Study On The Trial Level System

The trial level system is an important component of the litigation system that supports the court system. In view of the function and value of the trial level system, the author puts forward some preliminary suggestions on the reform of present trial level system of China after a macro-perspective on trial level system in foreign countries and an analysis into the status of the trial-level system in China. This paper consists of four parts, about 60,000 words.Part one is the basic theory of the trial level system. Firstly, the author defines the conception of the trial level system, pointing out that the criminal trial system is a litigation system which concludes the hierarchy division of criminal judicial organs in the vertical organizations in the law of the state and a judgment of a criminal case becoming effective after trial of several tiered court. Secondly, the author analyzes the functions of the trial-level system, insisting that the trial level system has the functions of correcting errors in judgments, unifying the application of law, absorbing the dissatisfaction of parties and procedural restriction. Finally, the author claims that the trial-level system contains the great values of fairness and efficiency. The article explains the displaying of these two values in the criminal trial system and analyses how to co-ordinate the conflicts between these two values.Part two is the research into extraterritorial criminal trial level system. This paper summarizes and analyses the differences and commonalities between the Anglo-American law system and civil law system by investigating the criminal trial-level system of four countries of Britain, the United States, France and Germany by analyzing the static (the vertical settings of courts)and dynamic (criminal appeals procedures mainly)characteristics of the trial-level system. The author claims that the installation of the court system under the concept of judicial independence in Western countries, the multi-level trial system that combines two-tiered and three-tiered system and the system that superior court only reviews into the issues of legal application have all achieve balances between the values and the functions of the trial level system, all of which are accordance with the requirements of modern justice and worth our learning.Part three is the examination into China's criminal trial-level system. Firstly, the history of the trial-level system of China is studied ,the author points out that China has actively explored ways to reform the trial level system from the late-Qing Dynasty to the early days and has established different forms of diversified trial structure during the period. Secondly, the reason why New China adopts two-tiered system has been analyzed, including the specific historical background and causes. Then, taking the frequent starting of the criminal retrial system as a starting point, the author examines the two-tiered system in the criminal trial structure one by one on the basis of fundamental principles of the trial-level system ,thinking that China's current two-tiered system is in dilemma and the reform brooks no delay.Part four, which discusses from three aspects, is the reform of the criminal trial level system. Firstly, the author point out the two difficult problems on the balance of all the values and judicial independence that the reform of China's criminal trial level system confronts. Secondly, the academia disputes on the reform of China's trial level system are summarized and analyzed, and the author has established his own view by analyzing these disputes. The basic ideas of the system construction should conclude two aspects, namely the vertical organizations of the courts should be set up in the support of the current fundamental structure and in the dynamic operation of cases the diversified trial mode in which the two-tiered system is the main one and the three-tiered system as assistant is more suitable. Finally, the article has provided the specific plan of reform of China's criminal trial-level system, which is the final goal and the focus of this paper.The author insists that the reform should be gradual: (1) Re-positioning the judicial function of courts and the jurisdiction rights. Under the three-tiered system the functions of trial of facts and trial of law could be divided between the courts of first instance and appeals trial, stripping the first instance jurisdiction out of the High Court and the Supreme Court and re-configurating the first instance jurisdiction between the Intermediate Court and the grassroots court. This will help the high-level trial court to realize her function of appeal trial procedures and to achieve the uniform application of the law. (2) Completing the transformation of the appeal trial procedures under the multi-trial level structure. As the appeal procedures is a very important part in the trial-level system, the transformation of the appeal trial procedures is also a very important step in the criminal trial system reform. Therefore, to the transformation of the criminal trial system, the author mainly analyses from aspects of the number control of the appeal cases, the scope of the appeal trial procedure, the trial mode and the death penalty case in the appeal procedures. (3) Do well in the related measures of the criminal trial system. The reform of the criminal trial level system is a systematic project, which is relevant to all aspects of the court system, so a good job should be done in the related system. Measures that the author has talked about are as follows: establishing a co-ordinate system of judicial funds in the whole country to supply ways to realize trial independence; abolishing internal referrals system, reforming the judicial committee of the courts, improving the misjudged case investigation system , restoring the normal function of the appeal procedures to remove the obstacles of the personal independence that the judges confront; transforming the criminal retrial system to realize the normal relief to parties, and establishing a case guidance system of China to provide the knowledge accumulation for judges to handle cases and make the uniform application of the law be possible.