Resolution of Civil Disputes in China

Abstract

ARTICLES RESOLUTION OF CIVIL DISPUTES IN CHINA Vai lo Lo* In the late 1970s, China launched both economic and legal reforms, intending to introduce market mechanisms, open its door to foreign investors, and maintain social order based on le- gal norms. Accordingly, in the past twenty years, voluminous literature has been published on the Chinese legal system, dis- cussing its basic ingredients and noting discrepancies between theory and practice. 1 The topic of dispute resolution, in particu- lar, has received much attention. Numerous books and articles have been written about the resolution of commercial disputes, 2 especially on disputes between Chinese and foreign parties. With respect to civil conflicts between and among Chinese citi- or in- zens, literature has concentrated on the use of extralegal formal means, notably the various types of mediation. J.D., Ph.D.; Visiting Scholar, Harvard Law School, 1996-97. Some materials for this article were collected during my research residence at Harvard Law School. I would like to thank the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard for facilitat- ing my research there. In addition, I am grateful to Daniel H. Foote and Kazuo Sugeno for reviewing an earlier draft of this article. With the aforementioned said, the responsibility of this article remains with me. 1. Over the years, articles on various issues of the Chinese legal system have often noted its lack of enforcement, especially due to local protectionism. See, e.g., Luming Chen, Some Reflections on International Arbitration in China, J. INT'L ARB., June 1996, at 121, 154-55. See, e.g., SHENG CHANG WANG, RESOLVING DISPUTES IN THE PRC: A (1996); Freder- ick Brown & Catherine A. Rogers, The Role of Arbitration in Resolving Transna- tional Disputes: A Survey of Trends in the People's Republic of China, 15 BERKELEY J. INT'L L. 329 (1997); Guiguo Wang, The Unification of the Dispute Resolution Sys- tem in China: Cultural, Economic and Legal Contributions, J. INT'L ARB., June 1996, PRACTICAL GUIDE TO ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION IN CHINA at 5. 3. See, e.g., Donald C. Clarke, Dispute Resolution in China, 5 J. CHINESE L. 245 (1991); Hualing Fu, Understanding People's Mediation in Post-Mao China, 6 J. CHINESE L. 211 (1992); Eric J. Glassman, The Function of Mediation in China: Ex-