Local regulations should never infringe on people's legal rights

FENGGANG COUNTY government in Southwest China's Guizhou province has reportedly issued a draft regulation on local wedding banquets, forbidding those who remarry from holding celebratory feasts. Rednet.cn attributes Fenggang government's move to a lack of legal awareness and calls for the legal authorities to play a bigger role in local governance.

In Fenggang's case, what is even more noteworthy than the local government's flawed regulation is that the legal affairs office has been marginalized.

Much-criticized local regulations, such as Fenggang's ban on celebratory banquets being held by remarried couples, points to the fact that local legal affairs authorities are often excluded from decision-making.