Civil judicial reform research

Author: Qi Shujie
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-02-01
Features: The Law Department of Xiamen University (now the School of Law) was established in 1926 and has gone through many hardships and difficulties over the years. Since its revival in 1979, the School of Law has always focused on improving the teaching quality of litigation law while closely monitoring and actively participating in the development of China's litigation legal system and the discipline of litigation law. In the past decade, faculty members of the School of Law have published and authored numerous monographs, textbooks, and academic papers covering civil litigation, criminal litigation, administrative litigation, maritime litigation, arbitration systems, bankruptcy systems, comparative litigation systems between the Taiwan Strait regions, and judicial reform, among other topics, which have had a significant impact on the legal community. In 1999, with approval from the State Council Academic Degrees Office, Xiamen University began enrolling master's students in litigation law. In May 2001, to meet the needs of litigation law teaching and research, elevate academic research standards, promote the development of the litigation law discipline, and contribute to China's ongoing judicial reform, I initiated the compilation of the "Xiamen University School of Law Series on Litigation Law." Inspired by the civil judicial reforms of the United Kingdom in the 1990s, we have set the theme of this series as "Access to Justice." The series primarily focuses on civil litigation law and is divided into eight volumes: Civil Procedure Law, Research on Civil Judicial Reform, Special Topics in Civil Evidence Law, New Perspectives on Arbitration Law, and English Evidence Law. This book is the research outcome of the China-Europe Higher Education Cooperation Project Civil Judicial Reform in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Its Reference for China. With funding from this project, I traveled to the United Kingdom and Germany in October 1999 for a thematic academic visit, conducting on-the-ground research on their judicial systems and reforms and collecting a wealth of primary materials. Upon returning to China in April 2000, through participation in various judicial reform seminars, research investigations, and teaching discussions, I gradually developed the writing approach of "Judicial Philosophy—Local Practices—Foreign Resources." Following this approach, the book discusses the theory and practice of China's civil judicial reform against the backdrop of global judicial reform, introduces the latest developments in civil judicial reform in countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, including pre-trial procedures, court mediation, civil evidence, enforcement, legal aid, ADR, and arbitration systems. On this basis, it explores how to ground China's judicial system in its national conditions while learning from foreign experiences to construct a fair and efficient civil judicial system in China.