30/09/2025
When Shall the Vietnamese Legal System Attain Perfection?
For a long time, there have been lamentations regarding the imperfection of the Vietnamese legal system, and I am frequently asked the question: "When will the Vietnamese legal system be perfected?"
I often reply, "In more than a thousand years."
"Why is that?" they ask. "Ah," I explain, "I say that so you will have to wait for over a thousand years to conclude whether I am right or wrong. Should that time come and I am proven wrong, I will accept the penalty." In reality, not only in Vietnam but also in developed nations across the globe, no national legal system is considered to be perfect.
In countries with advanced economic development, the stability of the legal system is greater; consequently, its strengths exhibit high stability, and its weaknesses also persist for a longer duration. However, due to their extensive historical experience, these nations have developed mechanisms for flexible adaptation and adjustment to conform to societal fluctuations. In other words, they have established what constitutes the skeleton and what is the flesh. Cosmetic changes can be made freely without fear of breaking the bones.
The Vietnamese legal system has numerous deficiencies, not only because its very foundation—the level of economic development and social evolution—is undergoing rapid change and fluctuation, but also for other reasons:
Firstly, the contemporary Vietnamese legal system is rooted in the Soviet legal system and shares nearly the same ideological and jurisprudential foundation. However, there are also internal inconsistencies within this ideological structure. The Soviet legal system was based on the ideologies of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, yet these two ideological systems themselves have points of divergence. A person standing on a stool with two wobbly legs would find it exceedingly difficult to maintain balance.
A common tenet of the legal thought of Marx and Lenin, which Vietnam also applies, is that the genesis of the State and law are intrinsically linked and are founded upon class struggle. This constitutes a fundamental difference from the prevailing doctrines on the origin of the State and law in Western countries.
Secondly, because the Vietnamese legal system is not an indigenous product but rather a copy imported from elsewhere, upon its application in Vietnam, it clashes with social realities. This has led to the formation of a "hotpot" mixture, which no longer retains the integrity and authenticity of the original models.
It is not Civil Law, not Common Law, and even the Soviet Law component is no longer in its original form. It is a legal system blended from all manner of ingredients but which has had the misfortune of not becoming a well-crafted cocktail.
This peculiar product owes its existence in large part to legal experts. Those educated in Common Law jurisdictions contribute suggestions for reform in the Common Law style, while those educated in Civil Law jurisdictions do so in the Civil Law style. The presiding drafters, being indecisive and lacking a clear conviction, tend to haphazardly insert any suggestion that sounds appealing. The result is a veritable hodgepodge.
Thirdly, to discuss perfection, one must have a basis and criteria for determining what is good and what is not. Yet, practice demonstrates that when contributing to the refinement of draft laws, no one articulates a highly theoretical ideological foundation concerning the ultimate goal. How can perfection ever be achieved when it is demanded without a clear understanding of what is good versus what is not? The contribution to and construction of law are based more on personal sentiment than on a coherent legal philosophy.
However, one should not be pessimistic. The world comprises approximately 200 nations, yet there are only a few archetypal legal systems (Civil Law, Common Law, Religious Law). Soviet Law, it seems, has not yet been recognized as a distinct system in its own right. Vietnam is not the only nation facing this predicament.
Author: Mr. Ha Huy Phong