ABSTRACT
Ecological and resource-related challenges increasingly require reconsideration of private-law categories. This article examines Article 9 of the Chinese Civil Code, the so-called Green Principle, as a heuristic tool for identifying the dogmatic effects of direct normative embedding of ecological values in civil-law reasoning. The analysis is based on a qualitative study of Supreme People’s Court Typical Cases from 2021-2026, supported by selected ordinary court judgments and Chinese legal scholarship. The article identifies three partly overlapping mechanisms: ecological integration of public and private law, ecological correction of obligations and remedies, and ecological gap-filling in new infrastructural conflicts. These mechanisms show how public-law standards may enter civil adjudication; how resource-related considerations may affect performance, termination and remedies; and how courts may formulate coordination rules where private law has not yet stabilised relevant rules. The article concludes that Article 9 of the CCC should not be treated as a model for direct transplantation, but as a diagnostic device. Its comparative value lies in mapping specific issues that ecological private law must address while preserving legal certainty, dogmatic coherence and its autonomous character.
Jakub Błażej Zwierzchowski, Ecological Private Law? The Chinese Green Principle as a Heuristic Tool for Comparative Legal Analysis, Laws 2026, 15(5), 131. Published: 2 October 2026.
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