A Study On The Civil Appeal System

Based on a theoretical analysis of civil appeal and a review of the civil appeal systems of the two legal systems from a comparative law perspective,the purpose of this article is to present some theoretical guidance in the revision of the civil procedure law through proposing some thoughts and solutions for reconstruction of the civil appeal system through settling some current vices of the system.This article is structured as follows:The first chapter is a comprehensive and in-depth discussion on the basic theories of civil appeal,including an overview of historical evolution of different civil appeal systems,the nature of appeal right from multiple perspectives and the functions and purposes of civil appeal.This is to demonstrate that a civil appeal system must strike a balance between litigation fairness and litigation efficiency and coordinate private interests and public interests.The second chapter is a comparative study of the civil appeal systems of the two major legal systems for the purpose of presenting legislative and institution design prototypes as a reference for civil appeal system reformation of this country.The third chapter is a comprehensive analysis of the current status of the civil appeal system of this country.It identified the following vices of the system and their roots:(1) distortion of and unbalance between right of action and judiciary power;(2) incompleteness of appeal procedures;and (3) unreasonable trial tiers.The fourth chapter is a discussion on reconstruction of the civil appeal system from the perspective of balance between right of action and judiciary power.The author holds that the key step and effective approach toward balancing judiciary power with right of action is to introduce the principle of adverse alteration prohibition and a complete litigation agreement system and that,as a mechanism for balancing the right of action with the judiciary power,the principle of good faith should be introduced and the criteria of appeal interests and economic sanctions against abuse of appeal right should be established.The fifth chapter is a discussion on reconstruction of the civil appeal system from the perspective of optimizing and perfecting procedures, including introducing an awarded appeal system,reforming adjudication scope in appeal,revising adjudication forms under the Civil Procedure Law and clarifying and tightening the criteria for remanding cases.The sixth chapter is a discussion on reconstruction of the civil appeal system from the perspective of tiers of trials,including the basic rationales underlying tiers of trials and some thoughts for reconstruction,namely,a diversified system,re-definition of functions and powers of the courts and coordination with the retrial system.The methodologies applied in the aforesaid studies mainly include positive investigation and analysis,comparative study and value study.