PRACTICE AREAS Litigation & Arbitration Litigation China Court System
Litigation
Tuesday, 19 May 2009 06:39
The Constitution of China provides that the People's Courts are the judicial organs of the state and exercise the judicial powers. Soon after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the courts system was established throughout the country. In 1954, at the first session of the first National People's Congress (NPC), the Organic Law of the People's Courts was adopted which provided systematically the nature, functions, organization and activities of the courts. Now the court system of China consists of:
- The Supreme People's Court;
- The higher courts instituted at the levels of provinces and autonomous regions as well as municipalities directly under the Central Government;
- The intermediate courts established at levels of prefectures (including autonomous prefectures), provincial capital (including cities under direct control of the provincial or autonomous region government), relatively big cities and within the municipalities directly under the Central Government;
- The basic courts established at county or autonomous county levels and in urban districts;
- Military courts;
- Maritime courts;
- Railway transport courts.
Every court is, except the special courts (military, maritime, and railway transport courts), usually composed of several institutions such as criminal division, civil division, intellectual property division and enforcement division. In recent years the courts of the whole country handles a total of about 6 million cases annually. Two brief statistical tables relating to the cases received and settled by the people's courts at various levels are listed below:
Table 1. Statistical Table of Cases Handled by Courts at Various Levels in 1999
Unit: case
Category Received Settled Total 6,229,512 6,232,302 The First Instance 5,692,434 5,698,705 The Second Instance 438,313 436,804 Adjudication Supervision 98,765 96,793
Table 2. Statistical Table of Classified Cases in 1999
Unit: case
Category Received Settled Total 5,692,434 5,698,705 Criminal Cases 540,008 539,335 Civil Cases 3,519,244 3,517,324 Economic Dispute Cases 1,535,613 1,543,287 Maritime Cases 5,736 5,964 Administrative Cases 97,569 98,759 Source: Law Yearbook of China: 2000
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