Core Curriculum Related Guidance · Civil Procedure Law: Arguments · Regulations · Cases

Author: Tian Ping'an
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-12-01
Features: The Civil Procedure Law refers to the sum of norms formulated or recognized by the state legislative body, which regulate the behavior of legal subjects in civil litigation legal relationships. Civil Procedure Law is a procedural law. Procedural law, in contrast to substantive law, is a system of legal principles and rules that differ from substantive law. The object of procedural law is not the rights and obligations of people but the means to assert, prove these rights and obligations, or ensure compensation when they are violated. Therefore, the content of procedural law includes principles and systems related to the jurisdiction of courts, trial procedures, the initiation and hearing of lawsuits, evidence, appeals, the enforcement of judgments, legal representation and legal aid, litigation costs, the delivery and registration of documents, administrative requests, and non-litigation procedures.
China's Civil Procedure Law is a socialist procedural law, reflecting socialist democratic principles and the rule of law in all legal provisions. It embodies procedural justice while also highlighting litigation efficiency. It aims to facilitate parties in litigation while also making it convenient for people's courts to adjudicate cases. The Civil Procedure Law can be distinguished between formal and substantive meanings. The formal meaning of the Civil Procedure Law refers specifically to the Civil Procedure Code. The substantive meaning of the Civil Procedure Law includes not only the Civil Procedure Code but also the provisions on civil litigation procedures in other laws, such as the General Principles of Civil Law, the Marriage Law, the Contract Law, etc. Interpretations issued by the Supreme People's Court that directly guide civil litigation practice also fall under the substantive meaning of the Civil Procedure Law. Additionally, relevant regulations formulated by national authorities concerning judicial ties between mainland China and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan also belong to the substantive meaning of the Civil Procedure Law.
Civil Procedure Law is a scientific discipline dedicated to studying the origin, development, and changes in civil litigation law, as well as practical issues and reforms in civil judicial practice. As a science, Civil Procedure Law has its own complete system. In summary, it consists of the following four parts:
The first part is the fundamental theory of Civil Procedure Law, including the causes and composition of civil litigation, the purpose, model, procedural value of civil litigation, the concept, characteristics, and elements of civil litigation legal relationships, claims and the right to claim, the evolution of the Civil Procedure Law, and the research objects and methods of Civil Procedure Law.
The second part is the basic principles and basic systems of Civil Procedure Law. The basic principles of civil litigation collectively reflect the nature and characteristics of the Civil Procedure Law. They play a guiding role throughout the entire litigation process. These principles include the principle of equal litigation rights for parties, the principle of judicial mediation, the principle of debate, the principle of disposition, and the principle of direct procedure. Basic systems guide certain stages or links in litigation. These systems mainly include the systems of jurisdiction and venue, the system of civil litigation parties, the system of legal representatives in civil litigation, the system of third parties, the system of representatives in civil litigation, the system of evidence in civil litigation, the system of litigation duration and service of documents, the system of coercive measures, the system of property preservation, the system of interim execution, and the system of litigation costs.
The third part is the basic procedures of civil litigation, which can be subdivided into three categories: The first category is the trial procedures for domestic civil cases, including the first-instance procedure, the second-instance procedure, the simple procedure, and the supervisory review procedure. The second category is the trial procedures for domestic non-litigation cases, specifically referring to special procedures, the procedure for urgent execution, the procedure for public notice and acceptance, and the procedure for the bankruptcy repayment of corporate legal persons. The third category is special provisions for the trial procedures of foreign-related civil cases and the procedures for handling civil cases involving Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.
The fourth part is the civil coercive execution procedure. The civil coercive execution procedure is responsible not only for enforcing the content of civil judgments, final decisions, and mediation agreements but also for enforcing the civil portions of criminal judgments and the enforcement of other effective legal documents that require coercive execution.
Civil Procedure Law is a theoretical science with its own unique theoretical framework and academic system. Through the study of Civil Procedure Law, students should not only master its basic system and understand its fundamental theories but also grasp the relevant legal principles that support this system, such as constitutional principles, legal principles, and sociological principles. Therefore, studying Civil Procedure Law requires not only abstract thinking but also logical reasoning. It requires not only the study of procedural law principles but also exposure to more legal economics, legal sociology, and legal philosophy knowledge.
Civil Procedure Law has a strong practical nature. Under the premise of grasping the basic framework, students should develop a litigation legal awareness and cultivate a mindset of handling matters according to law. With a solid litigation legal awareness, students can analyze various cases in the classroom today and adapt quickly to the practical environment and handle civil cases efficiently tomorrow. With the deepening of reform and opening-up, the increase in foreign-related civil disputes is inevitable. Therefore, students should also be familiar with relevant international treaties and regulations, such as the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, the Convention on the Taking of Civil or Commercial Judicial or Extrajudicial Documents Abroad, the Convention on Taking of Civil or Commercial Evidence Abroad, and the Regulations on Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities of the People's Republic of China.
Laws and regulations are the basis and criteria for studying and researching Civil Procedure Law. It is the basis because Civil Procedure Law cannot exist without these laws and regulations, and it bears the task of interpretation. It is the criterion because when studying Civil Procedure Law, one cannot, like literary workers, let their imagination soar freely in the sky. The rigorous logic and operability of procedural law do not allow individual imagination to wander alone; it must be guided by relevant laws and regulations. Life is diverse, lively, and ever-changing, while law has relative stability. The bridge between relatively stable law and practice is theory. Procedural law theory is not metaphysics; procedural law theory cannot be shelved away. The unique practical nature of procedural law theory determines that it must explain practice and guide practice, and legal provisions are re-realized in litigation practice through theory. One practice is a process, but repeated practices will form experience, which objectively pushes forward theoretical research. The sublimation of experience inevitably condenses into theory, greatly enriching it. Lord Denning once said: "Reading in the library—or listening to lectures by professors—only gives you a vague, incomplete picture. To understand what law really is, you must see how it works in practice."
As students currently studying at university, it is impossible for them to directly participate in practice or frequently engage in the entire process of handling cases. The solution is to analyze various typical cases. It can be said that the study of laws and regulations, the mastery of procedural law theory, and the analysis of civil cases are a complementary, interactive, and organic whole. The basic purpose of compiling this book is precisely this.