Five-Year Review of China’s Case Guidance System

Abstract

In ancient China, case law played an important role, but over more or less the last one hundred years, the old case law tradition was almost wholly cast aside. After several decades of peaceful and high-speed development, China is facing a kind of transition period. Both academics and the judiciary have noticed the attractions of case law, which are significant in China’s quest to go through the transition period smoothly. However, because of the centralized power structure, the special judicial organization and the strong authority of the SPC, the mechanism of case law in China is different from other currently existing case law models. The SPC has designed the case guidance system as an extra-adjudicatory mechanism in its reform of case law and is implementing the system with a top down approach. In reviewing the past five years of the case guidance system – from 2010 to 2015 – it is quickly ascertainable that achievements and inefficiencies coexist across the whole system. Nonetheless, the case guidance system is ultimately only in the beginning stage and many problems remain unsettled. At the current stage, every step in the progress of the case guidance system relies heavily on the institutional authority of the SPC. However, from a long-term perspective, a more profound case law environment needs to be fostered, and the cases guidance system needs to reach a stage where it advances as a process of natural evolution.