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Translation - English CHAPTER 1
OUT OF THE PREDICAMENT INHERENT IN THE
‘STATE-CONTROL MODEL’ IN THE
TRANSITION TO RULE OF LAW
A type of legal order that reasonably comports with public benefit objectives is determined and proclaimed by a person responsible for administering society.
— Thomas Aquinas*
Humans have long been accustomed to a world of laws and even more directly to a state-control law paradigm. Due to differences in the constitutional governance structure and the politico-economic social structure, the state-control law paradigm whose sole pivot is transforming the nation into one subject to the rule of law and which, by wedding different national forms, creates a varying legal model which, at one extreme, when united with an all-round government, creates an administrative law that advocates that the state resort to dependence on legal tools to control society, with the state as the controlling entity. At the other extreme, it unites with a night-watchman state to produce a power-control law which urges independence from politics and reliance on autonomous law to control the nation, and with the nation becoming the object of control. Between these two extremes, one may subdivide into many the legal models representing either state-societal control orientations, or societal-state control orientations. Ultimately, administrative law and power-control law are distinguished based on their necessary legal domain and the scope and range of state administration; however, the two work in the same way to a considerable extent, since both adhere to a one-sided control mindset in pursuit of a state administration doctrine which venerates a one-way approach, and which dictates obedience as its primary guiding method of administration. Legal formalism thus prevails. Along with the advent of open public administration integrated with wide-ranging participation by the masses in the public governance model, the state administration model has gradually become like yesterday’s faded yellow blooms, and has gradually slid into a predicament from which it will find it difficult to extricate itself. Therefore, if law and regulation reflect the actual needs of public administration, in order to escape from this quandary, they will have to make the transition from a one-way state control legal model towards an integrated public governance legal model, one that also offers incentives while imposing restraints, and transform from a repressive mode of law, or an autonomous one, to a responsive form of law. Regardless of whether we speak of China having a tradition of administrative law, or Western nations a central constitutional motif for controlling the state, we may easily discern that a corresponding paradigm shift is already quietly underway, and the two models, having parted company, are now returning together and, from an administrative law or power-control law, transforming into a balanced law.
“STATE-CONTROL” LAW PARADIGM
A statist law paradigm is one that regards the state as the pivot for the transition to rule of law, and at whose core lies adherence to the statism of legal norms and the fabrication of an antagonistic relationship with its subject in terms of the design of legal logic. Its guiding orientation is achieving a coercive legal order. Based on the differing categories of national viewpoints to which it becomes wedded, this paradigm generates correspondingly varying forms of laws. It can on one hand wed with an all-round government to generate an administrative law model, and on the other hand, unite with a night-watchman state produce a state control model. These two produce diametric opposites in the case of a large versus a small government. But they both hold the same opinion, one which cleaves to the statism of law.
Legal paradigm with the state as the pivot in the transition to rule of law
In terms of structure, the state-control law paradigm primarily comprises the following four fundamental factors:
First is the assumption that problems of public sphere governance can be resolved relying on top-down state administration based on law. Kuhn recognized that: “There is such a solid framework of conventions—concept, theories, instruments and methodo¬logical conventions—to produce a normative science to solve metaphorical problems” Rule of law is one means of public sphere governance, and the reason why its corresponding legal paradigm is able to come into being in the first place is because the assumption that it provides certain solutions to core problems, enabling these to be resolved in public sphere governance. “It is one whose inherent significance is that it provides a certain solution to an intractable problem, although it lacks a standard.” “If there is no type of theory to provide a standard for the problem and thus no guarantee of a stable result, then it becomes very difficult when so much well-intentioned striving produces such a paucity of result.” The conditions necessary for establishing a state-control law paradigm are that people discover in the public sphere the existence of conflicts between reason and desire, between values and facts, individuals and groups, personal freedom and public order, with law to function in a manner Unger characterized as “interpreting the esoteric code system for the method of integration as between people and society,” is deemed able to achieve public sphere governance, and further assumes that the state, through creating and enforcing a law which is an embodiment of its will, will adopt a top-down order-obedience model in implementing administration, one which is able to resolve the core issues in public sphere governance, and realize expected public sphere governance.
Second, relates to the presence of a legal community that firmly believes that reliance on the state can achieve public sphere governance. People are the subjects of law, and the type of a law paradigm corresponds to a legal community which is mainly comprised of the tripartite components of legal persons, legal scholars and the masses. Kuhn holds with the view: “That the word ‘paradigm’, regardless of whether it refers to one in actuality or logic, is closely related to the term ‘scientific community’. Such a paradigm is a scientific community, but it is also just something shared by its members. Conversely, it is also in place because these members have mastered the paradigm formed by their scientific community, although ultimately these members otherwise have nothing in common.”
The societal basis for the establishment and existence of the state-control law paradigm is that people harbor a common belief in state power and capability. Regardless of whether legal persons engage in legal practice and include legislators, law enforcement personnel or the judiciary, or it the case of legal scholars who regard describing, explaining, evaluating and influencing the construction of the law phenomenon as their responsibility, and the vast public which presents itself as [a body of] law-abiding subjects, all members of which believe that the state is able to achieve public sphere governance. This common belief coalesces and converts into the statism of law, with a universal recognition that law must reflect the state’s will, and either be created or approved by the state, and must rely on the coercive power of the state to ensure its enforcement. The existence and continuity of the state-control law paradigm is based on legal persons, legal scholars and the masses all sharing this common belief in the state, where, on one level, the belief of these three constituent elements of this legal community vis-à-vis the state can be mutually reinforcing. On another level, doubts as to state administration may also be mutually contagious, and among these one group—this may well consist of legal persons or legal scholars, but most importantly the mass public—ceases to believe in state administration, a development that may well trigger a crisis in the state-control law paradigm.
