Chinese Justice
Civil Dispute Resolution in Contemporary China

Analyzes whether China's thirty years of legal reform have taken root in Chinese society by examining how ordinary citizens are using the legal system.

Margaret Y. K. Woo (Edited by), Mary E. Gallagher (Edited by)

9781107006249, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 April 2011

432 pages, 18 b/w illus. 22 tables
23.5 x 16 x 2.5 cm, 0.7 kg

'This volume is timely as the 4th plenum of the 18th Party Congress in 2014 established the 'rule of law' as its central theme. Clearly the CCP is hoping that by emphasizing the 'rule of law', an increasingly volatile and restless society can be stabilized. However, as this excellent volume reveals, the challenges faced by the CCP will be enormous.' Chow Bing Ngeow, Journal of Chinese Political Science

This volume analyzes whether China's thirty years of legal reform have taken root in Chinese society by examining how ordinary citizens are using the legal system in contemporary China. It is an interdisciplinary look at law in action and at legal institutions from the bottom up, that is, beginning with those at the ground level that are using and working in the legal system. It explores the emergent Chinese conception of justice - one that seeks to balance Chinese tradition, socialist legacies and the needs of the global market. Given the political dimension of dispute resolution in creating, settling and changing social norms, this volume contributes to a greater understanding of political and social change in China today and of the process of legal reform generally.

Part I. Legal Development and Institutional Tensions: 1. From mediatory to adjudicatory justice: the limits of civil justice reform in China Fu Hualing and Richard Cullen
2. Judicial disciplinary systems for incorrectly decided cases: the imperial Chinese heritage lives on Carl Minzner
3. Proceduralism and rivalry in China's two legal states Douglas B. Grob
4. Economic development and the development of the legal profession in China Randall Peerenboom
Part II. Pu Fa and the Dissemination of Law in the Chinese Context: 5. The impact of nationalist and Maoist legacies on popular trust in legal institutions Pierre F. Landry
6. Popular attitudes toward official justice in Beijing and rural China Ethan Michelson and Benjamin Read
7. Users and non-users: legal experience and its effect on legal consciousness Mary Gallagher and Yuhua Wang
8. With or without law: the changing meaning of ordinary legal work in China, 1979–2003 Sida Liu
Part III. Law from the Bottom Up: 9. A populist threat to China's courts? Benjamin L. Liebman
10. Dispute resolution and China's grassroots legal services Fu Yulin
11. Constitutionalism with Chinese characteristics? Thomas E. Kellogg.

Subject Areas: Civil procedure, litigation & dispute resolution [LNAC], Comparative law [LAM], Law [L], Politics & government [JP]