The essence of contract law refers to the inherent legal characteristics of contract law, which is different from other laws in adjusting social relations. Contract law is essentially a legal norm to regulate the relationship between property circulation. The contract law takes the creditor-debtor relationship, that is, the rights and obligations of the parties, as the direct adjustment object, and its deep social relationship is the social property circulation relationship. Property relations regulated by civil law include static property relations and dynamic property relations, that is, property ownership and property circulation relations. The contract law adjusts the dynamic property circulation relationship, reflects the repayment or performance of debts arising from activities such as transferring products or money, completing work and providing services between equal subjects, and reflects the legal transfer process of property from one civil subject to another. This is the obvious difference between contract law and property law. Although the Contract Law and the Property Law are both property laws, the property right, especially the ownership in them, directly stipulates the ownership relationship of social property. The problem to be solved is who owns the existing property, mainly the means of production. Therefore, ownership and even the whole property right is essentially a static state that stipulates and reflects social property relations. As a legal norm to adjust the relationship between creditor's rights, contract law stipulates and embodies the transfer of social property or other labor achievements from production field to exchange field, and then into consumption field through exchange field. Its main content is to transfer the occupied property, and the purpose of transformation is either to realize the possession of property or to create new possession. Therefore, the contract is an important legal means for the parties to dispose of or obtain property, which fully embodies the state of property movement in the circulation field. Contract law regulates and adjusts this property circulation relationship by confirming and ensuring that the parties to the contract correctly exercise their rights, perform their obligations and restrain their own behaviors according to law. The status of contract law refers to the status of contract law as an important law in China's legal system. In short, contract law is an independent civil law in the civil law system. In China's legal system, civil law is a departmental law under the Constitution, and civil law itself is a huge legal system, which is composed of several separate laws that regulate certain civil relations, such as trademark law, patent law and inheritance law. Contract law is an important part of it, and property law is also such a separate law. Although the basic principles and systems of civil law are applicable to contract law, contract law regulates various contractual relationships with its special or specific systems and regulations. The validity of a contract, also known as the legal validity of a contract, means that a legally established contract is legally binding. Its legal characteristics are as follows: (1) The validity of a contract only exists in a legally established contract or a contract that meets the conditions for legal entry into force. For a contract that is not established, it certainly has no legal effect; For a contract that does not have the effective elements, it naturally cannot have the legal effect of the contract. Therefore, the effective establishment of the contract is the premise of the legal effect of the contract. (2) The validity of a contract is the legal effect given to it by the contract law and other laws. The contract itself is an agreement between the parties. Without the contract law and other laws, it cannot have legal effect. The reason why a contract has legal effect is that the agreement between the parties meets the requirements of the law and is protected by the law, thus having legal effect. (3) The validity of a contract is legally binding. All contract-related actions of both parties are bound by this binding force. (1) The law confirming the validity of the contract applies to 1. It is the legal authority and duty of the arbitration tribunal to confirm the validity of the contract. Paragraph 2 of Article 10 of China's Arbitration Law stipulates: "The arbitration tribunal has the right to confirm the validity of the contract." To arbitrate contract disputes, the first problem to be solved is to confirm the validity of the contract. The arbitration tribunal shall examine whether the contract is established, whether the established contract is valid and whether the valid contract has come into effect. Because the principles and legal consequences of valid contracts and invalid contracts are different. If the contract is confirmed to be valid after examination, the rights and obligations of the parties agreed in the contract will be protected by law, and disputes between them should be handled on the basis of the rights and obligations agreed in the contract. If the contract is confirmed to be invalid, it is not legally binding from the time it is concluded. Disputes between the parties should not be judged on the basis of invalid contracts, but should be dealt with according to specific conditions and laws and administrative regulations. 