In the ancient city of Datong, Shanxi Province, a law enforcement controversy caused by breaking locks and turning on lights at night was like a giant rock thrown into the public opinion arena, stirring up layers of waves.
(Image source: Phoenix News)
The Gulou Community Neighborhood Committee of Gucheng Street Office in Pingcheng District, Datong City issued the "Gucheng Lighting Proposal" before the New Year: advocating that shops should create a joyful, peaceful, and festive atmosphere during the period from the 28th of the twelfth lunar month to the 15th of the first lunar month, from 18:00 to the early morning of the next day as the lighting period; Commercial stores within the ancient city should ensure sufficient indoor lighting, and all signage, advertising boards, LED electronic screens, and lanterns should be lit up until dawn the next day.
Mr. Yue, the party involved in the case, is a merchant of the ancient city. On the evening of February 3rd, he received a call from the local property management requesting to turn on the lights in the store, otherwise he would have to ask the police to pry open the store door. After Mr. Yue refused to go to the store and turn on the lights due to no one inside and too late, the monitoring equipment in his store showed that 10 minutes later, several staff members wearing reflective uniforms with the words "Pingcheng Comprehensive Law Enforcement" pried open the door of Mr. Yue's store and turned on all the lights in the store after entering. Mr. Yue later returned to the scene and found that the locks of the store had been severely damaged, and even the door panels had been pried and deformed.
(Image source: Phoenix News)
On one hand, there are law enforcement actions with the beautiful intention of "creating a festive atmosphere", while on the other hand, there are angry responses from merchants due to property rights damage. Behind this seemingly contradictory situation, it deeply reflects an important issue that urgently needs to be addressed in grassroots governance - how to balance the ideology of the rule of law and the warmth of human nature? As legal practitioners, it is necessary for us to deeply analyze this incident and explore the correct path for the rule of law to be implemented at the grassroots level.
Legitimacy of formulation basis: If the national administrative organs want to make regulations on the lighting time of ancient cities, they need to have legal basis. Local governments may formulate lighting regulations based on relevant laws and regulations such as the Urban and Rural Planning Law, the Regulations on Urban Appearance and Environmental Sanitation Management, etc., in order to enhance the image of the city and optimize the public environment, but the content of the regulations cannot conflict with higher-level laws.
Legitimacy of procedure formulation: The formulation of administrative regulations should follow certain procedures, such as conducting necessary research, soliciting opinions, etc. If the lighting time regulations involve significant public interests or have a significant impact on merchants, it may be necessary to follow major administrative decision-making procedures, including public participation, expert argumentation, risk assessment, legality review, and collective discussion and decision-making.
The reason why law enforcement officers were able to break in without fear in this incident is that the Gulou Community Neighborhood Committee of the Gucheng Street Office in Pingcheng District issued the "Gucheng Lighting Proposal" before the New Year. Propose that shops keep their lights on continuously at night throughout the Spring Festival period to create a joyful, peaceful, and festive festive atmosphere. However, since it is called the "Proposal", it means that it only belongs to the advocacy, instructions, and encouragement of relevant units, and has no legal enforceability in itself, nor can it become the basis for administrative agencies to enforce it.
But from the practice of grassroots law enforcement, those so-called "initiatives" are often ultimately treated as orders by law enforcement officers. Correspondingly, failure to comply with the "initiative" will be considered as disobedience to the "order", which will also trigger enforcement by administrative agencies; In serious cases, the public security organs may even intervene and consider that the failure of the parties to fulfill the decisions and orders issued by the people's government constitutes a punishable act of obstructing official duties.
This set of law enforcement logic also makes people reflect: why is "initiative" distorted into "coercion"? Is this a result of grassroots law enforcement personnel's layered escalation of law enforcement, or is it a habitual collusion between advocates and implementers?
In this incident, the act of prying locks instantly became the focus of controversy, and the key lies in whether its execution has legal and regulatory basis and whether the enforcement procedures are legal and compliant. It should be noted that the property rights of merchants are strictly protected by law, and even for legitimate public management needs, they must follow the legal procedures such as warnings and reminders stipulated in the Administrative Compulsory Law. In this case:
No basis for compulsory enforcement: Article 2, Paragraph 3 of the Administrative Compulsory Law refers to the act of an administrative agency or an administrative agency applying to a people's court to compel citizens, legal persons, or other organizations who fail to comply with administrative decisions to fulfill their obligations in accordance with the law. Article 13: Administrative enforcement shall be established by law. The "Ancient City Lighting Initiative" issued by Gulou Community, Gucheng Street Office, Pingcheng District, Datong, is an advocacy document in legal nature and does not have legal effect or administrative enforcement power. However, the staff treated it as a mandatory order, requiring merchants to comply with the lighting regulations. This act of turning the initiative into a mandatory one has no legal basis.
Violation of legal procedures: According to Article 34 of the Administrative Enforcement Law, if an administrative agency makes an administrative decision in accordance with the law and the party fails to fulfill its obligations within the time limit determined by the administrative agency, the administrative agency with administrative enforcement power shall enforce it in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Article 35: Before making a decision on compulsory enforcement, administrative organs shall urge the parties to fulfill their obligations in advance. The reminder shall be made in writing and specify the following matters: (1) the deadline for fulfilling obligations; (2) The way of fulfilling obligations; （3） If it involves monetary payment, there should be a clear amount and payment method; （4） The parties have the right to make statements and defend themselves in accordance with the law. Article 37: If the party concerned fails to comply with the administrative decision within the prescribed time limit without justifiable reasons after being urged, the administrative authority may make a compulsory enforcement decision. But in this incident, the merchant's failure to turn on the lights did not involve any illegal behavior. Law enforcement officers forcibly pried open the door and turned on the lights in the store, which clearly violated legal procedures.
