Some Reflections on the Value of the Circuit Trial System

In November 2021, the Intermediate People's Court of Nanjing Municipality, Jiangsu Province, decided to carry out the first two-way exchange exercise between the two levels of courts in the city for three months. As a judge's assistant to the Second Civil Division of the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court, the author was selected to exchange and exercise at the Chengqiao People's Court of the People's Court of Nanjing Liuhe District, and was able to personally participate in the judicial practice of the "bench court" circuit trial organized by the court, which not only truly felt the important significance of circuit trial in the people's court's practice of the purpose of judicial convenience and benefit to the people, but also triggered some thoughts on the contemporary value of the circuit trial system.

The itinerant trial system is the most vivid practice of the people's courts in adhering to the people-centered approach, the most direct embodiment of the people's judicial tradition of relying on the people, connecting with the people, and facilitating the people, and is of great value for promoting the comprehensive rule of law in the new era, promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities, and realizing rural revitalization.

I. Practitioners of justice for the people

Adhering to the people-centered approach is one of the principles that must be followed in the mainland's economic and social development during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, and it is also the essential requirement for the people's courts to practice justice for the people. At present, the problem of uneven development between different regions of the mainland and between urban and rural areas still exists to varying degrees, and residents in some areas, especially in remote mountainous areas, pastoral areas and rural areas, are still facing problems such as large litigation costs and difficult litigation due to objective factors such as long distances and inconvenient transportation. To this end, courts in all localities, especially the basic people's courts and their dispatched courts, give full play to their own initiative and creativity, through the flexible use of the circuit trial system, choose to organize the parties in the fields, rural courtyards, primary and secondary schools, production enterprises, nursing homes, etc. to state the merits and distinguish the law, so that the people can obtain efficient, convenient, and high-quality judicial services without leaving their homes, solve practical problems for the people to the greatest extent, minimize the litigation burden of the parties, and truly realize the "last kilometer" of judicial justice ", fully embodies the people's judicial pursuit of the fundamental value of the people.

Second, the promoters of grassroots governance

In today's world, the rule of law has become an important symbol of the modernization of national governance. The degree of legalization of the state and society has become the main indicator of whether a country's governance has been modernized. In the process of comprehensively deepening reform on the mainland, building a grass-roots social governance system based on the rule of law is an inevitable requirement for deepening the modernization of national governance and accelerating the construction of a rule-of-law China. At present, the mainland is in a period of social transformation, especially the reform has entered a period of tackling tough problems and deep-water areas, contradictions and disputes are becoming increasingly diverse and complex, and grass-roots social governance is facing severe challenges. How to help the grassroots achieve good governance by giving play to the role of judicial adjudication has become a major issue that the people's courts must face up to and think about. People's courts actively integrate social forces by actively inviting local comprehensive management personnel, village (neighborhood) committee cadres, people's mediators, people's congress deputies, and so forth to participate in trial observation and organization of mediation in carrying out circuit trial work, and promote the benign operation of a diversified dispute resolution mechanism of "party committee leadership, judicial promotion, social participation, pluralism, and rule of law guarantees", which not only provides the people with efficient, convenient, and low-cost dispute resolution methods, but also helps to promote the level of rule of law in grass-roots social governance and carry forward the spirit of the rule of law. Better safeguard social fairness and justice.

Third, the escort of rural revitalization

As an important part of the country, the rise and fall of the countryside is related to the stability and prosperity of society. However, the backward economic situation in some rural areas, the prominent dual structure of urban and rural areas, and the difficulty of taking root in the culture of rule of law have always restricted rural construction. It can be said that the governance of rural society is in the basic position of the local governance system in the mainland, and the results and development trends it shows will be directly related to the process of modernization. It is precisely for this reason that the party and the state have always regarded the "three rural areas" issue as the top priority of all work. The Nineteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China made a major decision and deployment to implement the strategy of rural revitalization, and the overall goal is to achieve "industrial prosperity, ecological livability, civilized rural style, effective governance, and affluent life" in rural areas. Whether it is the prosperity of the industry, the ecological livability, or the civilization of the countryside, the effective governance, and the prosperity of life, it is inseparable from the judicial guarantee escort. As an important starting point for the people's courts to deeply participate in rural social governance and serve to ensure the development of rural society, the circuit trial system is an important part of the rural social governance system, which efficiently resolves contradictions and disputes through local case filing, local trial, local mediation, and local enforcement, provides a strong judicial system guarantee for rural revitalization, and helps the goal of rural revitalization to be achieved as scheduled.

FOURTH, The builder of faith in the rule of law

Rousseau, a famous French Enlightenment thinker, said: "The law is neither inscribed on marble nor on a copper watch, but in the heart of a citizen." "For the law to work, first of all, the whole society must believe in the rule of law. Emphasizing faith in the rule of law is not only an inevitable choice to respect the law of the rule of law, but also an inherent requirement for laying a foundation for comprehensively ruling the country according to law. It can be said that establishing the belief of all citizens in the rule of law is an inevitable choice for building a socialist country ruled by law and realizing the modernization of national governance. At present, the belief in the rule of law has not yet taken root among all members of society, and there are still some phenomena in society, especially in grass-roots society, that are not fully in line with the requirements of the rule of law. The existence of these phenomena shows that the construction of the rule of law needs to continue to advance, so as to truly enter the lives of the people from the level of legal rules, from hanging on the wall, from writing in books. Therefore, in order for the law to truly be implemented as the "rule of law" in the life of the state and society, it is necessary to establish a belief in the rule of law among all members of society and gather consensus on the rule of law. By directly facing the countryside, the masses, and the grassroots, the circuit trial system allows the people to say things and judges to speak, and uses the vivid cases that occur around the masses as teaching materials for rule of law publicity, which is an important way to establish the common values of all members of society to believe in the rule of law and practice the rule of law, and can maximize the exemplary educational significance of judicial adjudication.

The broadest and deepest foundation for comprehensively ruling the country according to law is the people, and the people's courts must always adhere to the principle that the judiciary is for the people, relies on the people, benefits the people, and protects the people. As a creative application of the party's mass line in the judicial field, the people's courts' circuit trial system fully embodies the essential characteristics of the people's judiciary, and still has major institutional value and practical significance in the new historical period, and should continue to be adhered to, perfected, and carried forward.

(Author Affilications:Nanjing Intermediate People's Court of Jiangsu Province)

【Source: People's Court Daily】

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