International Law

Sundry Notes on the Chinese Judiciary

Judicial independence -- that is, making the judiciary an independent decision-making body -- has been a topic for muted discussion in China for over a decade, at least in academic circles. [For more on the ways in which the Chinese judiciary is not independent, read this and this.]

However, the subject may now be seeing rather more of the light of day, apparently drawing inspiration from "international legal principles." As an indicator, an American resident in China who shall remain anonymous graciously allowed this image to be posted:

The resident writes:

I visited a law bookstore in Chengdu,the Tianping Falu Shudian ??????. On a big sign at the entry of the bookstore is an announcement of the Chinese language translations of the Oxford Companion to the U.S. Constitution and of Judge Posner's book "How Judges Think".

Of course, the poster may, instead, simply be an indicator of the reach of Lexis Nexis's marketing. But I think it's remarkable that the company would consider it saleable -- very likely, it is selling and Chinese are reading it.

On a related subject, a judiciary which prefers to keep its rationale for many of its decisions opaque reads of calls for greater transparency.

This editorial in the Beijing News (???) calls for it explicitly. (By the way, who is its ???)

??? ??

????????????????????????????30?????????????????????????????????????????????????????

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????4?10?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????4?10?????????????????59744????1.6?????4?10???????

?????????????????????????????????????????????????6????????????????????????9839358?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[H/t to Joshua Rosenzweig of The Dui Hua Foundation for the editorial.]

Finally, by far the most debilitating aspect of Chinese life, including the judiciary: corruption. In an article touching on both judicial independence, international legal principles as well as transparency, we find this quote and its profound rhetorical question at the end of the paragraph:

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

???????????????????????????????????????????30?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Full post as published by Asia Business Intelligence on April 13, 2009 (boomark / email).