Research On The Scope Of "Urban And Rural Development And Administration" Of Local Legislative Power

“Urban and Rural Development and Administration” is a legislative matter that can be enacted by the people's congress and its standing committee of districted city,which is stipulated in the second paragraph of Article 72 of the Legislative Law.However,the Legislative Law does not clearly explain what is “urban and rural development and administration”,its fuzzy boundary brings great trouble to the legislative practice of districted city.Therefore,this paper aims to explore the theoretical context and implementation of "urban and rural development and administration" by reviewing the revision process of the Legislative Law and examining the legislative background information,so as to clarify its connotation and provide reference for legislative theoretical research and local legislative practice.While empowering,the National People's Congress(NPC)of the People's Republic of China is worried that the local legislative power is out of control,so restrictions have been imposed.However,when legislative workers think about the scope of “urban and rural development and administration”,they believe the scope is relatively broad.The reply from the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee(hereinafter referred to as LAC)also proves the broadness of “urban and rural development and administration”.This shows the contradictory psychology of the legislative workers in understanding "urban and rural development and administration ".Some scholars based on the authoritative interpretation of LAC to explain "urban and rural development and administration",while other scholars interpret the content of this power according to their own understanding.Based on the legislative background information,scholars have formed broad sense interpretation and narrow sense interpretations on “urban and rural development and administration”.But the inherent meaning of the broad and narrow interpretation does not conflict: the districted city's legislative power is restricted and cannot be extended without boundary.During the local legislative practice,the local legislatures often decide whether to legislate on questionable matters according to the reply of the LAC.Therefore,although local regulations cover a wide range,most of them are executive legislation,which also shows the prudent legislative attitude of local legislature.In summary,it seems reasonable to explain the content of “urban and rural development and administration” on the broad sense.However,considering the situation of the repetition on the higher-level law,the lack of legislative creativity as well as the low local subjective initiative caused by the insufficient capacity of local legislature,the broad sense explanation maybe still needs to be considered.Given the ambiguity of “urban and rural development and administration” and its development nature,it seems to be a feasible option to interpret it on a restrictive broad sense.