关键词: 水利法；水权；法律移植；习惯法

Abstract: During the period of the Republic of China， with the introduction of the western knowledge of water conservancy science and the idea and system of rule of law， Chinas water legal system began to explore the modernization， which was mainly reflected in three aspects: first， the government got out of the traditional pattern， absorbed the western scientific idea of water management according to law， took into account the inherent habits， and initially constructed a pluralistic water legal system with national law， local regulations and folk customary law as the main body;secondly，the government broke the situation that the central water administration which was disorganized and inconsistent with power and responsibility for thousands of years， and created a unified water administration system from central to local;thirdly， the government innovated the water rights system， clarified the ownership of water rights， and established a diversified modern settlement mechanism for water rights disputes. The water legal system in the period of the Republic of China not only actively absorbed and introduced the advanced thought and practice of western modern water legal system， but also retained some contents of the traditional water conservancy society， and stepped into the road of modernization transformation.

Key words: water legal system; water right; law transplantation; customary law