using, changing or allowing others to use their own names, natural persons shall not violate the relevant provisions of laws and administrative regulations, and shall not violate public order and good customs.

9. Article 10 15 on the choice of natural person's surname. The choice of natural person's surname is a civil activity, which should not only conform to the provisions of Article 10 12 of the Civil Code that "natural persons have the right to name and have the right to decide, use, change or allow others to use their own names according to law", but also conform to Article 1065438 of the Civil Code that "natural persons should take their father's surname". The natural person's right to choose surnames stipulated in this article is mainly limited to the natural person's right to choose surnames other than father's surname and mother's surname, including the right to choose surnames other than father's surname and mother's surname, the right to choose surnames other than father's surname when being raised by people other than legal guardians, and other legitimate reasons that do not violate public order and good customs. Of course, with regard to the choice of surnames of natural persons of ethnic minorities, the second paragraph of this article clearly stipulates that the cultural traditions and customs of the nation can be followed.

10. Article 1026 is the decisive factor about whether news reports have fulfilled the obligation of reasonable verification, and the fourth item is the correlation between the content of news reports and public order and good customs. There is a negative correlation between the actor's reasonable verification obligation and public order and good customs, that is, if the information content is closely related to public order and good customs, the verification obligation is low; If it is irrelevant or irrelevant, the verification obligation is relatively high.

1 1. Article 1043 is about the moral norms in marriage and family, and it is an advocacy clause. This article stipulates the legalization of marriage and family ethics, and brings ethics into legal norms, that is, it clearly tells people what kind of marriage and family relationship the state advocates in the form of legislation. This advocacy regulation is the embodiment of the ethical rationality of marriage and family law in China, and it is also the ethical value and goal of marriage and family law. Family should be the place that needs no equal exchange and is full of human feelings. It needs to embody the attributes of security and welfare, and the value orientation of protecting the weak and altruism.

12. Article 125 1 is a regulation on the code of conduct for keeping animals. Pet keeping is becoming more and more common, but keeping animals is not only your own business, but also related to others, the community and the environment. To this end, this article stipulates that raising animals should abide by laws and regulations, respect social morality, and must not interfere with the lives of others. The purpose is to advocate civilized feeding of animals, promote the formation of a good atmosphere in which people and animals live in harmony, and clearly embody the principle of public order and good customs stipulated in Article 8 of the Civil Code. It should be pointed out that the obligations stipulated in this article apply not only to animal breeders but also to animal managers.

2. A civil juristic act that meets the following conditions is valid:

1, the actor has corresponding capacity for civil conduct;

2. The meaning is true;

3, do not violate the mandatory provisions of laws and administrative regulations, do not violate public order and good customs.

Three, to determine whether the actor has fulfilled the obligation of reasonable verification stipulated in the second paragraph of the preceding article, the following factors should be considered:

1, the credibility of the content source;

2. Whether necessary investigations have been made on the contents that may obviously cause disputes;

3. Time limit of content;

4. Relevance between content and public order and good customs;

5, the possibility of the victim's reputation being derogated;

6. Verification ability and verification cost.

Legal basis:

People's Republic of China (PRC) Civil Code

Article 8 Civil subjects engaged in civil activities shall not violate laws, public order and good customs.

Article 10 Civil disputes shall be handled according to law; Where there are no provisions in the law, customs can be applied, but they must not violate public order and good customs.

Article 9 Civil subjects engaged in civil activities should be conducive to saving resources and protecting the ecological environment.