Open AccessChina's Evolution from Socialist Legality: The Expansion in the Role of Judges and the Redress of Grievances
Author(s) -
Zia Akhtar
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of politics and law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1913-9055
pISSN - 1913-9047
DOI - 10.5539/jpl.v15n1p52
Subject(s) - redress , principle of legality , constitution , political science , centralisation , law , china , judicial review , judicial independence , rule of law , judicial activism , administration (probate law) , judicial reform , communism , economic justice , public administration , politics
The Chinese state implemented a conscious transfer to a market economy after 1977 when the Four Modernisations were inaugurated and the new Constitution promulgated in 1982 raised the possibility for the separation of powers. The new framework introduced judicial review into the structure of the legal system that was to provide redress of grievances from mal administration. The transition to a new leadership in 2011 allowed the National Peoples Congress to enact administrative reforms, and further amendments to the Chinese Constitution in 2018 have promulgated the Judges Law. The judicial reforms promote the values of an independent judiciary and there is an effective machinery of justice which promotes judicial review. This paper argues that the centralisation of power by the Communist Party does not preclude the functioning of judicial administration that conforms to rule of law and an emerging trend of public interest litigation and participatory justice.