Judicial Independence in China: Lessons for Global Rule of Law Promotion

This volume challenges the conventional wisdom about judicial independence in China and its relationship to economic growth, rule of law, human rights protection, and democracy. The volume adopts an interdisciplinary approach that places China's judicial reforms and the struggle to enhance the professionalism, authority, and independence of the judiciary within a broader comparative and developmental framework. Contributors debate the merits of international best practices and their applicability to China; provide new theoretical perspectives and empirical studies; and discuss civil, criminal, and administrative cases in urban and rural courts. This volume contributes to several fields, including law and development and the promotion of rule of law and good governance, globalization studies, neo-institutionalism and studies of the judiciary, the emerging literature on judicial reforms in authoritarian regimes, Asian legal studies, and comparative law more generally.

1. Introduction Randall Peerenboom; 2. Half-way home and a long way to go: China's rule of law evolution and the global road to judicial independence, impartiality and integrity Keith Henderson; 3. A new approach for promoting judicial integrity Antoine Garapon; 4. The party and the courts Suli Zhu; 5. Common myths and unfounded assumptions: challenges and prospects for judicial independence in China Randall Peerenboom; 6. A new analytical framework for understanding and promoting judicial independence in China Fu Yulin and Randall Peerenboom; 7. Judicial independence and the company law in Shanghai courts Nicholas C. Howson; 8. Independence and authority of local courts in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces Stephanie Balme; 9. The judiciary pushes back: law, power and politics in Chinese courts Xin He; 10. Corruption in China's courts Ling Li; 11. A survey of commercial litigation in Shanghai courts Minxin Pei, Guoyan Zhang, Fei Pei and Lixin Chen; 12. Judicial independence in authoritarian regimes: lessons from continental Europe Carlo Guarnieri; 13. Judicial independence in east Asia: lessons for China Tom Ginsburg.