Achievements and challenges of chinese maritime judicial practice

Introduction: Maritime judicial practice in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) dates back to 1984. After a thirty-year period of development, a comprehensive maritime adjudicatory mechanism is now in place. The experience of maritime adjudication over that thirty-year period constitutes an important basis for maritime legislation in China, particularly the Maritime Code of 1992 (MC 1992 hereafter) and Special Maritime Procedure Law of 1999 (SMPL 1999 hereafter). In addition, the Supreme People’s Court (the SPC) has contributed to both legislation and judicial practice by releasing numerous judicial interpretations. China is now considered by many to operate as a maritime judicial centre for the Asia–Pacific region. However, the disharmony of judicial practice in the maritime courts remains an obstacle to further development of Chinese maritime adjudication. I argue in this chapter that the doctrine of precedent may be an appropriate solution to overcoming that obstacle. Maritime Courts in the PRC The first six maritime courts in China were established in 1984 based on the water transport courts in Shanghai, Tianjin, Qingdao, Dalian, Guangzhou and Wuhan. The establishment of maritime courts was just the beginning of Chinese maritime adjudication, which initially lacked independence. The six initial courts were operated as administrative rather than judicial entities by the port authorities, maritime transport authorities and other navigational authorities under the Ministry of Communications. In June 1999, the six courts were then transferred organisationally to the joint administration of local Communist Party committees and superior People’s Courts as locus in quo, thereby becoming completely detached from the Ministry of Communications or its affiliates. China established additional maritime courts in Haikou and Xiamen in 1990, in Ningbo in 1992 and in Beihai in 1999. After the 1999 transfer, all ten maritime courts were officially incorporated into the national judicial system for maritime adjudication. To date, the PRC’s maritime courts have established thirty-nine tribunals in the major port cities within their jurisdictional territories, located in fifteen provinces, municipalities or autonomous regions, to conduct on-site hearings, which has created a specialised maritime adjudication infrastructure covering every port in China and the country’s entire body of territorial waters.