More than 8,200 bodies of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government now regularly seek legal advice from either in-house lawyers or professionals outside the government, Justice Minister Wu Aiying said Wednesday.

At an experience-sharing meeting, Wu said leaders of the Party and the government should "deeply" learn the Constitution, the concept of rule of law, basic laws of the country, and laws and regulations closely related to their official duties.

Li Jianhua, vice minister in charge of the Organization Department of the CPC, said at the meeting that leaders should take the lead in using and abiding by the law.

"Leaders should make decisions in conformity with the law and execute their administrative and management power based on the law," Li said.

They should also voluntarily accept supervision, Li said.

Since 2006, law lectures have been provided to more than 20,000 ministerial and provincial-level officials and some three million municipal and county-level officials.

The meeting was organized by the CPC Organization Department, the CPC Publicity Department, the Ministry of Justice and the National Popularization of Legal Knowledge Office.

(Xinhua News Agency September 2, 2009)