Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.6, 2018

Empirical Research on Substantiation Reform in Court Hearings at the Local Level

(Abstract)

Zuo Weimin

Substantiation reform in court hearings is an important part of litigation. Empirical research on reform pilots in two levels of court in City A shows that substantiation reform has led to some improvements, but the ideal situation, where the evidence presentation of and the confrontation between the plaintiff and the defense, has yet to take shape. The basic structure of the hearings has not undergone fundamental changes: there has been no marked change in the relationships and functions of the trial and pre-trial procedures, and the centrality of the trial has not been adequately established. Technical causes underlie this state of affairs, but it is also due to the reform’s failure to touch the judicial structure, the lack of supporting measures, etc. Future reforms should fine-tune approaches to this issue, stressing the decisive role of the trial in systematic judicial reform. As an important element in the trial’s centrality, the substantiation of court hearings should be directed to controversial cases and key witnesses should be encouraged to appear in full in court. Evidence given in court, especially oral evidence, should have effective priority, and the contradictions in the “legal language” of the prosecution, the defense, and the judge should be reconciled with the “everyday language” of others appearing in court. This should be confirmed through an operable program and specific mechanisms in which confrontation is the main theme.