Comparative Research On Government Information Disclosure Litigation System In China And United States

According to classification of generation of government information disclosure litigation, it can be divided into parliamentary legislation dominated type and litigation practice dominated type. Government information disclosure litigation in USA and China are typical examples of such two types. The two kinds of government information disclosure litigation which generated in different period and influenced by different theories and legal traditions have differences in many aspects.US congress passed Freedom of Information Act timely after Scott Cooper proposed concept of the right to know which established government information disclosure litigation system. Supreme Court developed trial principles such as exhaustion of administrative remedies, rights protection, interest balancing, etc in judicial practice of proceeding such cases, while also developed many unique rules of FOIA litigation system which including broad plaintiff qualification, do novo review, the burden of proof by administrative organizations, summary judgment, Vaughn index which also effectively guarantees citizen's right to know. Certainly, because generating of law-making developed earlier than litigation practice and inherent characteristics of Anglo-American Legal System, USA information disclosure litigation also has some tough issues such as lag of rules and tedious procedure, etc which have been concerned at the moment.Generating of Chinese government information disclosure litigation is litigation practice dominated type, the earliest government information disclosure litigation generated in 2002 but was implemented until the State Council legislated Regulation in 2008. There are many rules in Chinese government information disclosure litigation which different from traditional administrative proceeding in respect of scope of accepting cases, qualifications of the party, burden of production, judgment application, etc.For Chinese government information disclosure litigation that still in start-up period, absorb and draw upon fruits of relatively mature system of USA and meanwhile to avoid existing problems in USA litigation system are effective methods to develop and complete Chinese government information disclosure litigation and guarantee citizen's right to know.