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There have many judicial publications relevant to the civil justice been published since the early days of 80s. Two chief ones are the Civil Handbook (People’s Court Press and later, the Mass Press) and the Handbook of Civil Justice (China Legal System Press, 2001). The former, compiled by the preceding civil division of the Supreme People’s Court and published continuously in six volumes during the period 1979-1998, contains the laws, regulations and judicial documents concerning civil trial. Though outdated somewhat in content, it is still considered as a useful source on searching for the judicial documents on administrative trial issued in the early days of 80s. The latter is a newly published subject collection of judicial documents which is composed of three companion volumes entitled, respectively, the Handbook of Civil Justice (Commerce), Handbook of Civil Justice (Intellectual Property), and Handbook of Civil Justice (Foreign Matters, Maritime, Transportation). They contain the laws, regulations and judicial explanations currently effective. Readers will find that it is very convenient for them to search for legal documents in connection with civil trial by using these publications.
There are in addition several subject compilations edited by the relevant former divisions of the Supreme People’s Court and published during 80-90s’ such as:
Handbook of Transport and Communications Justice (People’s Court Press, 1989, edited by division of transport and communications);
Handbook of Economic Justice (People’s Court Press, 1988-, economic division, 27 chapters have been published up to 2001 and will continue to be published by the civil division);
Handbook of Real Estate Justice (Law Press, 1991, 3 volumes, civil court), and its revised ed. New Handbook of Real Estate Justice: 1949.10-1997.7 (the Supreme People’s Court Press, 1997, also reprinted in 2000);
Handbook of Labour Dispute Justice (Law Press, 1994, civil court), which can be used to trace outdated legal documents on this topic.
Since China carries out the policy of sa ocialist market economy and accession to the World Trade Organization, many problems and disputes have emerged in the civil and economic activities. The civil division of the Supreme People’s Court, in response to the new situation appeared in the judicial practices and for the sake of directing the lower courts to apply the law correctly, edits two academic series: Reference and Guide to Civil Trial (Law Press, 2000-, quarterly) and Civil and Commercial Trial Review (Law Press, 1999-, irregularly). These two series, apart from containing the new judicial interpretations connected with civil trial, also embrace several special columns such as:
•Policy of Civil Justice, issuing the directive proposals of the Supreme People’s Court and the speech of the leaders of the Supreme People’s Court delivered in symposiums and meetings relevant to civil trial;
•Report for Requesting Instructions and Reply, publishing the approval in reply of the Supreme People’s Court on the report for requesting instructions of provincial higher people’s court regarding civil cases;
•Cases Analysis, commenting the typical civil cases sentenced by courts at various levels and second instance cases sentenced by the Supreme People Court;
•Judge Reading Notes, personal understanding and experience of senior judges from their trial practices;
•Selected Judgments, carrying the written judgment of typical civil cases decided by the Supreme People’s Court.
The materials and the cases notes in the series mentioned above are wrote and organized mainly by the judges who are in the judicial front and partake in the trial, and the information they offered is considered commonly as accurate and authoritative. So these publications are play an important role in directing lower courts in their judicial practices and have a high academic value.
Criminal Trial
In 1997, the NPC passed the amendments to the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law , and late in the same year the Supreme People’s Court also issued a number of judicial interpretations for the sake of directing the lower courts to comprehend and apply correctly the amended laws and improve the quality of criminal justice. Some compilations dealing with criminal trial were published afterward, among which the following ones have the best quality.
A Compilation of the Latest Criminal Laws and Judicial Interpretations (Police Officer Press, 1998 Ed., 1999 Revised Ed.; The University of China People’s Public Security Press, 2001 Revised Ed.), and its companion, A New Handbook of Criminal Laws and Judicial Interpretations (Law Press, 1999). Edited by the Research Department of the Supreme People’s Court, these two collections collect all the effective decisions and laws passed by the NPC and judicial interpretations and documents issued by the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice involving criminal justice and arrange them in an order corresponding to the structures of the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law and is easy for readers to search for a document. Their revised editions keep the content updated to 2001.
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