2. The law applicable to the entry into force of the contract. Article 44 of the Contract Law stipulates: "A contract established according to law shall take effect upon its establishment. If the laws and administrative regulations stipulate that approval, registration and other procedures shall take effect, such provisions shall prevail. " Contract law distinguishes the concepts of contract formation and contract validity. However, the second paragraph of Article 44 of the above Contract Law stipulates that there is no problem if the laws and administrative regulations clearly stipulate that the contract shall take effect from the date of approval and registration. However, if it is only stipulated that the contract should go through the formalities of examination and approval and registration, but it is not clearly stipulated as an effective element, its legal effect is not clear. In this regard, Article 9 of the Supreme People's Court's Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the People's Republic of China (PRC) Contract Law stipulates: "According to the second paragraph of Article 44 of the contract law, laws and administrative regulations stipulate that a contract shall go through the formalities of approval or approval and registration before it comes into effect, and the parties fail to go through the formalities of approval or registration before the end of the debate in the court of first instance. Laws and administrative regulations stipulate that a contract shall go through the registration formalities, but they do not stipulate that it will take effect after registration. The failure of the parties to go through the registration formalities does not affect the validity of the contract, and the ownership and other property rights of the subject matter of the contract cannot be transferred. The alteration, assignment and dissolution of the contracts listed in the second paragraph of Article 77, Article 87 and Article 96 of the Contract Law shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph. " 3. The law applicable to the invalidity of the contract. China's "Contract Law" clearly and specifically stipulates that a contract that "violates the mandatory provisions of laws and administrative regulations" is invalid. Because the provisions of laws and administrative regulations are mandatory and arbitrary. It only involves national interests, social order, economic order, market transaction security and other matters. There are mandatory provisions in laws and administrative regulations; For matters involving only the interests of the parties, laws and regulations set arbitrary provisions, allowing the parties to negotiate and decide on a voluntary basis. Mandatory legal norms are divided into mandatory norms and prohibitive norms. Mandatory norms are the legal provisions that people must perform certain behaviors, and the legal expressions are often "must" and "should"; Prohibitive norms are provisions that forbid people to engage in certain behaviors, and the legal expression is often "forbidden" or "not allowed". (2) The principle of imputation of liability for breach of contract is applicable to the method of determining liability for breach of contract. For the principle of liability for breach of contract, the contract law establishes the principle of strict liability. When determining the liability for breach of contract, under the principle of strict liability, we should consider whether the result of breach of contract is caused by the behavior of the defaulting party, regardless of whether the defaulting party is at fault. Of course, if it is proved that there is no causal relationship between the breach of contract and the consequences of breach of contract, or the breaching party has exemption reasons, it can still not bear or be partially or completely exempted from its responsibilities. Under the principle of fault liability, only when you can't prove that you are not at fault in the breach of contract, that is, you have intention and negligence, can you bear the liability for breach of contract. It should be noted that the contract law adopts the principle of fault liability as an exception or supplementary provision of the principle of strict liability for some special breach of contract. For example, Article 374 of the Contract Law stipulates on the custody contract: "During the custody period, if the property is damaged or lost due to improper custody by the custodian, the custodian shall be liable for damages, but the custody is free of charge, and the custodian shall not be liable for damages if he proves that he has no gross negligence." On liquidated damages and damages. Damage compensation is an important remedy for breach of contract. Paragraph 1 13 of China's Contract Law stipulates: "If one party fails to perform its contractual obligations or fails to perform its contractual obligations as agreed, causing losses to the other party, the amount of compensation shall be equivalent to the losses caused by the breach of contract, including the benefits that can be obtained after the performance of the contract, but shall not exceed the losses that the breaching party foresaw or should have foreseen when concluding the contract." As a remedy for breach of contract, liquidated damages are regarded as predetermined damages when the nature of liquidated damages is compensatory. This kind of liquidated damages is to compensate the actual losses caused by the breach of contract, so it can replace the compensation. After the breaching party pays the liquidated damages, the creditor may not require it to bear the liability for damages. Although the Contract Law highlights the compensatory nature of liquidated damages, it still has different characteristics from damages. The specific performance of the validity of the contract is as follows: (1) After the contract is established according to law, both parties must perform the contract in strict accordance with the requirements of the contract. (2) The parties shall not modify or terminate the contract without consultation or in accordance with the law. (3) The parties shall enjoy the rights stipulated in the contract according to law, such as the right of claim and the right of defense. (4) The contractual rights of the parties are protected by law. When these rights are violated, the obligee may request the court to protect them. (5) Once a party breaches the contract, it must bear the liability for breach of contract according to law. Thinking: Some scholars call the above-mentioned effect of a contract "the internal effect of a contract" (the effect on the parties to the contract), and I agree with you. However, according to the relativity principle of contract, I don't think the contract has "external effect" (the effect on the third party), and some just mean that the contractual creditor's rights are not infringed by any third party.