Improve The System Of Vision Of China's Civil Counterclaim

Originated from ancient Roman Laws, counterclaim institution has evolved itself from civil proceedings. As a kind of lawsuit institution, counterclaim institution is endowed with rich juristic values, for it can not only enable both the plaintiff and the defendant to enjoy equal rights protected by the national laws, but predigest the proceedings, enhance the case handling efficiency and reduce costs of counterclaim and principal claim respectively via the consolidation of the former two actions. In this way, actions will be economical. Meanwhile, the consolidation of counterclaim and principal claim is able to better balance the legal rights of both the plaintiff and the defendant, which in turn highlights the justice of laws and contributes much to the effective avoidance of contradictory judgments. Consequently, the institution of counterclaim has already gained universal acceptance in legislation.The counterclaim institution in our current laws and decrees are mainly manifested as follows: item 52, item126 and item129 in Civil Procedure Law of the People' s Republic of China; item 156 and item 184 in Notions of The Application of " Civil Procedure Law of the People' s Republic of China" and item 1, item2 and item34 in Regulations on Evidence in Civil Procedure Law issued by the Supreme Court. These rules has juristically framed our Counterclaim Institution and thus paved way for the judicial practice in China. However, since our current Civil Procedure Law has not set comprehensive and systematic rules for counterclaim institution and the judicial explanations of the counterclaim institution by the Supreme Court shows something improper and irrational, the practical appliance of the counterclaim institution has fallen into the state of some sort of chaos. Accordingly, the re-integration and re-discussion of the fundamental proposals attached to the counterclaim institution means much to the revision of the current Civil Procedure Law both theoretically and practically. This paper has made some thought-provoking assumptions on how to improve the counterclaim institution in China in terms of the defining, conditions and judgment of counterclaim institution.