How China’s Constitution Protects People in the Family

—From the Perspective of the Images of Human Beings and the Family

CHEN Yongle*

Abstract: How the Constitution protects individuals within the family and regulates the scope of state intervention in family life is an important proposition for the development of human rights protection in China. The analysis can be carried out from the constitutional images of humans and families. The separation and retention of family functions reflect the internal logic of “expansion of human beings” and “contraction of families.” Accordingly, China’s Constitution has established threefold constitutional roles of individuals in the family context: autonomous individuals, specially protected individuals, and responsible individuals. Corresponding to the threefold images of human beings, the family presents a specific field of freedom, conditions of provision and protection, and a legitimate basis for intervention, which can be called “autonomous family,” “protective family,” and “responsible family.” The “autonomous family” has a priority in function, and the “protective family” and “responsible family” usually appear in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity. According to the functions of the image of the family, the Constitution has different requirements for state actions.

Keywords: human rights protection · family protection · image of human beings · image of the family