The Constitutional Meanings of the Right of Habitation Norms in the Civil Code

The right of habitation stipulated in the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China contains strong constitutional elements. The principle of socialism and the basic right clauses articulated in the Constitution are fundamental values for protections of the right of habitation in civil law and constitute the background norms of interpretation of the right of habitation in civil law. According to the principle of constitution, such as disposition of basic rights, restriction of basic rights and conflict of basic rights, the disposition of right of habitation is subject to certain restriction and the protection of constitution’s “weakness” nature. In dealing with civil cases in which citizens’ right of habitation conflicts with other citizens’ rights and administrative cases in which the state expropriates and requisitions property based on public interests, the court should cultivate the constitution consciousness at the macro level, and distinguish the different positions of constitutional validity in “judgment basis” and “judgment reason” at the micro level, so as to accurately explain and guide the application of the civil law residence right norms based on the principle of constitutional fundamental rights.