Abstract: The holistic nature of river governance provides an opportunity for “spatial thinking” to guide the reshaping of rivers’ rule of law. The special ecological and environmental problems of the Yellow River, the complex environmental and social relations, the backward management system and mechanism, and the prominent contradiction between supply and demand of laws constitute the background for the creation of the Yellow River Law . The natural spatial attribute, social spatial attribute, management spatial attribute, and legal spatial attribute of the Yellow River become the driving force for the generation of the Yellow River Law , which should be characterized by independence, systematicity, extraordinary and mesoscopic. In basic concept, the Yellow River Law should adhere to the principle of “ecological priority, green development”. In management system, the Yellow River Law amended the primary and secondary relationship between river basin governance and regional governance. In configuration of affairs, the Yellow River Law should be defined in accordance with the three-dimensional hierarchy of “central–basin–local” powers and responsibilities. In system design, the Yellow River Law should systematize the basic system of the river.