Justice System in China Mainland
The Chinese judicial system strictly adheres to the method of people’s court. During the criminal ruling, people’s court, security organs, and people’s procuratorate are needed to cooperate and perform their duties, respectively, as indicated by the PRC criminal law procedure (Hsieh & Francis 154). Both public security bodies and people’s procuratorate are required to carry out judicial power, although they have limited legal function. Therefore, the Chinese judicial system is made of three-part, namely, security organs, people’s court system, and the people’s procuratorate (Hsieh & Francis 154). The security organ is the governing system, while the others are made through the people’s congress. However, they all have equal powers. The procuratorates procurator-generals and the courts’ presidents are selected through people’s congresses within those levels.
People’s court
This court is a judicial organ that carries out judicial powers on behave of the government. The Organic Law of 1983 and the Constitution indicate that the Chinese court system involves two instances of trials (Howson 303). The PRC judicial power is carried out by various people’s court. These courts include the Supreme People’s Courts, special people’s courts, local people’s courts, and military courts. The local people’s courts have several branches such as basic people’s court, intermediate people’s court, and higher people’s courts. In the ruling, the people’s courts use a method where a case is determined after two trials. Initially, a decision of the first instance has to originate from a local people’s court, and re-trial is presented only once to the upper-level court. Secondly, the ruling made by the local people’s courts at different levels is termed as legally binding if no appeal is made within the prescribed period (Howson 303). Thirdly, the judgment rendered by the second re-trial is taken as the last orders of the judgment. However, any decision given by the Supreme People’s Court becomes the final ruling.
The Organic Law Article indicates that people’s courts in every level establish judicial committee mandated to discuss difficult and important cases as well as other issues associated with legal work. Judicial committee members of local people’s courts are selected and dismissed by the people’s congress committee when the president of the court gives the recommendation (Howson 304). The people’s court presidents lead the judicial meetings in every stage. However, the people’s procuratorates head procurators can attend the meeting but have no voting rights. In every court, there are various divisions like enforcement, economic, civil, administrative, and criminal divisions. A court usually has several vice-presidents and one president, while a division has several associate chiefs and one chief. All courts also have a judicial committee made of experienced judges, presidents, and division chiefs. The court’s committee chooses the committee members at the respective stage. The judicial committee has the highest authority as it is mandated to discuss difficult or essential cases, deciding on jurisdictional issues as well as summing up and reviewing legal experience (Howson 304). Its directions have to be observed by both the collegial panels and judges. When there arise varying opinions, the opinion of the majority is used.
The collegial panel is the smallest structure in every court. They are temporary organs that are formulated to determine each case. It is made of seven judges maximum, and they have to be an odd number. Mirror criminal, economic, and civil cases, as well as other cases that are guided by the law, can be handled by one judge (Li, Ling 1320). However, second judgment is dealt with by a collegial panel between three and five judges. The panel leader is selected by the division chief or the president of the court. When the division chief or president takes place in the case, he or she automatically presides the panel. Nevertheless, the local people’s congresses committee can choose people’s assessors by giving names of their preferred persons to their respective courts. Courts can then appoint people assessors to take place in the first trial case. The collegial panels in the first case can be made of judges and people’s assessors or even judges only. The people’s assessor method differs from the jury approach as people’s assessors are not appointed on citizenship bases (Li, Ling 1320). However, they operate as judges with the authority to decide on issues of law and facts.
The judgment process is an essential portion of the ruling, and it is heavily manipulated by the civil law authority, where a judge is the only party mandated to carry out a trial. The adjudication format reform has recently attempted to bring rival patterns in the China ruling process. According to the law, every case will have two trials meaning that litigants can appeal to the next level court (Li, Ling 1322). Once the case has been requested, the next court has to try the matter again. The ruling delivered by the second judgment cannot be appealed hence becoming the final decision. Nevertheless, the litigation parties can challenge this decision by trial supervision method. They can present the ruling to the higher court or appellate court. After analyzing the concern, the president of the court asks the judicial committee to decide whether to reject or accept the appeal. However, the ruling given by trial supervision depends on the enforcement of the challenged judgment (Li, Ling 1323).
The Organic Law and Constitution allow people’s court to conduct government judicial power without interference from any individuals or organizations. The authoritative explanation indicates that judges lack the legal ability, but the potential is held by the court where they operate. The collegial panels are the units of trial, and the judgment by the groups takes the position of the court (Palmer 270). Hence the power of decision is placed entirely in the court rather than the individual judges. The explanation also indicates that division chief and presidents have legal rights to suggest and review changes in a ruling made by collegial panels. These changes act as an inner interference with the independence of collegial boards where they lack firm legal ground, unlike the judicial committees (Palmer 270). If a trial is essential or complex, the final ruling is usually given by the judicial committee instead of the selected collegial panel. This approach is used to protect the fair and correct practices of legal powers. However, it may be used by other committee members to alter the functions of the collegial panel or favor one side of litigation.
- Supreme People’s Court
This court is the highest governing judicial body. NPC and the standing committee choose the court’s leader. The term runs for five years, and one can only serve two consecutive terms. The NPC committee selects and removes judges, vice-president as well as head and related heads of division. It is divided into economic, civil, and criminal divisions. However, it can have an additional division that may seem necessary. It is mandated to conduct trials of the first instance and complex matters (Palmer 272). It also handles protest and appeal cases against orders and judgment from upper people’s courts and special people’s courts. Finally, it handles protested cases against the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.