In reality, this kind of lock picking law enforcement is not only highly likely to infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of merchants, but also to tarnish the image of the "rule of law government" that we have been striving to build. If grassroots governance always relies on this simple and crude "breaking in" method, over time, the lock of the rule of law will eventually be corroded by rigid implementation, and the foundation of the rule of law will also be shaken.
Requesting merchants to keep their lights on 24 hours a day is said to be to "create an atmosphere", but does this really meet the actual needs? Does forcing merchants to turn on their lights to create an atmosphere infringe upon their interests and rights?
Property rights and interests: Article 13 of the Constitution stipulates that citizens' legitimate private property shall not be infringed upon, and Article 240 of the Civil Code also emphasizes the right of the owner to possess, use, benefit from, and dispose of their own immovable or movable property. The staff broke the lock into the store without the merchant's permission, damaging the merchant's property such as door locks and infringing on the merchant's property rights.
Self operation right: Merchants have the right to independently operate their shops, including deciding whether and when to turn on the lights. And the relevant departments forcibly required the lights to be turned on and used methods such as prying doors, interfering with the normal operation of merchants and infringing on their business autonomy.
Staff who enter the store without the merchant's permission not only infringe on the merchant's property rights and independent operation rights, but also may be suspected of violating the management provisions of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law. Article 49 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law stipulates that those who steal, defraud, loot, seize, extort or intentionally damage public or private property shall be detained for five to ten days and may be fined up to 500 yuan; Those with serious circumstances shall be detained for not less than ten days but not more than fifteen days, and may be fined not more than one thousand yuan. If judicial personnel abuse their power to commit such behavior, they shall be punished severely.
The night economy of the ancient city requires an environment full of fireworks and human touch, but it cannot prosper by simply lighting up the "eternal light"; The core of the development of the cultural and tourism industry lies in the improvement of service quality, rather than relying solely on so-called lighting tactics. When management thinking is still stuck in the old model of pursuing "uniformity", the seemingly glamorous "landscape engineering" actually illuminates outdated thinking that is detached from reality and mechanically solidified, which goes against the true direction of the people's hearts.
How can merchants protect their legitimate rights and interests in this storm?
Civil liability: Merchants can demand confirmation of the illegality of the behavior and request compensation for losses through administrative litigation or administrative reconsideration; You can also file a civil lawsuit with the court to demand compensation for property losses; You can also report the illegal behavior of the law enforcement personnel involved to the disciplinary inspection and supervision organs.
Administrative liability: According to Article 4 of the State Compensation Law of the People's Republic of China, if administrative organs and their staff illegally exercise their powers and cause property losses, the victim has the right to apply for administrative compensation. Merchants can make compensation claims for door lock repair costs, electricity bills, business losses, etc.
Administrative penalty liability: According to the Law on Administrative Penalties for Public Officials, staff members who abuse administrative power may face disciplinary actions such as warning, demerit, major demerit, demotion, dismissal, or expulsion.
Supervision and accountability: The higher-level government departments have an inescapable supervisory responsibility in this incident, and must promptly initiate investigation procedures in accordance with relevant laws and regulations such as the Administrative Penalty Law, Administrative Compulsory Law, and Public Officials Disciplinary Law to rigorously review the legality of administrative actions throughout the incident. Once it is confirmed that there is an illegal administrative action, not only should the direct executors be held accountable, but also the decision-makers should be held accountable. It is not enough to just make superficial promises such as "improvement work", but to ensure the legitimate and standardized exercise of administrative power through effective accountability mechanisms and avoid similar incidents from happening again.
In summary, the lighting incident in the ancient city of Shanxi has exposed many problems from multiple legal perspectives, which urgently need to be resolved through various measures such as improving legal basis, standardizing law enforcement procedures, and strengthening accountability, in order to maintain the rule of law order and the legitimate rights and interests of all parties.
This lock picking scandal has mercilessly exposed the deep-seated concerns in the current business environment. Merchants are not props of urban landscapes, they are crucial cells in the urban economic ecology. When "brainstorming decisions" replace market rules, and when administrative instructions arbitrarily override the operational autonomy of merchants, even with good investment policies, it is difficult to resist the collapse of confidence brought to merchants by this "pry and pry" behavior. So, to optimize the business environment, for us, the first thing we need to do is learn to respect market entities, learn to "let go" of them, and let them operate with peace of mind and thrive under the protection of the rule of law.
Gao Dun has said that at the level of legislation and institutional construction, it is necessary to refine and improve relevant regulations on administrative power, clarify the boundaries of power and various procedures for administrative actions, and provide legal basis for administrative actions.
Law enforcement norms and supervision level: Develop strict law enforcement operation manuals to regulate behavior, establish an integrated internal and external supervision system, and promptly detect and handle illegal law enforcement situations.
Legal awareness and training level: Organize law enforcement personnel to learn relevant laws and strengthen practice, while popularizing legal knowledge to the public and enhancing their awareness of supervision and rights protection.
At the level of dispute resolution and accountability: Establish sound dispute resolution channels to safeguard rights and interests, strictly implement accountability mechanisms, hold violators and relevant leaders accountable, and prevent similar incidents from happening again.
Beijing Gaodun Law Firm
Address: No. 9, North Bank of Bahe, Jiangtai Township, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Phone: 010-87336055
