From Local to Central: Legal Responsibilities in the Legislation for the Protection of Ancient and Famous Trees in China

A comprehensive and systematic examination of the legal responsibility in the legislation for the protection of ancient and famous trees in China is conducted. Through combing the list of legal responsibilities of the administrative counterparts involved in the protection of ancient and famous trees in the 55 provincial local legislation in China, it is found that they present a variety of types of offence, and the way of assuming the responsibility is mainly by imposing fines. There are other problems such as legislative gaps in the setting of legal responsibilities for the protection of ancient and famous trees in legislation, contradiction of the higher law, large differences in the amount of fines, and different bases for penalties inside and outside the urban planning area. In this regard, it is proposed that regulations on the protection of ancient and famous trees should be issued as soon as possible at the national level to fill the legislative gaps, to unify the basis for penalties inside and outside the urban planning area, to set up offences scientifically, to set up reasonable fines, etc., so as to provide references for the legislation on the protection of ancient and famous trees at the national level.