Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-5xszh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T14:30:43.930Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - A Survey of Commercial Litigation in Shanghai Courts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Randall Peerenboom
Affiliation:
La Trobe University, Victoria
Get access

Summary

The capacity of a legal system to protect property rights is generally considered one of the most important factors in economic development because commercial transactions will become unduly costly and risky in an environment in which contracts cannot be enforced by the state. An independent judiciary, in turn, is generally considered an essential element of an effective legal system and thus necessary for sustained economic growth. Chinese leaders have clearly recognized the critical importance of building a legal infrastructure that will facilitate commercial transactions in an increasingly market-oriented economy; they have also acknowledged the need to enhance the competence, authority, and independence of the judiciary. Yet scholars remain divided on the role of the legal system in development and how well it protects property rights.

How well then is China implementing the declared policy of “ruling the country according to the law”? How are Chinese citizens and corporations responding to the new legal environment? What strategies do they use to win favorable outcomes in court? How independent are the courts in handling commercial cases? What are the sources and impact of outside influence in such cases? How do the parties assess the legal system and their experience in court? This chapter sheds light on these important issues by measuring various aspects of the civil proceedings in basic level and intermediate courts in one of China's leading urban commercial centers.

Type
Chapter
Information
Judicial Independence in China
Lessons for Global Rule of Law Promotion
, pp. 221 - 233
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Clarke, Donald, “Economic Development and The Rights Hypothesis: The China Problem,” American Journal of Comparative Law, 51: 89 (2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, Donald, Murrell, Peter, and Whiting, Susan, “The Role of Law in China's Economic Development,” (2006), http://ssrn.com/abstract=878672
Dam, Kenneth, The Law-Growth Nexus (Washington D.C.: Brookings Institute, 2006)Google Scholar
Peerenboom, Randall, China's Long March toward Rule of Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michelson, Ethan, “Dispute Processing in Urban and Rural China: Findings from Two Surveys,” in Peerenboom, R. ed., Dispute Resolution in China (Oxford: Foundation for Law, Justice and Society, 2008)Google Scholar
Gallagher, Mary, “Mobilizing the Law in China: ‘Informed Disenchantment’ and the Development of Legal Consciousness.” 40 Law and Society Review783–816 (2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×