PRC Civil Code Query
Data & Version
- Text: Adopted at the Third Session of the 13th National People's Congress on May 28, 2020, effective January 1, 2021; comprising 1260 articles, 7 parts, 84 chapters, plus supplementary provisions (Articles 1259–1260).
- The Civil Code itself has not been amended since its effective date; when the user asks for the "latest" version, this is the one.
- This skill does NOT include: judicial interpretations, guiding cases, other laws (e.g., Civil Procedure Law), or local regulations. These must be verified separately and must not be substituted with articles from this skill.
- Laws, regulations, and other legislative documents are not protected by copyright law; the full text may be freely quoted.
Resources
| File | Content | Article Range |
|---|---|---|
references/Part-1-General-Provisions.md | Part I: General Provisions (10 chapters) | Articles 1–204 |
references/Part-2-Property-Rights.md | Part II: Property Rights (20 chapters) | Articles 205–462 |
references/Part-3-Contracts.md | Part III: Contracts (29 chapters) | Articles 463–988 |
references/Part-4-Personality-Rights.md | Part IV: Personality Rights (6 chapters) | Articles 989–1039 |
references/Part-5-Marriage-and-Family.md | Part V: Marriage and Family (5 chapters) | Articles 1040–1118 |
references/Part-6-Inheritance.md | Part VI: Inheritance (4 chapters) | Articles 1119–1163 |
references/Part-7-Tort-Liability.md | Part VII: Tort Liability (10 chapters) | Articles 1164–1258 |
references/Supplementary-Provisions.md | Supplementary Provisions | Articles 1259–1260 |
references/Article-Quick-Lookup.md | Arabic numeral → Chinese numeral + part/chapter | All 1260 articles |
scripts/build_minfadian.py | Script to rebuild all files from official HTML | — |
An identical copy of the full text is also stored in the knowledge base: 法规/民法典/民法典全文.md (with frontmatter, searchable and linkable in Obsidian). The two versions are identical; if updated, they must be rebuilt together.
Query Flow
By article number (most common) — Note that the body text uses Chinese numerals; users usually say Arabic numerals, so first consult the quick-lookup table:
cd <this skill directory>
grep "^1042 " references/Article-Quick-Lookup.md # → 1042 | 第一千零四十二条 | 第五编 婚姻家庭 · 第一章 一般规定
grep -h "^第一千零四十二条 " references/Part-5-Marriage-and-Family.md
By topic (when article number is unknown) :
grep -n "居住权" references/*.md | head -20 # first locate candidate articles
grep -rn "离婚冷静期\|三十日" references/Part-5-Marriage-and-Family.md
When context is needed (surrounding articles, entire section): use the read tool to read only the target line range, e.g., read references/Part-5-Marriage-and-Family.md offset=... limit=....
⚠️ Do not read an entire file: the full text is approximately 96,000 characters (roughly 60,000–90,000 tokens); the largest single part, Part III (Contracts), is 138,000 bytes. Always use grep to locate the relevant section first, then read only a slice.
Citation Rules
- Quote verbatim, and mark "Article X"; preserve the original full-width punctuation (
；「、」) and sub-item structure ((1) (2) …). - Distinguish between "original article text" and "interpretation/applicable opinion": interpretations must be clearly labeled as explanation and must not be mixed in with the quotation.
- Present items and sub-items of an article in their original order; do not combine or rephrase.
- Content not covered by this skill (judicial interpretations, case precedents, other laws) must be stated as requiring separate verification; do not fabricate from memory.
- If no search result is found, explicitly state that; do not fabricate article numbers or text.
Data Source & Validation (2026-09-21)
- Base text: Full text of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China republished by the Anhui Provincial People's Government (text authorized by Xinhua News Agency), with correct full-width punctuation.
- Cross-validation: Compared article-by-article with the official full texts from Guizhou Provincial People's Congress and Beijing Municipal People's Congress, resulting in zero textual differences across all 1260 articles.
- Structural validation: 1260 articles form a continuous sequence with no missing or duplicate numbers; 7 parts + supplementary provisions; 84 chapters and 37 sections; beginning and ending assertions (first article ending and last article's effective date) passed.
- Known punctuation difference: The Guizhou version rendered 211 instances of
；as half-width;, so it was not adopted as the base text. - Rebuild method:
python3 scripts/build_minfadian.py(by default fetches from the base URL and rebuilds all files;--dry-runvalidates without writing).