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Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Beijing lowers the bar for judges to make up shortfall
A desperate shortage of judges for grass roots level courts means Beijing is going to be more flexible when considering applications, the Supreme People’s Court said yesterday.
Beijing lowers the bar for judges to make up shortfall
Ng Tze-wei 17 February 2011
A desperate shortage of judges for grass roots level courts means Beijing is going to be more flexible when considering applications, the Supreme People’s Court said yesterday.
It specified that civil servants with at least two years’ experience could sit examinations to become local judges. It would also review the highly selective judicial examinations.
The Supreme People’s Court said the new guidelines highlighted the need to fill vacancies for judges in the local courts, and that measures to raise the standard of grass roots courts were a priority because of rising social conflict.
“At this moment in the development of our country’s economy and society ... legal and social problems are intertwined; and factors that lead to social conflicts, especially those that involve livelihood issues, are becoming more complicated,” said the Supreme People’s Court document that addresses ways of strengthening and expanding the judiciary.
“Grass roots People’s Courts are at the forefront of resolving social conflicts and disputes,” a Supreme Court official said at a press conference yesterday. Local courts handle nearly 90 per cent of all cases heard on the mainland, and more than 96 per cent of all cases were resolved last year.
However, a lack of funds and personnel to deal with the burgeoning caseload has long plagued the system - especially in the poorer central and western provinces, and regions with large populations of ethnic minorities. The SPC document stressed the need for courts to focus on disputes involving livelihood issues, from the impact of rising prices and changing housing policies, to disputes involving labour rights, employment, social security, education, health care and consumers’ complaints.
It also highlighted disputes that concern peasants and rural stability, as well as the rights of those whose homes have been demolished or had land confiscated.
It also reaffirmed the need to broaden the sources and channels of recruitment for judges, especially for the country’s western and ethnic minority regions.
This includes further changes to the highly selective judicial exams, expanding pilot schemes for a separate sitting of judicial exams for “working legal professionals” and recruitment policies that encourage minorities and Han citizens with ethnic minority language skills to become judges.
Already some minorities can take the judicial exam in their own language, and are subject to a lower admission benchmark.
However, it is still not a level playing field for many minority applicants, since study materials in native languages are scarce and fewer minority students make it to university.
Legal professionals warned that expanding the supply must not be the only solution.
“While we lower the benchmark for entry to the profession, we must also make sure we have regular training for judges in their jobs,” said Ma Hucheng, a Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference delegate and lawyer from Qinghai. Providing incentives for people to stay, such as better pay or preferential policies, is also important.
Professor Ong Yew-kim, a Hong Kong-based mainland law commentator, said one major reason it has problems filling its grass roots courts, even with the large number of law graduates every year, is the general requirement that judges be Communist Party members, or at least toe the party line.
He said that while strengthening local courts is a step towards judicial reform, allowing civil servants and so-called working legal professionals - from police to court clerks - to become judges is not.
“They should be emphasising the professionalism of judges,” Ong said. “They should be encouraging more law graduates with four years of solid legal training to become judges, not opening the doors to more non- professionals.”
The number of inexperienced or substandard judges at the local level, coupled with a growing caseload, is a major cause of delay in judgments, he said. The result is not only delayed cases, but wrongful judgments.
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Beijing lowers the bar for judges to make up shortfall
Ng Tze-wei
17 February 2011
A desperate shortage of judges for grass roots level courts means Beijing is going to be more flexible when considering applications, the Supreme People’s Court said yesterday.
It specified that civil servants with at least two years’ experience could sit examinations to become local judges. It would also review the highly selective judicial examinations.
The Supreme People’s Court said the new guidelines highlighted the need to fill vacancies for judges in the local courts, and that measures to raise the standard of grass roots courts were a priority because of rising social conflict.
“At this moment in the development of our country’s economy and society ... legal and social problems are intertwined; and factors that lead to social conflicts, especially those that involve livelihood issues, are becoming more complicated,” said the Supreme People’s Court document that addresses ways of strengthening and expanding the judiciary.
“Grass roots People’s Courts are at the forefront of resolving social conflicts and disputes,” a Supreme Court official said at a press conference yesterday. Local courts handle nearly 90 per cent of all cases heard on the mainland, and more than 96 per cent of all cases were resolved last year.
However, a lack of funds and personnel to deal with the burgeoning caseload has long plagued the system - especially in the poorer central and western provinces, and regions with large populations of ethnic minorities. The SPC document stressed the need for courts to focus on disputes involving livelihood issues, from the impact of rising prices and changing housing policies, to disputes involving labour rights, employment, social security, education, health care and consumers’ complaints.
It also highlighted disputes that concern peasants and rural stability, as well as the rights of those whose homes have been demolished or had land confiscated.
It also reaffirmed the need to broaden the sources and channels of recruitment for judges, especially for the country’s western and ethnic minority regions.
This includes further changes to the highly selective judicial exams, expanding pilot schemes for a separate sitting of judicial exams for “working legal professionals” and recruitment policies that encourage minorities and Han citizens with ethnic minority language skills to become judges.
Already some minorities can take the judicial exam in their own language, and are subject to a lower admission benchmark.
However, it is still not a level playing field for many minority applicants, since study materials in native languages are scarce and fewer minority students make it to university.
Legal professionals warned that expanding the supply must not be the only solution.
“While we lower the benchmark for entry to the profession, we must also make sure we have regular training for judges in their jobs,” said Ma Hucheng, a Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference delegate and lawyer from Qinghai. Providing incentives for people to stay, such as better pay or preferential policies, is also important.
Professor Ong Yew-kim, a Hong Kong-based mainland law commentator, said one major reason it has problems filling its grass roots courts, even with the large number of law graduates every year, is the general requirement that judges be Communist Party members, or at least toe the party line.
He said that while strengthening local courts is a step towards judicial reform, allowing civil servants and so-called working legal professionals - from police to court clerks - to become judges is not.
“They should be emphasising the professionalism of judges,” Ong said. “They should be encouraging more law graduates with four years of solid legal training to become judges, not opening the doors to more non- professionals.”
The number of inexperienced or substandard judges at the local level, coupled with a growing caseload, is a major cause of delay in judgments, he said. The result is not only delayed cases, but wrongful judgments.
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