Third relates to the creation of a state legal regime which attains universal obedience and acceptance. In the view of Zhang Wenxian, within the context of scientific research, a law paradigm is already widely used to characterize or describe a theoretical model, a framework, a mode of thought, system of understanding reality, or a consensus among the scientific community. Rule of law is a process of the synthesis of legal research and legal practice, whether this is the case of the Anglo-American common law system or the Continental civil law system, neither may talk about rule of law divorced from legal norms. As a type of res publica, the legal regime is a product of state legislation, and is also a consumer good in public life. Thus, when speaking in terms of a state-control law paradigm, such a legal regime as a set embodies an intensive belief in the state on the part of the legal person community, and its transformation and operation becomes the object of legal study and public obedience. In general, the state-control law paradigm imposes two levels of demands in this regard: one is that it must possess a set of legal systems according to which the state is capable of realizing public sphere governance. This set of legal systems is always closely linked with the state, with not only the enactment, amendment and abolition of legal norms originating within the state, but also law enforcers and users, who are none other than state functionaries. The state retains a monopoly over the creation and operation of law. Although, due to variations between constitutionalism and the political system, the legal regime which corresponds to the state-control law paradigm is diversified in many respects, such as with regard to its formation, its form of carrier as codified law and case law, principles and rules, the judicial centrism which matches the dominance of private law, and the administrative state which corresponds to the dominance of public law, yet these both cling to the statism of law, and it remains difficult to budge the state from its monopoly stance over law in both instances. On another level, this set of legal systems may achieve obedience stemming from its general acceptance. Seen from a positive perspective, however, people’s modes of obedience to this set of laws may be diverse. It is either imbued with a degree of legitimacy due to voluntary compliance on the part of the masses, or compliance may be due to the masses’ ingrained habit of obedience that prevents its legitimacy from ever coming into doubt or, in the final analysis, its legitimacy remains unimpugned even though the state coerces its obedience.
Fourth, involves a typical state administrative legal example. Kuhn recognizes that this kind of enlightening model which is available for careful selection and analogy is an example, where “‘example’ provides a new term for the second and more fundamental sense of the word ‘paradigm’” Thus with respect to the establishment of the state-control law paradigm, its perpetuation and expansion, the typical state administrative legal examples, which originate from practice, play an important and indispensable role. The legal regime is standardized, and typical legal examples serve as models, the two components have an intimate nexus, and on this point it is not only in case law that this is intensively embodied, but it is likewise in the legislative and administrative processes, where typical legal examples may lead to and influence behavioral choices by affected parties by setting an example for their emulation. Typical top-down state administrative legal examples may be able to closely connect with the tactics, technology and artistry of legal practice, which is very vibrant and fresh, and impart to it greater vitality, which brings it even closer to practice. The state may often trumpet the superiority of its organizations in instilling and propagating paragon state administrative legal examples, and by invoking or encouraging emulation of these paragons, cause knowledge which is transmissible in words - and also knowledge, which is not so easily transmissible through legal practice - to generate a magnifying effect, and thus render this knowledge more widely diffused in the practice of state administration, thereby supplanting abstract statist legal institutional arrangements with concrete statist legal practices.
Statism of legal norms, antagonism of legal logic and coerciveness of the legal order
From a different perspective, we have discovered that a state-control law paradigm also exhibits other basic features: at the level of a legal norm, it embodies the “statism” which is the state will, as created or accepted by the state, and which relies on the coercive power of the state to ensure its enforcement, and which is also embodied in law. In the logic of the design mechanism for transition to rule of law, it comports with a negative antagonistic mindset, and urges a kind of zero-sum game of societal interest relationships to structure one-dimensional and confrontational legal relationships, while pursuing a closed legal process. What is consistent about statist legal norms and antagonistic legal logic is that the state control law paradigm seeks a coercive legal order as its active orientation, and implements a top-down command-obedience model as its basic means of realizing this legal order. As to the argument in favor of a demonstration-negotiation mechanism for discussions, if this does not meet with rejection at all levels, it serves at best as a mere embellishment of the coercive administration model.
We shall first discuss the first basic feature of the state-control law paradigm, to wit, the statism of legal norms.
Different legal views concentrate on descriptions or definitions of law. The definition of ‘law’ must answer such fundamental questions as why the law exists, whose will it embodies, who creates it, how it is enforced and what kind of form it exhibits, since these belong among the fundamental components of the concept of law. The basic expression for the legal definition which corresponds to the state-control law paradigm is: “Law is a type of societal norm embodying the will of a state, and which is either formulated or recognized by that state, and which relies on the coercive power of the state to ensure its enforcement.” This is also the familiar definition of law in Chinese jurisprudence.
First, addressing this question of “Why does law exist?” and supplying such answers as: “By stipulating people’s rights and obligations, it confirms, protects and develops social relations and the social order which are conducive to the ruling class”; “Its aims are to maintain, consolidate and develop certain social relations and a social order”; “It is for the purpose of identifying, protecting and developing social relations and a social order as the ruling class desires”; “Its objectives are to preserve, consolidate and develop certain social relations and a social order”; “Its aims are, by determining people’s rights and obligations, and via employment of its political and social functions, to confirm, protect and develop social relations and a social order serving the interests of the ruling class”; “It is to protect the social order.”
Second is to answer the question “Whose will does the law reflect?” by supplying answers such as, “Law is the reflection of the will of the ruling class which is determined by certain material living conditions”; “Law is determined by certain material living conditions, and reflects the entire will of the ruling class which is also determined by those material living conditions”; “Law is the embodiment of the state will which is determined by certain material living conditions”; “It reflects the grasp of state power and will of the ruling class”; “Law is the embodiment of the common interest and will of the class that exercises state power and which is determined by certain material living conditions”; “It possesses the character of state will”; “It reflects the will of the ruling class (that class which exercises state power)”; “It reflects the common will and fundamental interests of social groups which are in power”; “Law as a holistic body has a class nature, but with regard to its constituents, some are of a strong class nature, and some of a weak one; some lack any class nature at all. With respect to those components of law that seek to regulate social public affairs, some of these possess no class nature whatsoever”; “Law is an embodiment of the will of the ruling class, . . . here the will of the ruling class discussed refers to the will of the representative ruling class as a whole and of the fundamental interests, and does not refer to the will or caprice of individual members of the rulers, or the mechanical addition of the sum of the wills of each member”; “That portion of the will of the ruling class that law embodies is not the will of the entire ruling class, but rather that portion that rises to the level of state will, to wit, that portion of the will of the ruling class Marx and Engels proposed as being ‘the law pursued’.”
Third, with respect to the question of ‘Who creates law?’, such answers have been expounded as: “It is determined or accepted by the state”; “Law is created or accepted by the state”; “Laws are societal norms deriving from the state; their creation or acceptance by the state are the two routes along which the state proceeds to create law, and are also the two types of channels to which the ruling class resorts to convey its will as the will of the state”; “The formulation, acceptance and interpretation of law are three primary means of legislation.”
