The Supreme People’s Court activates a database of people’s court cases to optimize judicial transparency
- Cinalex
- Apr 16, 2024
- 2 min read
On the 27th of February 2024, the Supreme People’s Court announced the inauguration of the "People’s Court Case Database" (人民法院案例库). The database contains authoritative cases with reference value for similar cases but they must not be considered by people’s courts as binding precedents.
The database contains over 3700 decisions but destined to grow in order to make the judgments more uniform and faster to limit the arbitrariness of decisions.
The creation of the database was made possible by the "Notice on the Construction of a National Court Judgment Document Database" (关于建设全国法院裁判文书库的通知) of 21 November 2023 which affirms the need of the database for the realization of “Xi Jinping Thought” on the rule of law in order to ensure a strict, efficient and fair administration of justice and to promote the uniformity of socialist legality and the "modernization with Chinese characteristics" (中国式现代化). According to the principle of Leninist democratic centralism, all the instances of the people’s courts must strengthen general planning and organizational mobilization by rewarding enthusiasm, initiative and dynamism not only of the judges but also of the auxiliary judicial staff and ensure the regular efficiency of the database through updates in accordance with the measures of the Supreme People’s Court.
The database is accessible from the homepage of the Supreme People’s Court. The reference model is the pre-existing China Judgements Online (中国裁判文书, https://wenshu.court.gov.cn/) in operation since 1 July 2013 which is not replaced and contains a large number of judgments. Like China Judgements Online, the database requires the user to register and provide personal information.
As regards the procedure for selecting the cases to be included, it is similar to the process of selecting the so-called "guiding cases" being a highly bureaucratic process. For the purpose of including the case, it is of decisive importance the value it has for the development of the legal order of the People’s Republic of China.
Concluding, it is to highlight how through this database the Supreme People’s Court wishes to collaborate with civil society to ensure the development of the socialist legal system of the People’s Republic of China.
On the subject, in particular:
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