In 2011 and 2012, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) published its first “guiding cases.” Guiding cases serve as decision-making models that must be taken into account by lower courts when deciding similar cases. This study argues that the establishment of a national formal legal mechanism to improve consistency in adjudication across jurisdictions and geographical boundaries will strengthen judicial professionalism. The guiding cases system provides the SPC with an instrument to steer adjudication in lower courts discreetly, thereby allowing it to exercise significant influence over legal developments. Given the complexity of cases, compared to law set out in statute, non-lawyers may have tremendous difficulty in understanding and assessing the effects of guiding cases; this in turn acts as a protective mechanism against extra-legal interference. The reform is an example of the SPC's delicate manoeuvring in order to retain judicial professionalism in a hostile yet politically conservative environment. It reflects an attempt by the SPC to strengthen its position vis-à-vis other actors of the party-state and to consolidate the judiciary's function as an adjudicative institution that works on the basis of formal legal mechanisms.
The Chinese employment-stream migration law regime recently underwent fundamental reformation. The introduction of a unified work permit for foreign nationals issued by the local bureaus of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs constitutes a significant institutional and procedural change that trims procedures and clarifies competences. Further, the new classification scheme divides foreign nationals into three categories according to their academic qualifications, professional experience, and income, and is supplemented by a points system. The main objective of the scheme is to establish a modern migration law and policy system that will attract highly skilled global talent. Applying a doctrinal approach, this study analyzes the most recent policies and legal reform measures pertaining to the employment-related migration system. It discusses changes to that system against the backdrop of other factors affecting the legal status of foreign nationals in China such as the resident permit system, naturalization, labor standards, social insurance, legal remedies, the legalization of illegal labor migration, and the legal framework for integrating foreign employees into society.
Since 2013 judicial reforms in China have intensified. While recent studies of the Chinese judiciary have focused on structural reforms concerning the jurisdiction of courts and internal court management, it has largely gone unnoticed that the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) has established an open-access database archiving the decisions of every court in China. On the basis of legal documents, secondary literature and interviews with experts, this study investigates the implications of the new database. We find that the database establishes new channels of communication that affect the relationship between the courts and the public, and the position of judges within the judiciary. Further, the open-access database facilitates changes in the structure of communication among legal experts, which in turn promotes legal professionalism. We argue that the SPC made use of the party policy on the direct accountability of the courts towards the people in order to pursue its institutional interest in a professional judiciary.
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