Interpretation of the Guarantee Law: Case Studies and Explanations

Author: Huang Songyou
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: This series of books takes judicial interpretations as the main thread, interpreting relevant judicial interpretation articles through vivid cases. The series includes works such as Judicial Interpretations of the Guarantee Law, Judicial Interpretations of the Contract Law, and Judicial Interpretations of Labor Dispute Cases. It provides strong reference for the practical work of legal professionals such as judges and lawyers. It is widely recognized that all laws have loopholes, a fact acknowledged by both case law and academic circles today. The founder of the German Historical School of Law, Friedrich Carl von Savigny (F. K. V. Savigny), pointed out that laws gradually fall out of sync with the times since their enactment and publication. Therefore, no matter how meticulous the drafting process is, no matter how carefully the wording is chosen, ambiguities may still arise in the meaning and context of the text; no matter how comprehensively social contradictions are summarized, gaps and omissions are inevitable in the face of complex and diverse real-life situations; no matter how refined and scientific the laws are, they cannot overcome the conflict between legal stability and applicability. Thus, legal interpretation has been an inseparable companion to law since its inception. According to the basic framework of legal interpretation in China, the content of legal interpretation can be divided into two categories: "the law itself" and "the specific application of the law." The former is interpreted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (referred to as legislative interpretation), while the latter is interpreted by relevant judicial and administrative organs. Clearly, the judicial interpretation of the Supreme People's Court belongs to the latter. Although the effectiveness of judicial interpretation is lower than that of legislative interpretation, due to the principle and abstraction of laws and the existence of loopholes, judicial interpretation not only creates difficulties for judges in applying the law but also leaves them with a significant degree of discretion. Therefore, in the presence of loopholes, judicial interpretation plays the role of filling the gaps. In reality, since legal rules are general and abstract regulations made through the induction and summary of complex social phenomena, people may interpret the meaning of the rules from different perspectives. When each judge applies an abstract rule to a specific case, they must judge the connotation and scope of the legal rule based on their own understanding, and this judgment is essentially a form of legal interpretation. Moreover, written law itself is not perfect and always contains certain loopholes, so legal interpretation is essential for the application of any law. Especially in the judicial process, it is necessary to make clear interpretations of legal norms to correctly apply the law and adjudicate cases fairly. In China's legal system, judicial interpretation has distinct Chinese characteristics. It is not practiced in the common law system of the United Kingdom and the United States, which does not have the concept of "judicial interpretation," where "legal interpretation" is synonymous with "judicial interpretation," and both have the same meaning. In most Western countries, "judicial" generally refers to the trial activities of courts, and judicial organs refer to courts. Judicial interpretation (i.e., "legal interpretation") refers to the interpretation of laws by courts or judges. Especially in common law systems, judges' case law can not only interpret statutes but also create legal rules. Only judges have such power in the interpretation of law. In civil law systems, although judges' legal interpretations were once denied, the establishment of the Supreme People's Court's review system after World War II ultimately solidified the judicial interpretation power of judges. The judicial interpretation system established in China is a "dual-level" system completely different from that in Western countries. Under this system, judicial interpretation is divided into adjudicative interpretation and procuratorial interpretation. The former mainly refers to the interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on specific legal application issues in judicial work, while the latter refers to the interpretation of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on specific legal application issues in procuratorial work. Therefore, judicial interpretation is an important means of ensuring the correct application of Chinese law and has become an important source of Chinese law, occupying a very important position in China's interpretation system. The Supreme People's Court has always attached great importance to judicial interpretation work and issued the Regulations on Judicial Interpretation Work in June 1997, which stipulated the procedures for formulating judicial interpretations, including setting up projects, coordinating, filing, drafting, deliberating, revising, passing, publishing, supplementing, revising, and abolishing. It clearly stated that the Supreme People's Court shall make judicial interpretations on specific legal application issues in judicial work, and that published judicial interpretations shall be legally binding. According to these regulations, judicial interpretations can be roughly divided into the following three types: First, "interpretations," which refer to the specific and comprehensive interpretation by the Supreme People's Court on the normative content of certain substantive or procedural laws formulated by the legislative organ, or on the legal application of specific case types and the