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����In medieval Europe, central government had weak control over local governments, a situation that laid the important foundation for constraining sovereign power and implementing modern rule of law.States, manors, and cities commonly enjoyed autonomy.The jurisdic-tion of kings, lords, heads of civil councils and other local officials was an inherent authority rather than one granted by the emperor.Although local power could not compare with sovereign power, it was independent of the latter and a tendency toward the decentralization and diversifi-cation of power.Such a relationship between central and local govern-ments led to a particular Western tradition of a pluralist legal system including state laws, feudal laws, manor laws, city laws and business laws, in which legalinstitutions and judiciaries were not monopolized by central government.Of these, feudallaw regulated the rights-obligations relationsFup between feudal lords and vassals; manor laws regulated the relationship between lords and peasants and agricultural production;city law was a system of laws determined by citizens to ensure city autonomy and order; business law regulated domestic and international trade as well as maritime commerce.These sets of laws were the result of two sides being in agreement, rather than the stronger side imposing its will.Although the emperor was the most powerful lord, the relation-ship between emperor and kings, kings and vassals, central government and cities was not a relationship of one-way dorrunance and submis-sion, but a contractual relationship predicated on mutual benefits,a relationship containing stable rights and obligations.This unique legal tradition restricted the power and status of the monarch by means of laws and contracts, making it possible to establish modern rule of law with its emphasis on "restriction on public power and assurance of hu-man rights" and its removal of absolute power from the emperor and kings.����In China, the traditional central-local government relationship was completely different.With the abolition of the enfeoffment system and the establishment of prefectures and counties by Qin Shi Huang (259-210 B.C.),the first emperor of the Qin, things changed-the enfeoffment system only maintained lordship status symbolically, and there was an increasing trend toward unification; centralized authotity expanded so widely that the em-peror gradually deepened his control over the local governments' jurisdic-tion over property, personnel, military power and judiciary.For example,the selection, appointment and removal of local officials were decided centrally via the imperial examination system; by appointing finanaal offi-cials at the local level and conducting vert:ical management, local financial resources were turned over to the center; by minimizing local govern-ments' power of military deployment, authority to mobilize troops rested chiefly with the central government; establishing a centraLized legislation system where the central government had virtually all legislative power while the local governments had none; making the emperor the supreme judge, able to change judiaal decisions at will.��������