Fourth consists of responses to the question of ‘How is law enforced?’ such as: “Its enforcement is ensured by the coercive power of the state”; “By state coercive power is its enforcement assured”; “The coercive power of law is not the same as that of other social forms in that it is state coercive power, not ordinary social coercion”; “If there is no state coercion to protect a norm, and violators of this norm suffer no sanctions from the state’s law system, then the norm is not a legal one.” That is to say, it is a matter of general understanding that law reposes in such state machinery as the courts and prisons which serve as its back-up, with the coercive power of the state guaranteeing its enforcement.
Fifth relates to answers to the question “What forms does the law assume?” These take such forms as: Law is “a system of norms”; Law is “a normative system”; Law is “a system of social norms”; Law is “endowed with the sum of generally effective behavioral norms”; Law is “the sum of those behavioral norms which rely on the coercive power of the state to ensure their enforcement”; “It consists of the sum of the system of behavioral norms whose enforcement creates legal relationships and a legal order, and which is formulated or accepted by the state and whose enforcement is assured by state coercive power”; Law is “The sum of universally-effective behavioral rules which are expressed in the forms of laws or other regulatory forms”; Law “is a system of universal rules of conduct, which comprises clear relationships of rights and obligations, power and responsibility.”; Law is “a system of special behavioral norms or a system of institutions, which prescribes the content of rights”; “Laws are one type of rules of conduct (norms). People’s rules of conduct are traditionally called norms in jurisprudence. . . . Legal norms determine what people may do (confer rights), what they must do (obligations), what they are prohibited from doing (proscriptions), and thus it constitutes a standard for value criticism of human conduct as being either legal or illegal; they form the benchmarks guiding people’s behavior, predicting future conduct and its consequences, and also sounding the alarm on and imposing sanctions for violations based thereon.”
In the following section we shall discuss the second fundamental characteristic of the state-control law paradigm, to wit, its antagonistic legal logic.
Any given legal institutional arrangement may exhibit a certain arbitrary quality, e.g. any randomly-occurring incident may trigger an institutional transformation. However, if we go beyond the concrete circumstances of such an institutional change, we discover that the transformation is primarily determined by the institutional supply-demand relationship. As a product of gaming between multiple stakeholders, the institution of law always satisfies the interest demands of certain subjects by a form of allocation of rights/obligations (this allocation may change into many forms of allocations, such as a power/power, power/rights pattern). In this sense, experience always finds rational choices for the design of the mechanism for the transition to rule of law and legal institutional arrangements—whether consciously or otherwise—people always follow logic of some sort to effect the arrangements for legal institutions.
The state-control law paradigm is replete with antagonistic legal logic. This primarily manifests itself in the following ways:
First is a rigid understanding of the objects’ social relations which the law is to standardize and regulate. At one level, the social relationships law standardizes and regulates are essentially interest relationships, and a state-control law paradigm mechanically promotes a rigid interest relationship that deems that the interests of society as a whole must remain constant and that societal interests relationships can only be a zero-sum game, notwithstanding whether these are public or private interest relationships or divergent private interest relationships, they may only rise and fall in proportion to one another. The enlargement of a public interest comes perforce at the cost of the diminution of a private one, and vice versa. One party’s private interest or one private interest also can only be optimized at the cost of deprivation of another party’s interest or another interest. At another level, law’s standardization and regulation of social relationships or rationalization of social interest relationships is attained through means of influencing the allocation of societal resources and distribution of societal wealth. The state-control law paradigm recognizes that resource allocation and wealth distribution are inseparable and form two sides to the same coin. They occur only through an either-or choice between a public or private mechanism of selection: either guarantees the state this public selection mechanism to deploy social resources and distribute societal assets or, conversely, entrusts the market this undiluted private selection mechanism to complete this task. The two may not combine: no integrated public-private third way exists.
Second is the mechanical understanding of the relationship between the law and the external societal structure. Resolving the issue of how law standardizes and regulates social relationships requires an initial determination of how one understands the relationship between law and the external social structure as a prerequisite. This external social structure is a complex system comprising such varied factors as politics, economics, society, culture and technology. The state-control law paradigm gravitates to two extremes in its understanding of the relationship between law and the external social fabric. Either it adopts the position of legal instrumentalism, and deems law an appurtenance of the state, with an ambiguous relationship between law and politics and, although law can influence the allocation of social resources and thus influence economic relations, yet law remains merely a tool for the state to wield in regulating society, and the state manifests and realizes the state will via legislation, law enforcement and adjudication. People’s compliance with law is in obedience to the will of the state; or the paradigm insists on the autonomy of the law relative to the external social structure, deeming law a system independent of politics, economics, society, culture and technology. This is a logical self-consistent system of knowledge and structure of behavior. In Unger’s view, this autonomy of law is primarily manifested in four ways: first is the autonomy of substantive law, with an independent system of legal norms; second is institutional autonomy, with an independent judicial system; third is the autonomy of means—it possesses legal reasoning technology which is different from scientific interpretations and from moral, political, economic and technical discussions, and possesses special justified methodologies; fourth is professional autonomy—this is reserved for specially-trained legal experts.
