"Amicus Curiae" In The United States And Its Enlightenment

As a way of non-parties to influence the court decision, expert legal opinion has widely existed in Chinese judicial practice; but the controversy on it has never stopped. Many scholars believe that expert legal opinion is lack of neutrality and influences judicial independence, more importantly, has no legal basis. Actually, it is common in U.S. that non-parties influence the court decision through submitting amicus curiae brief. Amicus curiae has become a mature system in America, so it is widely adopted by many countries of common law system and continent law system. The author maintains that there exists a common effect between American amicus curiae and Chinese expert legal opinion. Therefore, it shows realistic significance to use American amicus curiae for reference to refine our country's expert legal opinion system.Besides foreword and epilogue, there are three chapters in the paper:Chapter One is the summary of American amicus curiae. This part introduces its concept, origin, development, background factor for its prevalence, primary legal provision and its two types. Through a detailed account, we can have a general understanding of the operation of amicus curiae in American judicial practice.Chapter Two explores the value and limitation of American amicus curiae. This part discusses the values of amicus curiae in real operation from the perspectives of court, parties and the public, and meanwhile points out its limitation.Chapter Three is about refining China's expert legal opinion system through using American amicus curiae as reference. First, it introduces the expert legal opinion system and points out its limitation in real operation. Second, it discusses the feasibility of refining China's expert legal opinion system through using American amicus curiae as reference. Third, based on the China's judiciary reality, the author puts forward some suggestions on the regulation of expert legal opinion through using American amicus curiae as reference. The innovation of this paper lies in the analysis of the value and limitation of amicus curiae, and bringing forward the detailed opinions on the refinement and regulation of expert legal opinion.