Empirical Analysis of the Operation of Legal Proceedings

Author: Wang Yaxin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: This book attempts to approach the highly complex legal phenomena during China's social transformation period from an empirical perspective. The main focus is on civil litigation, with some coverage of administrative hearing procedures and other dispute resolution mechanisms such as those involving consumer associations. Most of the content is closely related to how legal procedures actually operate, with factors both within and outside the system, such as the actors involved in the procedures and the resources they obtain, also falling within the scope of examination. Based on the areas covered, the book can be broadly divided into two parts: The first part consists of four chapters by the authors, all of which focus on issues related to civil litigation systems and procedures. The second part also features four chapters by the same authors, each exploring empirical research on topics such as the functions of administrative hearing procedures, the role conflicts of judges in trials, non-litigious dispute resolution mechanisms, and the dynamics of power and weakness in litigation cases. This book is the result of a collective effort. Although it spans multiple fields of legal phenomena during the transformation period, an empirical perspective and methodology are throughout each of the chapters. Although the authors often engage with theoretical propositions, frameworks, or normative claims and policy recommendations in their research, all the chapters first strive to provide as objective a description as possible of specific legal phenomena based on hand data obtained through field investigations and other methods.