Third is constructing a negative adversarial institutional structure and a closed legal process. In terms of rule of law, the law’s understanding of the social relations it seeks to standardize and regulate, and its understanding of the relationship between law itself and the objects it regulates are ultimately intensively embodied in its corresponding institutional arrangements and the structures of legal actions. The state-control law paradigm’s negative adversarial legal logic is primarily manifested in the several features that follow: one is the one-dimensional design of the legal institution and the legal mechanism. The statism of law determines the uni-directional nature of legal institutional arrangements; this sets achieving national administration as its primary focus in designing legal institutions and selects the institutions therefor in accordance with the standard of whether or not this contributes to achieving the objectives of state administration and stresses the preservation of public order via unilateral state control of society. When statism forms their axis, legal institutional arrangements are extremely exclusivist, and one-dimensional institutional arrangements may of necessity create a narrow vision of rule of law and a single route of access, reinforcing a path dependence which sets state administration at the heart of the legal institutional transformation; this will thus readily generate institutional inertia. Once the state becomes alienated from society or even placed in a superior position, it may turn into a “monster,” and it then becomes difficult to avert a divergence in the effects of state administration by law and society. Second is the creation of negatively opposed legal relationships. Law regulation is an institutional avenue, transit through whose entryway causes a transformation of social relations into objects of legal regulation, with subsequent egress through whose exit-way results in their formation into legal relationships. The attributes of legal regulation are not only to directly determine what sorts of social relationships turn into what kinds of legal relationships, but they may also exert an indirect influence on the formation of such social relationships themselves. Legal relationships conforming to the state-control law paradigm are negative antagonistic legal relationships. The negative antagonistic relationships between public and private interests, and between private interests inter se, which are deep-rooted in legal institutions, manifest themselves in legal standardization as negative antagonistic rights/obligations relationships, whose single facet is adherence to either rights or obligations as their standard, and which recognize that power/rights relationships are fundamentally irreconcilable and that power/rights relationships are negatively viewed as holding one another in check. These kinds of negative antagonistic legal relationships are the embodiment of the state-control law paradigm’s mechanical adherence to a rigid either-or and enlargement-diminution two-pronged form and negative antagonism, such as subsists between, inter alia values and facts, the state and society, the government and the marketplace, reason and experience, the deductive and the inductive, entities and procedures, formal and substantive rationality, rationality of tools and objectives, public versus private, rights and obligations, and powers and rights. Third is a closed legal process. The legal process can be both a legislative process that generates norms, and a process of law enforcement that implements them. It may further be a judicial process that applies norms. Accordingly, the legal process may be both one for which the rule of law serves as a starting point, or one for which the rule of law stands as the ending point. The state-control law paradigm pursues the statism of legal norms, and thus it is bound to the implementation of a closed legal process. This is primarily manifested in: the two components which are the subjects of rights and the subjects of powers are quite distinct from one another, with the former the creator of the legal order, with the latter only able to be its consumer. The processes of legislation, law enforcement and adjudication are primarily open only to state regulators in the exercise of state power, and relevant stakeholders, administrative counterparts and interested parties have very limited capacity and power to participate therein and influence public decision-making. Regardless of whether a repressive legal instrumentalism is urged, or whether autonomous liberty is, the two components both satisfy the needs of administrative self-sufficiency; yet both fail to heed the mechanisms for canvassing public opinion, recommendations and interest demands, and both lack the necessary attention to administrative information and knowledge deriving from outside the realm of state control.
Lastly, we shall discuss the third fundamental characteristic of the state-control law paradigm, namely the coerciveness of the legal order.
According to the Cihai [TR: This means “Sea of Words” and is a comprehensive dictionary/encyclopedia in China]: “‘Order’ refers to people or things being each in their proper places and contains the meaning of orderliness and observance of rules.” An orderly yet vibrant social order is built upon and springs from the foundation of the legal order. ‘Rule of law’ is this concept that characterizes the state, regardless of whether this is viewed as a strategy of rule of law, or as the principle of administering affairs in accordance with law, ultimately both are expressed as a legal order and they may find their realization in any kind of legal order. Both are a rule of law objective and result, but are moreover an important indicator testing whether or not rule of law advances. The legal order is the result of the practice and implementation of the values of legal norms. The legal order under the state-control law paradigm exhibits a marked coerciveness. This is primarily manifested in the following several ways:
First, the essence of the legal order is that it demands from the masses passive obedience towards the will of the state. State law serves as the only guide to action and the public nature of the order is thus narrowly circumscribed by statism, and the state will in the public domain has an overwhelming advantage over individual choice. Only when citizens completely obey the will of the state can order come into being, and the legal order posits mass observation of law and obedience to the will of the state as its key premise, not the acceptability of the state law or the masses’ heartfelt endorsement of this state will and state administration.
Second, the means of achieving the legal order is mainly via a command/obedience mode. State law posits the assumption that between the different interests of principals; particularly between public and private interests, there exist irreconcilable conflicts, and a means of command/obedience is viewed as the fundamental process for preserving public order; it pays no heed to constructing a mechanism for open consultation between the state and the masses, and further does not believe that the state can maintain social order through non-coercive means such as inspiration and guidance. In this way, the state primarily adopts unilateral, high-handed, coercive, disposition of rights and interests, and public action to enforce the law and maintain order. The state proclaims its order in dictates, and the masses are the recipients of these dictates, with the two parties estranged and the latter’s obligation being absolute obedience only.
Third, the force by which the state preserves the legal order is primarily through the use or threatened use of state coercion. The authority of the state is an appendage set at the apex of national authority, and the state can employ its coercive power to force the masses into obedience to the state will and, by such methods as determining liability for its violation and investigating civil liability, administrative liability and even criminal liability to sanction violators.
Fourth relates to endowing state agencies with legal effectiveness to issue decisions so as to guarantee the predictability of the legal order. At the level of state law, this dictates that judicial action holds within it many types of legal effectiveness, such as res judicata. By imitating judicial actions, administrative action acquires such legal effects as public force, determinative force, binding force, and administrative power, and thus these all reinforce the unilateral and coercive character of legal actions.
The predictability of legal actions the state-control law paradigm stresses can have different emphases, because when the state-control law paradigm combines with different state models, differing legal forms are produced. When wedded to an all-around government, the legal order occupies a dominant position within legal objectives in the administrative law thus engendered, and the emphasis rests upon the predictability of citizens’ behavior; while state administration is replete with discretion. However, when wedded to a night-watchman state, in the power-control law thus produced, the legal order serves as a means of guaranteeing citizens’ freedom as a legal objective, and therefore its emphasis rests rather on the predictability of the choice of government actions.
German to English: KAUFVERTRAG/PURCHASE CONTRACT General field: Law/Patents Detailed field: Law: Contract(s)
Source text - German [SOURCE]
KAUFVERTRAG
(über sukzessive Lieferung beweglicher Sachen)
Zwischen (Unternehmen 1) ………………………………………………………………………….
mit Sitz in ……………………………………………………………………………………………….
- nachfolgend Käufer genannt -
und
(Unternehmen 2) ………………………………………………………………………………………
mit Sitz in ……………………………………………………………………………………………….
- nachfolgend Verkäufer genannt -
wird folgender Kaufvertrag geschlossen:
Die Parteien sind sich einig, dass dieser Vertrag zum Zwecke des Erwerbs von Waren im gewerblichen Bereich abgeschlossen wird.
Als Grundlage des Kaufvertrags erkennen sowohl Verkäufer wie auch Käufer die Bedingungen, wie sie in diesem Vertrag niedergelegt sind, an. Weiterer Bestandteil dieses Vertrags sind die Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen Nr. ……….. vom ……………….. des Verkäufers. Diese Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen sind diesem Vertrag als Anlage beigefügt. Es gelten ausschließlich die Vertragsbedingungen des Verkäufers. Die Geschäftsbedingungen des Käufers gelten nicht.
