Lay judges in China under the new People’s Assessors Law: More than mere window-dressing?

Abstract

In April 2018, China enacted a new Law on the participation of citizens in judicial proceedings conducted at the People’s Courts. The Law is related to attempts that have been ongoing since 2015 to reform the institution of lay judges. The use of non-professional judges in China, referred to as people’s assessors, is intended to create greater transparency and thereby combat corruption and improve the quality of the decision-making process. Additional objectives include educating citizens about the law and creating greater trust in the judiciary and the legal system. With the aim of achieving these goals, the Law for the first time prescribes in detail the qualifications required of people’s assessors and establishes an appointment process aiming to ensure that these lay judges better reflect the overall population. Another important element of the new Law concerns the composition of judicial panels, which in the future will consist of either three or seven members. As to the larger panels (composed of seven members), the Law provides that lay judges have an actual vote in determining factual questions but that they are limited to expressing their opinion on legal questions. By differentiating the role of lay judges based on the size of the panel, the question of whether a particular case is to be heard by a small or large panel takes on considerably greater significance. The criteria used in making this determination, however, remain uncertain in several respects.