Civil Trial Guidance and Reference - Issue No. 26

Author: Huang Songyou
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Fully play the active role of judicial mediation in building a socialist harmonious society - Speeches during the inspection work in Qingdao, Rizhao, Dongying, and Jinan by the President of the Supreme People's Court, Xiao Yang
Editor's Note: From July 11 to 15, 2006, the President of the Supreme People's Court, Xiao Yang, conducted research and investigations on the relationship between civil and commercial trial and a harmonious society during his inspection work in Qingdao, Rizhao, Dongying, and Jinan. He delivered an important speech titled "Fully Play the Active Role of Judicial Mediation in Building a Socialist Harmonious Society," which holds significant guiding significance for the new era's judicial mediation work. It is now published. How to understand and grasp the characteristics and laws of the emergence of internal contradictions among the people in the new situation, and how to establish and improve a social dispute resolution mechanism, are major issues of global, forward-looking, and strategic significance that must be studied and resolved in building a harmonious society. The People's Courts have increased the intensity of judicial mediation in handling civil and commercial cases, striving to achieve case resolution and matter settlement to the greatest extent possible, realizing the organic unity of legal and social effects. This is a major measure to establish and improve a social dispute resolution mechanism in the new era, concerning the overall work of the Party and the state, the fundamental interests of the people, and the construction of a socialist harmonious society. Judicial mediation plays a crucial role in this process. The Supreme People's Court has clearly defined "mediation whenever possible, judgment when necessary, combining mediation and judgment, and case resolution and matter settlement" as an important guiding principle for civil trial work by the People's Courts in the new era. It has proposed strengthening judicial mediation as a very important and prominent task to promote the construction of a harmonious society, which holds significant practical significance. Below, I will discuss a few opinions.
I. Re-examining the Function and Role of Judicial Mediation in Adapting to the Needs of Building a Socialist Harmonious Society
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, judicial mediation has gone through three major historical stages: "mediation as the main method," "emphasis on mediation," and "mediation in accordance with law and voluntary mediation." While the judicial mediation work of the People's Courts has achieved significant results and progress, it also faces many new issues. This is manifested in: although some regions and courts have been very strict with this work and achieved remarkable results, nationwide, the implementation of this work is still not entirely satisfactory, with uneven conditions across different regions. Some courts place excessive emphasis on "reaching the goal in one step"