§1 Vertragsgegenstand
Vertragsgegenstand ist die Lieferung von insgesamt ………………. (Menge/Maß) ………….
(Gegenstand) des Herstellers ……………. (Name, Nummer).
§2 Gültigkeitszeitraum
Der Vertrag tritt am ………………. in Kraft und endet am ………………... Während dieser Zeit ist lediglich die außerordentliche Kündigung möglich.
Anmerkung:
(Bei einmaligen Lieferungen entfällt diese Klausel).
§3 Liefertermin
Lieferzeitraum ist vom ………….. bis zum ………….Der Verkäufer verpflichtet sich, die unter §1 in diesem Vertrag genannte Menge ……….. (genaue Bezeichnung des Kaufgegenstandes) zu gleichen Teilen innerhalb dieses Zeitraums jeweils zum ……….. eines ………………. (Monats/Quartals/Jahres) an den Käufer zu liefern.
Der Käufer seinerseits verpflichtet sich, die Lieferungen bis zum Vertragsende zu den jeweils vereinbarten Terminen anzunehmen.
§4 Vertragsstrafen
Kann der Verkäufer die jeweilige Menge nicht liefern oder kann er die Teil-Lieferungen nicht termingerecht ausführen, ist er zur Zahlung einer Vertragsstrafe an den Käufer verpflichtet. Die Vertragsstrafe beträgt pro verspäteten Werktag ………... Prozent des Auftragswerts, wird aber insgesamt auf € ………... (in Worten: ……………………………………. Euro) je Teil-Lieferung begrenzt.
§5 Kaufpreis
Der Preis beträgt……………… Euro (in Worten: ……………………) pro ….. (Maßeinheit/Menge). Der Kaufpreis gilt für die gesamte Vertragsdauer. Es handelt sich um Nettopreise, ohne die jeweils gültige gesetzliche Umsatzsteuer.
Anmerkung:
(Diese Preis-Stabilitätsklausel könnte bei Waren, die großen Preisschwankungen (z.B. Rohstoffe) unterliegen, oder bei sehr langfristigen Verträgen problematisch werden. Man könnte vereinbaren, dass Preiserhöhungen des Herstellers (ggf. nur in gewissem Rahmen) weitergegeben werden dürfen.)
§6 Zahlungsbedingungen
Der Käufer nimmt die Bezahlung so vor, dass der Betrag spätestens am …….. Tag nach Erhalt der Rechnung beim Verkäufer eingeht.
Leistet der Käufer die Zahlung innerhalb von ………. Tagen nach Rechnungserhalt, ist er zu einem Skontoabzug in Höhe von …. Prozent berechtigt.
§7 Lieferbedingungen
Die Lieferung erfolgt innerhalb Deutschlands „frei Haus“ an den in der Bestellung angegebenen Ort.
§8 Gewährleistung
Der Verkäufer steht für die Betriebsbereitschaft der hergestellten/gelieferten Ware …………………………. (Verkaufsgegenstand) ein und garantiert die Funktionsfähigkeit nach den vereinbarten technischen Daten.
Die Gewährleistungsfrist beginnt mit der Abnahme der Ware und endet nach Ablauf von zwei Jahren.
Anmerkung:
(Die Gewährleistungsfrist kann bei hochwertigen technischen Geräten verlängert werden. Jedoch ist eine Verkürzung der Frist bei neuer Ware nicht möglich, wenn an einen Verbraucher verkauft wird.)
§9 Eigentumsvorbehalt
Die gelieferte Ware (Vorbehaltsware) bleibt bis zur vollständigen Zahlung aller Forderungen aus diesem Vertrag Eigentum des Verkäufers.
Anmerkung:
(Diese Formulierung stellt nur eine einfache Eigentumsvorbehaltsklausel dar. Muster für einen verlängerten Eigentumsvorbehalt und für den Fall der Verarbeitung finden Sie in den Muster-AGB „Allgemeine Verkaufsbedingungen (AGB) für den kaufmännischen Verkehr“ §8).
§10 Erfüllungsort
Vertraglicher Erfüllungsort für beide Vertragspartner ist ………………. Der hier genannte vertragliche Erfüllungsort ersetzt nach dem Willen beider Vertragspartner den in den Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen des Verkäufers Nr. ………………. unter ………………. genannten Erfüllungsort.
§11 Gerichtsstand
Als Gerichtsstand vereinbaren beide Vertragspartner ausdrücklich den in den Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen des Verkäufers Nr. ………………. unter …………….... genannten Gerichtsstand.
Anmerkung:
(An dieser Stelle kann auf Wunsch eine Mediations- und/oder Schiedsgerichtsklausel getroffen werden. Zur Erläuterung einer Mediations- und/oder Schiedsgerichtsklausel siehe unten, Anmerkungen zu §11).
§12 Salvatorische Klausel
Sollte eine Bestimmung dieses Vertrages unwirksam oder undurchführbar sein oder künftig unwirksam oder undurchführbar werden, so werden die übrigen Regelungen dieses Vertrages davon nicht berührt. Anstelle der unwirksamen oder undurchführbaren Regelung verpflichten sich die Parteien schon jetzt, eine wirksame Regelung zu vereinbaren, die dem Sinn und Zweck der unwirksamen oder undurchführbaren Regelung rechtlich und wirtschaftlich möglichst nahekommt. Entsprechendes gilt für die Ausfüllung von Lücken dieses Vertrages.
§13 Textformklausel
Stillschweigende, mündliche oder schriftliche Nebenabreden wurden nicht getroffen. Änderungen und Ergänzungen dieses Vertrages bedürfen der Textform. Dies gilt auch für eine Aufhebung dieser Klausel.
Anmerkung:
(Diese Regelung betrifft Verträge, die mit Verbrauchern in einem Formularvertrag d. h. im Sinne einer allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingung geschlossen werden. Für Verträge mit anderen Unternehmen, sowie Individualabreden ist die Vereinbarung der Schriftform weiterhin wirksam.)
§14 Anlagen
Anlage wurden diesem Vertrag die Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen des Verkäufers Nr. ……... vom ………………. beigefügt.
........................................................
Ort, Datum
The parties agree that this Agreement is concluded for the purpose of the purchase of goods in the commercial field.
Both Seller and Buyer recognize the conditions as set forth in this Agreement. The General Business Conditions of the Seller constitute an additional portion hereof. The General Business Conditions are attached as an annex hereto. This applies exclusively to the Seller’s General Business Conditions. Those of the Buyer are inapplicable.