resolution of inclined issues, forming adjudicative norms based on this. Its style and composition are no fundamentally different from written law and basically belong to the category of legal refinement, playing multiple roles such as filling legal gaps, eliminating ambiguities and contradictions, providing experience for the legislative organ, and providing normative materials. Second, "regulations," which establish standards and rules for adjudicating cases based on the actual needs of judicial activities. The content of such regulations is often related to the internal business, affairs, procedural, and technical issues of courts and basically belong to the rules and regulations of the judicial system itself. Third, "approvals," which refer to the responses and opinions of the Supreme People's Court to specific legal application issues or requests for instructions from higher courts and military courts. Some involve case handling, some involve judicial policies, and some involve operational rules. The purpose of these judicial interpretations, especially the first two types, is not primarily to resolve legal application issues in a specific case but to provide more applicable rules for judicial practice through systematic and comprehensive interpretations of a category of laws, or to completely not interpret a specific law but to create rules applicable to the judgment of a category of cases, allowing courts at all levels to have clear guidelines. This is the highly abstract and general characteristic of China's judicial interpretations. In recent years, the Supreme People's Court has successively published major judicial interpretations, which have all released draft opinions for public comment through media such as newspapers and the internet to listen to public opinions and widely accept advice, ensuring that judicial interpretations serve the value function of guaranteeing the strict implementation of the law, fair adjudication, and the realization of legal justice by the People's Courts. To enable the judicial practice community and the general public to correctly understand and apply judicial interpretations, practice judicial fairness and efficiency, and implement judicial service for the people, the People's Courts Press has planned and organized the writing of the Civil and Commercial Law Judicial Interpretation Case Studies Series. When organizing the writing of this series, we followed the following principles: , comprehensive content. This series includes major judicial interpretations in civil and commercial law, providing a comprehensive interpretation of judicial interpretations and forming a complete theoretical system, making it easy for readers to understand and apply. The series primarily focuses on the judicial interpretations of individual laws and is divided into 12 volumes: Marriage and Family, Tort Law, Real Estate, Labor Disputes, Land Contract, Contract Law, Guarantee Law, Deposit Contracts, Enterprise Reform and Bankruptcy, Negotiable Instruments Law, Intellectual Property, and Technology Contracts. Second, unified format. In principle, each book is organized around the main judicial interpretations it covers, and whether it is written in separate parts is determined based on the volume of the judicial interpretation. Each topic is composed of a main title and a sub-title, with the main title being concise and the sub-title reflecting the core content of a specific judicial interpretation or approval, highlighting the key points. In each specific topic, it is uniformly divided into three parts: basic case facts (the introduction of the case can be long or short as needed) — adjudication essentials (which state the basis, reasoning, and judgment results of the court's ruling, highlighting the specific application of individual judicial interpretations in cases). Interpretation and Application of Judicial Interpretations (combining relevant laws, administrative regulations, and departmental rules frequently applied in judicial practice to explain the understanding and application of specific provisions of judicial interpretations, highlighting the hierarchy, logic, practicality, and guidance). Third, real cases. The cases in this series are primarily selected based on their typicality, representativeness, and authenticity, mostly from Selected Cases of the People's Courts, Comprehensive Review of Court Cases in China, Annals of the Supreme People's Court, Judgment Documents Announced by the Supreme People's Court, People's Courts Daily, Supreme People's Court Network, China Courts Network, and other relevant websites and real cases judged by courts at all levels. Fourth, authoritative interpretation. The key part of this series is the "Interpretation and Application of Judicial Interpretations," which is also the highlight of the series. Therefore, each author, based on the Supreme People's Court's understanding and application of judicial interpretations, widely absorbs the latest achievements in the field of civil and commercial law research, draws on the strengths of others, and interprets judicial interpretations in light of new issues emerging in judicial practice and the specific cases cited, aiming to highlight authority and guidance. It should be particularly noted that most of the authors of this series are highly educated judges with master's or doctoral degrees in law, as well as well-known scholars and lawyers who focus on civil and commercial law adjudication practice. They not only have rich judicial practice experience but also have achievements in their respective research fields and have published numerous research results. Therefore, this series of books not only has high practical value but also has a deep theoretical level, providing help for judicial practice and important reference value for legal theory research.