Abstract
For D. J. Galligan, the way that discretionary powers are exercised is affected by the way an authority is organized (Galligan 1986, p. 133). That is to say, the exercise of discretionary power is relevant to “the degree of power which one official has over another, the extent to which it is hierarchical, the degree of autonomy particular officials have to act as they think best, the position regarding promotion – each of these factors, together with a range of others” (Galligan 1986, p. 133). An examination of the structure of the court provides a wider organizational context for a discussion of the organizational influences on AC decision-making. Judge positions introduced in this chapter will be a source of frequent reference in the remaining chapters.
Appendix 6: a diagram that shows the organization of the court.
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Notes
- 1.
Relevant people’s congress refers to the people’s congress at the same level of the people’s court. However, there are exceptions. Where intermediate people’s courts are set up in the prefectures of provinces or autonomous regions or in the municipalities directly under the Central Government, appointment or removal of the presidents of these courts shall be decided by the standing committee of the people’s congresses of the provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government (NPCSC 1995, art. 11; NPCSC 1979a, art. 34).
- 2.
Question outline 3, interview note 10 from Interviewee 4.
- 3.
Question outline 3, interview note 11 from Interviewee 4.
- 4.
Interview with a lawyer, in a southern city of China (July 19, 2007).
- 5.
There are exceptions. For example, it is reported that the appointment and removal of court presidents of BPCs in Heze City are mainly determined upon the suggestion of the IPC of Heze City (Hu 2004, 20 June). This practice is advocated by the Party committee of Heze City and run on a regular basis.
- 6.
This is evident in a conversation in the interview. Question: What do you think about chief judges who join a collegiate bench and try a case? Answer: I do not think it is very meaningful. Exactly speaking, I do not understand why chief judges need to do this. I think the reform to have chief judges join a collegiate bench and try a case aims to avoid chief judges being detached from adjudication work. But in fact, chief judges [engage in the adjudicative business] because they are responsible for the quality of the adjudication work of the whole division, and many hard cases are reported to them for their opinions. I do not think they need to participate in adjudication work in that way. Moreover, she/he is also responsible for a lot of judicial administration work. How could she/he spare so much time to join a collegiate bench and hear a case? Question outline 3, interview note 9 from Interviewee 4.
- 7.
This court disposes more than 10,000 cases per year (Wu 2002, p. 13).
- 8.
Question outline 3, interview note 10 and 11 from Interviewee 2.
- 9.
This was officially confirmed in the report by the President Jiang at the Fifteenth National Congress of Communist Party of China. In President Jiang’s report, he emphasized that to push forward judicial reform, judicial organs should be systematically protected to exercise adjudicative and procuratorial power independently and incorrectly judged case investigation mechanism should be established.
- 10.
Provisional Measures on Adjudicative Disciplinary Sanctions of the People’s Courts, another judicial interpretation laid down by the SPC in 1998, also adopts procedural standards to judge incorrectly decided cases.
- 11.
Li Fan and Li Rui disagreed with judicial discipline based on inviolation of procedural laws because they think that judicial behaviors which result in miscarriage of justice could not be a violation of procedural law. They suggested the existence or absence of fault as a good standard to assess whether a case is incorrectly judged (Li and Li 2004, p. 15).
- 12.
Question outline 3, interview note 7 and 8 from Interviewee 2.
- 13.
An interview with an assistant judge from an IPC, in a southern city of China (September 23, 2007); also an interview with an assistant judge from a BPC, in a southern city of China (September 24, 2010).
- 14.
An interview with an assistant judge from an IPC, in a southern city of China (September 23, 2007); also an interview with an assistant judge from a BPC, in a southern city of China (September 24, 2010).
- 15.
There are a few courts where responsible judges are fixed by trial divisions rather than docketing divisions.
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Li, L. (2014). The Organization of the Court. In: Judicial Discretion within Adjudicative Committee Proceedings in China. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54041-7_2
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