Chapter I Introduction to Community Interest 1.1 The Historical Development of Community Interest Principle "Community interest" plays a significant and indispensable role in political, economic and legal fields. As a concept first proposed by common law system, community interest varies largely from public order and good custom in civil law system, means judges can use the general requirements of public order and good customs settle disputes in the absence of law, despite some similarities. As defined by common law system in the Middle Ages, "community interest" mainly refers to the peaceful life of kings, and the legal field in which rulers assert intervention rights for the sake of the interests of the kingdoms and other subjects. Along with the development of civil society, community interest is defined more concretely, and besides, the concept of individual interest came into existence as well. In the 18 century, French materialist Helvetius emphasized that individual interest Should not contravene the community interest of the vast majority of people, and individual interest and community interest shall be unified. Based on interest rules analysis, Helvetius suggested imposing constraints on right holders by legal means, turning "right of enjoyment" into the "happiness of the vast majority of people" and "social public service".3 Meanwhile, he demanded that social public be constrained and guided by law so as to connect individual interest with community interest closely. As can be seen, attention has been paid to community interest at that time, when some scholars have also begun to study and discuss this concept. The community interest that represented the so-called "common power" in the Middle Ages had been turned into the interests of the vast majority of peoplein the 18th century: In the 19th century, German jurist Jhering proposed the combination of "social interest" with "individual interest", placing particular emphasis on "social interest", and facilitating the transformation Of the value orientation of capitalism law from individual standard into social standard objectively, thus, the theory of "social interest" is of epoch-making significance. Here, the meaning of social interest is the same as community interest. In the century, Pound, the representative of social law school, described social interest as an independent part and made an analysis on it along with "community interest" and "individual interest". In his view, community interest is "all kinds of requirements, needs or wishes a political organization puts forward in social life based on its status". It can be seen that what community interest represents is the "privilege" that a country enjoys in social operation, including self-interest and the interest of the corrective represented by social public. In civil law system, public order refers to the rules that can assure the stable and efficient operation of the whole society or a part of the society. 1 As stipulated by Article 6 in French Civil Code of 1984, individuals shall not go against relevant public orders and good customs with special agreement. Public order and good custom relies on the standard of "social legitimacy" in social application process, Characterized by protective purpose, public order and good custom plays a role in the execution process. II In practice, the application of community interest or public order and good custom is aimed at protecting or realizing the value and interest of social unity in private economic arrangements or government's economic regulation Activities. In ancient China, under the influence of feudal thoughts, much emphasis was Placed on the interests of emperor power and country, with little attention paid to individual interest. After the foundation of New China, the concepts of "individual interest" and "social community interest" were proposed, whereas their development has been Not until 1980s, severely stunted by the feudal thoughts developed in past dynasties. was individual interest recognized by China. While national interest was highlighted, the thought of "social community interest" was first expressed and infiltrated into legislation, which has been reflected in department laws.16Since then, society, individual and country have been turned into an independent entity to be included as the subject of social relations together with interest unit, and social community interest has also evolved into a legal practice in China. As summarized in common law system and civil law system, after three centuries of development, community interest mainly refers to the interest of the vast majority of people in the society on the premise of social legitimacy, or the common interest of the all members in the society. The interest of the vast majority of people in the society and the common interest of all the members in the society are measured based on different standards. Whether the former is community interest is determined by quantity, while the latter pays more attention to common value. Both the interest of the vast majority of people in the society and the common interest of all the members in the society have reflected public, uniformity and fairness that community interest pursues.