In China, during the traditional period, a phenomenon existed akin to the modern Western historical development, wherein people established social relations through market-based contractual means under the rule of an imperial bureaucracy. After initially outlining this situation, the book presents two main issues. Firstly, although a dual structure of state and society existed there, the nature of legal subjects, the essence of rights, the conduct of trials, and the nature of contracts differed significantly from their modern counterparts. We aim to elucidate these specifics as clearly as possible. Secondly, in undertaking this task conceptually independently, we seek to identify unique Chinese legal concepts and clarify their position about traditional Western law and modern law. In the latter part of the chapter, we introduce the characteristics of critical figures (emperor, gentry, ordinary people) in preparation for the following discussions.