中國法律制度的恢復，伴隨著上世紀七○年末期以來的改革開放而展開，儘管中國在經濟體制發展上受到外界廣泛的注目，但是法律制度的建構歷程相對呈現一個不均衡的態勢。這種不均衡的態勢取決於既有計畫經濟體制的制約與公有制主導思維的影響，促使法律制度的內涵著重於公有制主體的青睞，非公有制企業受到諸多不平等的對待與市場准入的阻卻；中國以漸進式改革為模式，間接使得法律制度亦帶有過渡性的表彰，以成熟一個制訂一個的立法進程，加上以模糊、概括的表述為呈現，致使法律制度本身落後於經濟體制改革的需求；法律著重於管制，並賦予行政機關居於管理的地位，在經濟上逐步鬆綁，但在政治上與法制上卻是緊握在手上，致使法律制度的內涵其有濃厚的管制性；吸引外資一直列為帶動經濟發展的模式之一，但在立法上以內外有別作為對待，由此衍生更多的不正義；經濟的高度發展，但司法正義程序的法院，卻因結構性的歷史遺留，大量低素質的法官以及法律職業與法學教育的鮮明區隔，使得法律制度的適用與執行形成障礙，造就對法律的嘲諷與不信任。

The reconstruction of the Chinese legal system, beginning in the late 1970s, came along with the launch of the reformation and the “open door” policy. Since then, even though China’s economic development has attracted all the attention, the development of the legal system has fallen into an unbalanced situation. This unbalanced situation resulted from the constraints imposed by existing planned economy and was influenced by the idea of public ownership. Compared with state enterprises that were favored by the law, non­state-owned enterprises in China were unfairly treated and had difficulty entering the market. Having adopted the gradualist approach of “making one law after the prior one has matured,” together with using vague and over-broad language, the legal system has lagged behind the need to accommodating economic reform. The law has focused on regulation and granted the administration a superintending power. Accompanying with the gradual liberalization of economy was the tightening of political and legal control. That has made the contents of the law highly regulatory. Though attracting foreign investments has been regarded as the locomotive of economic development, the differentiated treatment of domestic and foreign entities has caused injustice. In contrast to the burgeoning economy, the courts are trapped with a large amount of low quality judges and discontinuity between legal practice and legal education. Those factors have caused barriers to the application and enforcement of law as well as brought ridicule and distrust to law.