The Effectiveness of Judicial Interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court in China: An Empirical Approach

Although it is generally assumed that the judiciary is not an organ set up primarily forthe purpose of making law but for deciding disputes based on pre-existing laws, it isperceived in the context of China that the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) has beenplaying a primarily legislative role to great effect in reform-era China since theStanding Committee of National People’s Congress (NPCSC) delegated the power ofjudicial interpretation to the SPC in 1981. Despite the fact that this is often criticized asunconstitutional as it would appear that the SPC is encroaching on the legislative poweraccording to the Constitution, the legislative function of the SPC in the form of judicialinterpretations has been formally institutionalized by the NPC in its amendments of theLegislation Law in 2015.Nevertheless, in terms of the SPC’s judicial interpretations as clearly stipulated in theProvisions on the Judicial Interpretation Work 2007, very little empirical analysis hasbeen carried out on the effectiveness of these judicial interpretations; for example, inwhat ways and under what conditions are different types of judicial interpretationsapplied effectively by local courts in comparison with corresponding national laws in trialpractice. In addition, for those judicial documentations of a judicial interpretationnature, although they do not have the same legal force as judicial interpretations they doplay a significant but distinctive role in the adjudication of local courts. Furthermore,after the adoption of the Guiding Case System in 2010 the SPC became able to interpretprovisions of national laws relating to a case by attaching a part to the Guiding Casecalled “Main Points of Adjudication”. Nonetheless, it is unclear the extent to which thiscan influence the function of the SPC’s judicial interpretations.This project, therefore, will employ empirical methods beyond the literature review tocollect and analyze resources on which we will build a conditional theory in the contextof China. It will consider the mechanism and conditions through and under which theSPC’s judicial interpretations are effective in trial practice. Further, it will focus on theprocesses, mechanisms and conditions for the implementation of the SPC’s judicialinterpretations in specific contexts rather than the grander theoretical claims which aremerely based on normative views. Emphasis will be placed on the interactive relationshipbetween empirical work and theoretical development in China.