§1 Subect of the Agreement
The Subect of this Agreement if the delivery of a total of .... (quantity/measure) (Subject) of the manufacturer ... (Name/Number)
§2 Period of Validiity
This Agreement shall come into effect on ... and terminate on ... Termination during this period is only possible in exceptional cases.
§3 Date of Delivery
The delivery period shal run from ... to ... The Seller assumes the obligation to deliver the quantity ... (precise description of the subject of the purchase) set forth in §1 herein in equal parts each within the Period in ... of a (month/quarter/year).
The Buyer, for its part, obligates itself to to accept deliveries on each of the respective delivery dates until the termination of this Agreement.
§4 Penalties
Should the Seller prove unable to make delivery of a respective quantity or a partial delivery on time, it shall be obligated to pay a contract penalty to the Buyer. This shall amount to ... percent of the contract value per workday of delay, but shall be limited to a total of € ... (in words ...) per partial delivery.
§5 Purchase Price
The purchase price shall amount to ... euros (in words ...) per unit (of measure/quantity). This purchase price shall apply to the entire duration of this Agreement. It is a net price exclusive of any legally applicable value added tax.
§6 Payment Conditions
The Buyer shall make payment so that its amount shall, at the latest, arrive on the ... day after receipt of the invoice by the Seller.
The Buyer shall be entitled to a discount deduction of .. percent it makes payment within ... days of recceipt of the invoice.
§7 Delivery Conditions
Deliveries shall take place’free domicile‘ within Germany to the place specified in the order.
§8 Guarantee
The Seller warrants the operational ability of the goods ... (Subject of Agreement) manufactured/delivered. The guarantee period begins with receipt of the goods and terminates after two years elapse.
§9 Retention of Title
The goods delivered (reserved goods) shall remain the property of the Seller until all payment of claims under this Agreement is forthcoming.
§10 Place of Fulfillment
The contractual place of fulfillment for both parties is ... the place of fulfillment specified in No. ... under ... specified place of fulfilment in the General Business Practices of the Seller, but this may be sustituted in accordance with the will of both Parties.
§11 Place of Jurisdiction
The two contract Parties expressly agree that the place of jurisdiction set forth in No. ... under ... specified place of jurisdiction in the Seller’s General Business Conditions shall be the place of jurisdiction.
§12 Severability Clause
If any provision in this Agreement is of no effect or unenforceable, or shall become so in future, this shall not affect the other portions herein. The Parties obligate themselves to agree on an effective stipulation that in sense and meaning is as close legally and commercially as possible to the ineffective or unenforceable provision. The same shall apply to the filling in of any gaps in this Agreement.
§13 Text Form Clause*
No tacit, oral or written ancillary agreements have been made [hereto]. Changes and supplements to this Agreement require text form. This also applies to the cancellation of this clause.
§14 Annexes
No... of ... of the General Business Conditions of the Seller have been attached as an annex hereto.
........................................................
Location, Date
[* “According to § 309 no. 13 b) of the revised version of the German Civil Code, clauses are invalid if they require a form that is more stringent than the text form for notices or statements. Unlike the written form, the text form requires no personal signature; instead a legible statement on a permanent medium, i.e., on paper or an electronic recording medium, suffices. However, the author must be identified and it must be obvious where the content ends.” https://www.goerg.de/en/insights/publications/15-07-2016/new-legal-situation-formulation-of-notices-written-form-vs-text-form]
Chinese to English: Guardianship General field: Law/Patents Detailed field: Law (general)
Translation - English Section 2. Guardianship
Article 26 [Legal obligations as between parents and children] Parents bear the obligation to raise, educate and protect their minor children. Adult children bear the obligation to provide for, support and protect their parents.
Article 27 [Guardians of minors] The parents of minor children shall serve as their guardians.
If the parents of a minor child die or lack the competence to serve as their guardians, the following persons with such competence shall assume the guardianship thereof in the sequence as follows:
I. The minor’s paternal grandparents and maternal grandparents;
II. The minor’s elder siblings; or
III. Another individual or organization who/that is willing to serve as the minor’s guardian, but subject to agreement from the local residents’ committee, village committee or bureau of civil affairs in the place where such minor is domiciled.
Article 28 [Lack of, limited capacity of an adult to engage in civil juristic acts] If an adult lacks capacity or has limited capacity to engage in civil juristic acts, the following persons with the competence to do so shall serve as such incapacitated adult’s guardian, in the sequence as follows:
I. The adult’s spouse;
II. The adult’s parent or child;
III. Any other near relative of the adult; or
IV. Any other individual or organization that is willing to serves as the adult’s guardian, but subject to agreement from the local residents’ committee, village committee or the bureau of civil affairs in the place where the adult is domiciled.
Article 29 [Testamentary designation of guardian] Parents who are guardians of a child may in their last will and testament designate a successor to serve as a guardian for the child.
Article 30 [Agreement to designate guardian] A guardian may be designated via an agreement between persons legally qualified to serve as guardians. The actual wishes of the ward are to be respected when designating a guardian via such an agreement.
Article 31 [Procedures for resolving disputes over guardianship] If a dispute arises over the designation of a guardian, a guardian shall be designated by the local residents’ committee, village committee or bureau of civil affairs in the place where the ward is domiciled, and any party objecting to such designation may apply to a people’s court to appoint a guardian; interested parties may also apply directly to a people’s court to appoint a guardian.
When designating/appointing a guardian, the residents’ committee, village committee, bureau of civil affairs or people’s court shall respect the actual will of the ward in designating/appointing a guardian to act in the ward’s best interests from among those persons who legally qualify.
When a ward’s personal, proprietary and other lawful rights and interests are not subject to any protection before a guardian is appointed per the first paragraph of this Article, the local residents’ committee, village committee, or relevant organization designated in law, or the bureau of civil affairs in the place where the ward is domiciled shall serve as the interim guardian.
A guardian may not be substituted without authorization; if a guardian is substituted without authorization, the responsibilities of the originally appointed guardian are not thereby discharged.
Article 32 [Public guardians] In the event that no person legally qualifies to serve as a guardian, the local bureau of civil affairs where the ward is domiciled shall serve as the guardian, but the local residents’ committee or village committee may also act in that capacity.
