Efficiency of China’s courts thanks to staff, tech and mediation

Editor’s note: A British delegation led by Lord Hodge of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom attended the Fifth UK-China Judicial Roundtable in Shanghai late last month. Reportedly, Lord Hodge was surprised to hear that the Shanghai Financial Court, which is the first of its kind in China and only established on Aug 20, had already processed more than 1,000 cases involving nearly 20 billion yuan ($2.89 billion), in the first two months after its establishment. Qin Shuo, a columnist, comments in a post:

The high work efficiency of the Chinese courts comes from the application of internet technology and the ample supply of professional full-time judicial staff. The Shanghai Financial Court has 71 employees, among which 29 are judges.

Other characteristics of the Chinese judicial system also contribute to its efficiency.

Compared with the Western judicial system, the Chinese one pays more attention to using multiple mediation mechanisms to settle civil disputes, which saves judicial resources and enhances the efficiency of the whole judicial machine.

China’s judicial system emphasizes a litigation mode, in which all relevant parties — with the judges’ active coordination — cooperate with each other for the common purpose of reaching a settlement. In the West, the judges follow the litigation activities and do not take part in them.

Legal costs are much lower in China than in the West, so that small enterprises and individuals can afford to go through the judicial procedure.

Although China still has a long way to go regarding law-based governance, it is fair to say that the advancement of information technology and some of its intrinsic traits have, to some extent, helped to improve the rule of law and good governance in the country.