- Higher People’s Courts
These are municipalities, autonomous regions, and provinces courts that are under the national government. The Organic Law indicates that their inner structure is close to that of the Supreme People’s Court (Palmer 273). It adjudicates lawsuit of the first instance designated by-laws, as well as cases, move from lower-level people’s courts. Additionally, it handles appeals against orders and judgment from the lower level as well as protest cases against people’s procuratorates
- Intermediate People’s courts
These are courts set up in prefectures or capitals in the provincial stage. They handle cases of the first instance given by decrees and laws, as well as those shifted from basic people’s courts as well as protests and appeals from the lower court (Palmer 273).
- Basic People’s Courts
They are the smallest courts mostly situated in autonomous counties, municipal districts, and county. These courts are made of the tribunal regarding the condition of cases and people surrounding them. This tribunal is usually established in townships or big town where there is a vast population (Palmer 274). They decide all civil and criminal cases except where the law gives other directions. It is also responsible for dealing with minimal criminal cases and civil disputes that do not need a formal hearing.
- Special Courts
They include the railway courts, military court, and maritime courts. The military court is mandated to deal with criminal cases involving service members. Besides, transport and railway court deal with economic disputes and criminal cases associated with transportation and railways (Wong 23). Else, the Supreme People’s Court has set up several maritime courts in shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Dalian, and Qingdao. These courts handle maritime related cases, including dispute cases between Chinese and foreign enterprises, organizations, and citizens associated with maritime. However, it does not conduct criminal trials and other lawsuits handled by different courts. The upper people’s court located in a place with a maritime court handles the appeals made against orders and judgment of the marine court.
People’s Procuratorates
People’s procuratorates are government bodies that conduct legal supervision. Their functions, organization, and task were defined by the sixth NPC committee found in the Organic Law of September 2, 1983 (Zhang 150). The Organic Law under article 5 defines the duties and powers of people’s procuratorates as follows. First, it conducts procuratorial authority in treason cases, cases involving the government, and other significant criminal cases. Secondly, it investigates criminal cases directly. It also supervises investigation done by public security bodies to confirm whether they meet the legal requirement. Additionally, they give public ruling of criminal charges and support those prosecutions. More so, they supervise judicial practices of people’s court to ensure the law is observed. Finally, they monitor orders and application of judgment in criminal charges as well as the practices of detention houses, transportation bodies, and prisons to ensure they abide by the law.
According to the Constitution, the higher courts supervise the activities of the smaller courts. The courts are also answerable to the particular people’s congress that appointed them. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate is established at the state level.
People’s procuratorates formulate pro
curatorial committees at various levels. The Organic Law in article 3 indicates that this committee will use the democratic centralism system through the guidance of chief procurator to make a decision and hold discussions on critical charges and other significant matters (Zhang 153). People procuratorates at every level have several vice-chief procurators, procurators, and chief procurator. The chief procurators will conduct unified leadership on the activities of procuratorates. The duration to hold office by chief procurators is the same as the people’s congresses in the respective stage.
- Supreme People’s Procuratorate
This body is the most significant procuratorial body, as highlighted by the Constitution. It directs the lower levels of people’s procuratorates to protect system independence. The Supreme people’s Procuratorate procurator- general, is dismissed and elected by NPC. This organ is answerable to the standing committee and NPC. Furthermore, it can establish several procuratorial departments as well as other professional departments that are necessary. The Organic Law indicate that if Supreme People Procuratorate notices some error in legal order or judgment of people’s court, it should file protest following the judicial supervision procedure. Currently, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and Supreme People’s Court law interpretation have de facto. This de facto means that the arguments of the courts are held in the judicial practices of lower levels of people’s procuratorates, although China is a non-member state of common law (Jiahong, He & He Ran 1277).
- Local People’s Procuratorates
These procuratorates use the democratic centralism principle and dual leadership system. The chief procurators of municipalities, autonomous regions, and provinces subject to the government are removed and elected by the respective people’s congress (Jiahong, He & He Ran 1277). However, the removal and appointment of chief procurators have to be communicated to the procurator-general of the upper level. The procurator-general then report the issue to the respective people’s congress for permission.
Public Security Organs
Pubic security organs direct and lead people’s police as people’s functional departments of the government. Their duties are to maintain public and social orders as well as state security. They also carry out preliminary hearing, arrest, and investigation of criminal charges. Following the Constitution, leaders of public securities organs are chosen by the standing committees in case congresses are not in operation at the individual level (Wang, Yuhua & Carl 340).
Work Cited
Howson, Nicholas Calcina. “Corporate Law in the Shanghai People’s Courts, 1992-2008: Judicial Autonomy in a Contemporary Authoritarian State.” E. Asia L. Rev. 5 (2010): 303.
Hsieh, Ming-Li, and Francis D. Boateng. “Perceptions of democracy and trust in the criminal justice system: A comparison between mainland China and Taiwan.” International criminal justice review 25.2 (2015): 153-173.
Jiahong, He, and He Ran. “Empirical studies of wrongful convictions in mainland China.” U. Cin. L. Rev. 80 (2011): 1277.
Li, Ling. “The Chinese Communist Party and people’s courts: Judicial dependence in China.” Critical Readings on the Communist Party of China. BRILL, 2017. 1320-1368.
Palmer, Michael. “Compromising Courts and Harmonizing Ideologies: Mediation in the administrative chambers of the people’s courts in the People’s Republic of China.” New Courts in Asia. Routledge, 2010. 267-292.
Wang, Yuhua, and Carl Minzner. “The rise of the Chinese security state.” The China Quarterly 222 (2015): 339-359.
Wong, Dennis Sing-wing. “Restorative justice and practices in China.” British Journal of Community Justice 8.3 (2010): 23.
Zhang, Lening. “Juvenile delinquency and justice in contemporary China: a critical review of the literature over 15 years.” Crime, law, and social change 50.3 (2008): 149-160.