Universität zu Köln

Ahl, Bjoern and Sprick, Daniel (2018). Towards judicial transparency in China: The new public access database for court decisions. China Inf., 32 (1). S. 3 - 23. THOUSAND OAKS: SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC. ISSN 1741-590X

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Abstract

Since 2013 judicial reforms in China have intensified. While recent studies of the Chinese judiciary have focused on structural reforms concerning the jurisdiction of courts and internal court management, it has largely gone unnoticed that the Supreme People's Court (SPC) has established an open-access database archiving the decisions of every court in China. On the basis of legal documents, secondary literature and interviews with experts, this study investigates the implications of the new database. We find that the database establishes new channels of communication that affect the relationship between the courts and the public, and the position of judges within the judiciary. Further, the open-access database facilitates changes in the structure of communication among legal experts, which in turn promotes legal professionalism. We argue that the SPC made use of the party policy on the direct accountability of the courts towards the people in order to pursue its institutional interest in a professional judiciary.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Ahl, Bjoern UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Sprick, Daniel UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-194032
DOI:	10.1177/0920203X17744544
Journal or Publication Title:	China Inf.
Volume:	32
Number:	1
Page Range:	S. 3 - 23
Date:	2018
Publisher:	SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
Place of Publication:	THOUSAND OAKS
ISSN:	1741-590X
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language MEDIA Multiple languages Area Studies Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/19403