What Is Social Law？

Yu Shaoxiang

Abstract: Social law has existed as a legal department for a long time, but so far there is no authoritative definition about social law. Social law first show up in Germany and France, then it spread in Britain, America, Japan and other countries, but foreign theorists have different definition of social law. Chinese researchers also study“social law”on different levels. Some scholars declare that social law is not clearly defined, not a concept of law, some others divide the concept into different levels to understand, and there are scholars study the social law from the aspect of jurisdictions or departments. To definite the social law, one should understand three key words - security of the weak, social welfare, national and social assistance, therefore social law can be defined as: the law formulated and issued by government, which is designed to protect life safety of the weak, provide social welfare and promote people's livelihood and welfare, with the state and society help or benefits.

Key words: Definition of Social Law; Foreign Theory; Domestic Theory