Judicial Reform Report -- China's Procuratorate. Court Reform

Author: Zheng Chengliang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: Following the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) which established "rule of law" as the fundamental strategy for national governance and proposed the principle of "advancing judicial reform," the 16th National Congress further explicitly emphasized "advancing judicial system reform." It called for improving the institutional setup, power division, and management systems of judicial organs in line with the requirements of "impartial justice and strict enforcement," and furthering a judicial system that ensures clear responsibilities, mutual coordination, mutual restraint, and efficient operation. It guaranteed the independent and impartial exercise of judicial and procuratorial powers by courts and procuratorates through institutional mechanisms. Additionally, it proposed specific requirements for judicial system reform, including improving litigation procedures, addressing enforcement difficulties, reforming the working mechanisms and management of personnel, property, and finances of judicial organs, strengthening supervision over judicial work, and building judicial teams, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that "the socialist judicial system must guarantee fairness and justice throughout society." In China, judicial reform primarily encompasses reforms in judicial procedures, judicial organs, and the judicial system. Regarding the reform of judicial organs, it mainly involves reforms of courts and procuratorates (in China, judicial organs include the People's Courts and the Procuratorates. Therefore, China's judicial reform primarily targets the reform of courts and procuratorates). This book is divided into two parts: "Judicial Reform in China's Procuratorates" (Part I) and "Judicial Reform in China's Courts" (Part II). However, this does not mean that the smooth progress of judicial reform relies solely on the efforts of the People's Courts and Procuratorates, nor does it imply that judicial reform is limited to reforms of courts and procuratorates. In fact, judicial reform is a complex social systematic project with a vast scope. Even in matters of court and procuratorate reform, there are many issues that require further discussion. Due to space limitations, this book cannot cover everything comprehensively but focuses on the key aspects. As for other issues related to judicial system reform, they are not unimportant, but for the purpose of this book, they are only briefly addressed. Theory guides practice. The practice of judicial reform is equally inseparable from the guidance of judicial theory. In recent years, China's legal academia and judicial practice have conducted extensive discussions on the relevant theories of judicial reform, achieving many encouraging theoretical results. However, how to integrate these theoretical achievements with China's unique national conditions, draw on beneficial international experiences, and propose solutions to problems in China's judicial system to provide theoretical support and intellectual assistance for China's judicial reform—this is precisely the purpose of this book. It should be noted that this book is one of the series of achievements of the major research project "Studies on the Theories of Judicial Law and the Issues of Contemporary Chinese Judicial System Reform" led by Professor Sun Qian and Professor Zheng Chengliang, a key research base of the Ministry of Education's Humanities and Social Sciences for the 2002-2003 academic year. It is also a collaborative project between the National Procuratorial College and the National Judicial College. Although most of the collaborators of this book come from judicial organs, as participants in the project research, the views expressed in this book do not represent any institution or organization, nor do they imply that the views of each author have been unanimously agreed upon among the collaborators. Some views in the book may still be immature, but the authors' spirit of exploration and innovation is commendable. We also hope that the publication of this book can serve as a catalyst and play a positive role in advancing China's judicial reform.