Article 33 [Voluntary designation of guardian] Adults with current full capacity to engage in civil juristic acts may, in anticipation of future incapacity, and in consultation with such adults’ near relatives or other individuals or organizations willing to be such persons’ guardians, designate in writing guardians for themselves who shall perform the duties of guardians when such adults shall become incapacitated in whole or in part from engaging in civil juristic acts.
Article 34 [Guardians’ duties and rights and temporary care measures] The duties of a guardian are to represent the ward in engaging in civil juristic acts and to safeguard such ward’s personal, proprietary and other lawful rights and interests. Guardians’ rights arising from the performance of their duties as required by law are to be protected thereunder.
Guardians who fail to perform their duties or who infringe the lawful rights or interests of their wards shall assume legal liability therefor.
When a guardian is temporarily unable to perform his/her duties because of the occurrence of a sudden emergency or other exigent circumstances, thus leaving the ward’s life in a situation devoid of care, the local residents’ committee, village committee or bureau of civil affairs in the place where the ward is domiciled shall arrange for necessary interim measures to provide such life care to the ward.
Article 35 [Principles and requirements for guardians’ performance of their duties] Guardians shall perform their duties in such manner as to safeguard the best interests of their wards. Guardians may not dispose of their wards’ property except to protect the interests of their wards.
When performing their duties and making decisions relating to minors’ interests, guardians of minors shall respect the actual wishes of such minors based on their age and intelligence.
When performing their duties, guardians of adults shall respect the actual wishes of such adults to the greatest extent possible, and ensure these wards may engage in civil juristic acts appropriate to their intelligence and mental health conditions, and aid them in so doing. Guardians may not interfere in any matters which their wards are capable of independently managing.
Article 36 [Revocation of guardianship qualification] When a guardian engages in any of the following acts, a people’s court shall, upon the application of an interested individual or organization, disqualify the guardian, adopt necessary interim measures, and appoint a new guardian to safeguard the ward’s best interests in accordance with law:
I. Engaging in any acts which severely harm the physical or mental health of the ward;
II. Neglecting to perform the duties of a guardian, or being unable to perform such duties, but refusing to delegate all or part of such duties to others, thus leaving the ward in distressed circumstances; or
III. Engaging in other acts which severely infringe the ward’s legal rights and interests.
An interested individual and organization as referred to in this Article includes any other person legally qualified to serve as a guardian, a residents’ committee, village committee, school, medical institution, women’s federation, disabled persons’ federation, child protection organization, organization legally established for senior citizens, bureau of civil affairs, and the like.
When the aforementioned individual and organization other than the bureau of civil affairs, as referenced in the preceding paragraph, fails to apply to a people’s court to timely disqualify a guardian, the bureau of civil affairs shall apply to the people’s court therefor.
Article 37 [Non-exemption of obligations after revocation of guardianship qualification] A parent, child or spouse legally obligated to pay a ward child support, alimony and other maintenance shall continue to perform such obligation(s) even after revocation by a people’s court of his/her qualification to serve as a guardian.
Article 38 [Reinstatement of guardian] After the qualification to serve as a guardian of a ward’s parent or child has been revoked by a people’s court for reasons other than the commission of an intentional crime against the ward, when such person demonstrates true repentance and reform, and applies to the people’s court for reinstatement, the people’s court may, in consideration of the actual circumstances and, per the precondition that the actual wishes of the ward are respected, reinstate such guardian, and the guardianship between the ward and the guardian appointed by the people’s court shall simultaneously terminate.
Article 39 [Circumstances terminating guardianship] A guardianship shall terminate under any of the following circumstances:
I. The ward has gained or recovered the full capacity to engage in civil juristic acts;
II. The guardian has lost the competence to serve as a guardian;
III. The ward or guardian dies; or
IV. Under other circumstance in which the people’s court determines to terminate the guardianship.
When a ward still requires a guardian after the termination of such guardianship, a new guardian must be appointed in accordance with law.
Chinese to English: Modern ink drawing artist Liu Kuo-sung General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Photography/Imaging (& Graphic Arts)
Source text - Chinese 现代水墨画家刘国松，毕生致力于「中国画现代化」的研究与实践，他于1956年创立了「五月画会」，尝试将西方抽象主义运动融入在创作中，既符合中国水墨画特色，又富含现代气息，影响了中国艺坛对水墨的定义，也因此被尊为「现代水墨之父」。本季[已删除]拍整理了刘国松自60年代至2000年后的作品，《春之交响》和《月之变位》便是其中精彩的代表作品。
创作于1993年的《春之交响》为一三联屏的作品，艺术家巧妙地交错运用其抽筋、水拓、拓墨、渍墨等独特技法，画面中央以粗犷犹劲的狂草线条，呈现连绵的山峦，山峦尽头以墨色与石青、石绿交错互迭，于作品上方形成气流律动、气象万千之感；画面下方的留白呈现出中国水墨美学中的「虚实相生」，在墨与色交融间，交响出春色盎然的明快乐章。
《月之变位》为2007年的创作。源于艺术家于1960年代末期，受到航天员登陆月球之启发，进而开始其探索宇宙奥秘的「太空时期」系列作品。画面上半部的月亮以绘制，平面圆形色块中的红色由深到浅、紧接着满月之后、再由浅至深，暗示月亮的阴晴圆缺，也有周而复始、生生不息之意涵。同时以俯视地球的视点，使观者彷若置身太空，将自我与万物平列、而融合于自然之中，表现出「天地与我并生，万物与我合一」、超然物外的祥和境界。
美籍华人艺术家陈荫罴George Chann，在跨越半世纪的艺术生涯中，致力融贯东西方美学，风格独帜。2014年的春季拍卖Spring Auction，我们十分荣幸为您带来十四件来自陈荫罴家族收藏的罕见作品。这一系列作品中，我们可以看见陈荫罴 投注一生的艺术历程，以及他游走于具象与抽象之间悠然自得的画风，是二十世纪抽象艺术进程中一位不可忽视的重要海外华人艺术家。
1913年出生于中国广东省中山县，他在十二岁就随着父亲移民至美国加州；他早期的绘画成形于四Ｏ年代初期，用后印象派 手法来描绘社会写实的题材，从《红磨坊 第四号 - 跳舞的女子》Moulin Rouge No. 4作品里，我们可以窥见陈荫罴在这个时期的绘画里，浓厚的社会写实风格与精神，洋溢着他对于弱势族群 深切的人道主义关怀。
