Guangdong chief justice calls for reform of China's 'Soviet' court system

Guangdong’s top judge has criticised the mainland’s court system as unsuited  to a modern economy and called for steps to reduce interference by judicial  superiors and local governments.

Zheng E, head of the Guangdong Higher People’s Court, told China Newsweek the judicial system operates under an outdated Soviet-style model that treats the courts as just another government agency.

In it, judges’ decisions must be cleared by court superiors and their budgets are administered by local bureaucrats, a potential source of interference.

“Our current trial mechanism derives from the one built under the planned economy, similar to the trial mechanism in the Soviet Union,” Zheng said. “The current system doesn’t suit the developments of our times.”

As the mainland moves towards a more market-oriented economy, the demand for new social institutions to mediate civil disputes has increased, Zheng said. But this responsibility continues to be shouldered by the courts, occupying 90 per cent of their dockets.

Zheng praised the pilot schemes in Foshan  city and Shenzhen’s Futian district, where judges have been allowed to rule their own cases without seeking guidance from superiors.

The pilot programmes were designed to “hold judges directly accountable for their verdicts”, he said. They make the judiciary more professional and put jurists on the path to becoming “real judges”.