Their latest newsletter covers:
- Stanford CGCP Global Guide™: China’s Groundbreaking Rules on Judicial Cases & Implications for Legal Practice and Education
- Free Trial of e-China Law Connect
- Stanford CGCP Reading Plans™
Stanford CGCP Global Guide™: China’s Groundbreaking Rules on Judicial Cases & Implications for Legal Practice and Education
In late July, China released the Guiding Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on Unifying the Application of Law and Strengthening the Search for Similar Cases (Trial Implementation), marking another step taken by the Supreme People’s Court (the “SPC”) to promote the use of judicial cases.
Since 2010, the SPC has released three major sets of rules to guide the use of cases—especially Guiding Cases, China’s de facto binding precedents—to help increase judicial consistency.
To compile useful analyses related to these rules developed over the past ten years, the China Guiding Cases Project (the “CGCP”) of Stanford Law School is leveraging its international platform to publish the Stanford CGCP Global Guide™. The new Stanford CGCP Global Guide™ covers the original Chinese texts and the CGCP’s high-quality English translations of the following three major sets of rules related to Guiding Cases, along with some annotations and insights:
• Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court Concerning Work on Case Guidance (2010). Among all provisions, Article 7 stands out:
People’s courts at all levels should reference and imitate the Guiding Cases released by the Supreme People’s Court when adjudicating similar cases. (emphasis added)
Visit here to learn why “reference and imitate” is used to translate “??”.
• Detailed Implementing Rules on the “Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court Concerning Work on Case Guidance” (2015). Article 9 makes it clear that if a Guiding Case is determined to be similar to a pending case, the court handing the pending case “should reference and imitate the ‘Main Points of the Adjudication’ of that relevant Guiding Case to render its ruling or judgment.”
But how similar is similar? Visit here to learn the criteria.
In addition, according to Article 11, when a party argues that a Guiding Case is similar to a pending case, the court handling a pending case is expected to explain in the judgment whether the Guiding Case is applied or distinguished.
Click here to see a list of articles published by the CGCP discussing how Chinese courts have argued for (or against) the use of select Guiding Cases.
To increase the use of cases, this new set of Guiding Opinions enumerates circumstances under which a search for similar cases needs to be conducted. More importantly, the document (1) defines the term “similar cases” as Guiding Cases and a few other types of important cases; and (2) explains an order that needs to be followed during any search for these cases, suggesting a hierarchical structure of judicial cases.
Visit here to learn all the details.
Professionals around the world (especially those with first-hand knowledge, such as judges and lawyers focusing on Chinese law) are welcome to contribute brief annotations and/or insights (preferably in the form of published works with hyperlinks) to the Stanford CGCP Global Guide™. Please stay tuned in the coming weeks to learn how to contribute.
Free Trial of e-China Law Connect
Led by Dr. Mei Gechlik, a scholar who has been committed to helping improve the Chinese legal system over the past 25 years, the CGCP is advised by more than 50 experts (including U.S. and Chinese judges) and has a team of nearly 200 excellent students and lawyers around the world. The CGCP has worked extremely hard to publish its bilingual quarterly journal, China Law Connect (“CLC”; ISSN 2576-1927 (PRINT); ISSN 2576-1935 (ONLINE)). Since the journal was launched in June 2018, it has attracted more than 83,000 new users (located in Asia (45,300), the Americas (27,100), Europe (7,600), Oceania (1,700), and Africa (1,000)) to the CGCP website, bringing the total number of global users of the CGCP website to more than 160,000.
To efficiently disseminate little known details and insights about Guiding Cases and many other topics related to China, we recently launched e-China Law Connect. Register here to immediately gain FREE access to select issues/articles of our journal. For example, you will be able to read:
- On the Issue of the Application of the Supreme Court’s Guiding Cases written by Judge GUO Feng, who oversees the selection of Guiding Cases. In the article, Judge Guo uses the term “de facto binding effect” for the first time to explain the nature of Guiding Cases. He explains the rationales behind the use of this term.
- Adjudication Essentials of Intellectual Property Cases: Highlighting the Progress of Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in China written by CUI Yadong, former president of the Shanghai High Court. These adjudication essentials are similar to the Main Points of the Adjudication of Guiding Cases and both were carefully prepared by the SPC.
- The Importance of Guiding Cases for U. S. Courts in Determining Chinese Law, A Trial Lawyer’s Perspective written by James McManis, a leading U.S. lawyer. Mr. McManis analyzes the U.S. Supreme Court’s Vitamin C case to explain why Guiding Cases matter to U.S. practitioners.
Stanford CGCP Reading Plans™
History teaches us that understanding is the key to world peace. During this difficult time of uncertainties that, if mishandled, can lead to terrible outcomes, the CGCP is committed to help bridge the gaps between China and the rest of the world. To prepare them for an increasingly complicated world, we seek to equip more of the world’s future leaders with impartial information about China by launching Stanford CGCP Reading Plans™.
You can help by sponsoring students inside and outside China to have online access to CLC. Choose one of the following options and make a difference today!
• Donate $300 to sign up for the “1 + 5” Reading Sponsorship Plan, which provides one-year full access to CLC for the following:
o You + 5 students inside or outside China
• Donate $500 to sign up for the “1 + 10” Reading Sponsorship Plan, which provides one-year full access to CLC for the following:
o You + 10 students inside or outside China
Students from underserved communities (e.g., rural areas in China and other parts of the Global South) will be given priority to become sponsored students for Stanford CGCP Reading Plans™. They will learn, for example,
- Judge William A. Fletcher’s insights about how similar cases are identified and applied in the American case-based system;
- Judge Diane P. Wood’s observations about judicial precedents; and
- Leading artificial intelligence (“AI”) expert Eli-Shaoul Khedouri’s explanation of how to regulate AI, without compromising the development of technology.
At the end of the one-year reading period, sponsored students will tell us what they have learned from the reading plans! We will publicize select feedback.
To sign up for a Stanford CGCP Reading Plan™, simply donate via the link on this page.
- Choose “China Guiding Cases Project Fund” in the first box.
- Indicate in the second box that your gift is for “Stanford CGCP Reading Plans”.
- Forward your donation receipt to [email protected] (subject line: “Stanford CGCP Reading Plans”). Your email will immediately alert the CGCP team to your donation, so that we can put your support into action quickly.
Donations exceeding the above-mentioned amounts are warmly welcome and will benefit more students.
Are you a student interested in participating in the new Stanford CGCP Reading Plans™? Let us know via email at [email protected]. Include (i) your resume, (ii) a cover letter (explaining why we should select you and what you expect to learn from participating in the Stanford CGCP Reading Plans™); and (iii) a copy of your student identification card showing that you are currently enrolled in a university or high school.
The CGCP thanks the following sponsors for their kind and generous support:
Alston & Bird LLP, Beiming Software Co., Ltd., the Center for East Asian Studies of Stanford University, China Fund of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies of Stanford University, Dentons (Beijing), International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) office of the U.S. Department of Education (grant 84.015A), Karisma Institute, the McManis Wigh China Foundation, PanUSA, Third Classroom, and Tencent Research Institute.
Since it was founded in February 2011 to help China establish a more transparent and accountable judiciary, the CGCP has shared significant insights about the country’s Guiding Cases and related developments, including the Belt and Road Initiative. To continue receiving messages that highlight these insights, please subscribe to our mailing list here.
To join us and offer your editorial assistance, please apply to be part of the CGCP team by following the instructions here.
A significant source of our funding is individual donors. Please make a gift to us today and help us advance our mission. Thank you for your support!