当抽象表现主义蔚为风行，在1950年代开始成为美国艺术的主流，在这当下，陈䕃罴也开始思考他艺术创作 风格蜕变的下一个方向，因此也对中国文化与美学根源进行深刻的追溯。《矗立的山景》Vertical Mountains以及《绿茵上的抽象书法》Abstract Calligraphy on Green Field正是在这个探索方向中同时并进的试炼；这两件作品同样创作于六Ｏ年代，我们可以一方面看到他对于中国传统山水与书法的精湛功力，一方面也惊叹于当陈荫罴企图将山水构图转书于画布的同时，更大胆地实验着对于各种媒材的应用。
陈荫罴在此将古代碑文或器物所拓下的书法拓本作为基底，再将纸本撕剪为断续的文字残片，拼贴于画布之上，运用笔墨、油彩及粉彩等多种材质，以书法笔触书写于上，堆砌出繁复、细腻而又丰富的视觉层次。如此变化多端的媒材与色彩运用，也延续到他接下来七Ｏ到八Ｏ年代的创作中，像是《蓝色拼贴》Blue Collage就是一件绝佳的经典代表之作。
然而从七Ｏ年代的《画布上的船舶》Boats on Canvas，可以清楚看到，陈荫罴在与西方抽象绘画形式并进的同时，他从来未曾刻意褪去对于具象形象的表述，说明了他对于 尘世间一切熙来攘往的眷恋以及深具关怀的感悟。
这个系列中 最重要的一件作品《洛杉矶暴动 – 罗德尼‧金恩》L.A. on Fire – Rodney King，是陈荫罴有感于 1992年震惊国际的洛杉矶 暴动事件的创作。高彩度的饱和色彩，重现了当时警民间高张的对立情绪，狂放而颤动的笔触，隐隐可见艺术家对于暴戾之气与社会冲突的忧心与感念，是陈荫罴在1995年辞世前感人至深的最后一件重要创作，历史价值弥足珍贵。
Translation - English Modern ink drawing artist Liu Kuo-sung has devoted his life to research into and the practice of ‘modernizing Chinese painting.’ He founded the ‘Fifth Moon’ in 1956 in an attempt to integrate the Western Abstract movement into his creation, to comport with both Chinese ink characteristics and rich modernity, thus influencing the very definition of the Chinese ink art scene, hence his sobriquet ‘Father of Modern Ink.’ This season’s show features Liu Kuo-sung’s 1960s to 2000 works The Song of Spring and Moon of Displacement, both of which are sublime representative works.
Created in 1993, is a triple-canvas work. The artist adroitly uses staggered, feathered watercolor dripping, ink dripping, ink stains and other unique techniques, with rough cursive lines at the center of the canvas, to depict undulating mountains, whose ends are ink and azurite, with alternating malachite green to impart a rhythm of air flow to the work, a sense of vast meteorological motion. The blank portion left over at the bottom of the canvas exhibits the aesthetics of Chinese ink painting’s ‘illusion and truth,’ and where the ink and color blend a clear and bright symphonic springtime resounds.
Moon of Displacement is a 2007 creation. Derived from the artist’s original inspiration stemming from the astronauts’ Moon landing in the late 1960s, he commenced his Exploration of the Mysteries of the Universe series of works. The half-Moon on the canvas is executed in acrylic paint, its flat red pigmented disc runs from dark to light. Immediately after the full moon, light shading to bright re-appears, suggesting that the moon is waning, and implying the endless repetition of this cycle over and over. A position looking down onto the Earth from above causes the viewer to feel as if in space, flying alongside all Creation, and this oneness with Nature conveys a sense of ‘The world and I coexist, and Creation and I are one,’ in a peaceful realm free of worldly vanity.
Chinese-American artist George Chann was committed to integrating Eastern and Western aesthetics in his own unique style over his art career spanning half a century. It is accordingly our great honor to present to you in our [redacted] auction 14 rare works from the collections of George Chann’s family members. We may discern in this set of works the entire course of George Chann’s lifelong devotion to art and his nonchalant wending between concrete and abstract styles that brands him an important overseas-Chinese artist, one not to be overlooked in the course of 20th century abstract art.
Born in 1913 in Zhongshan County, Guangdong Province, he went to California at the age of 12 as an immigrant alongside his father. His early works took form in the period of the 1940s, employing post-impressionist techniques to depict socio-realist themes. We may discern in his work Moulin Rouge No. 4 George Chann’s social realist style and a spirit that bespeaks a a deep humanitarian concern for vulnerable groups.
The talent he revealed in his early years earned him the respect of Los Angeles County Museum curator Roland McKinney and, in the year following his graduation – 1942 - upon invitation by the curator he staged an exhibition, and George Chann thereby became the first Overseas Chinese to exhibit at this museum.
When Abstract Impressionism became the rage and began to form the mainstream current in American art in the 1950s, George Chann also started to think about transforming the orientation of his style, and therefore engaged in a thorough tracing back of Chinese culture and the origins of its aesthetics. Vertical Mountains and Abstract Calligraphy on a Green Field were both trials conducted at the same time in this exploratory direction. These two works, both produced in the 1960s, display on the one hand his consummate skill with Chinese traditional landscapes and calligraphy, and on the other hand inspire marvel at Chann’s attempts to transform landscape compositions into canvases at the same time as he boldly experimented with the application of a medley of media.
George Chann used rubbings taken from old tablet inscriptions and artifacts as his foundation, then tore or cut the paper to produce strips which he then pasted as a collage onto the canvas, employing such varied media as brush and ink, oil colors and pastels, upon which he then inscribed calligraphy with a brush to pile up levels of complexity, with detailed, rich visual layers. This great assortment of media and use of color extended into his 1970s and 1980s works, such as Blue Collage, which is a superb representative classic.
However, the 1970s Boats on Canvas clearly reveals that Chann, while at the same time as plying Western abstract painting, never intentionally forswore figurative image representation, describing the world and the all the hustle and bustle of large crowds with a feeling of deep solicitude.
The most important work in this series, LA on Fire – Rodney King, encapsulates George Chann’s creation inspired by his sentiments regarding the internationally-shocking violent incident in Los Angeles [where white police officers beat a black suspect senselessly, acts which sparked subsequent ghetto riots after the officers were acquitted]. The high-intensity color saturation reproduces the tense antagonism between people and police, with wild fibrillating strokes that resonate with angst, and a feeling of faintness in the face of harshness and social conflict. This, the last and most moving work Chann created before his death in 1995, stands today as a creation rife with historical value.
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