Overview Of Making Public Of Judgment Documents

Judgment documents are legally binding written conclusion made by the court inaccordance with the truth of the case and relevant laws, which are the results of the court’sexecution of jurisdiction regarding a specific case and the embodiment of state will. Alongwith strengthening of judicial reform and constant improvement of judgment documentsreform, under the guidance of new judicial concepts and advocacy of open trial, publicjudgment documents and internet system of judgment documents have attracted the attentionof theory circle and judicial practice circle, meanwhile, the supreme people’s court and thelocal people’s court at all levels are enthusiastically making public of judgment documents.Although making public of judgment documents is in the ascendant, some problems still exist.In order to bring public judgment documents into full play, this essay discusses existingproblems of disclosure of judgment documents for improving public judgment documents andreaching the goal of open trial by adopting analytical method and method of combining theorywith practice. This essay starts with functions and existing problems of judgment documents,then comes the system of public judgment documents, analyzes its nature, theoretical basis,international norms and practical significance, and then analyzes the current situation andmajor existing problems of disclosure of judgment documents, finally, puts forwardmeasurements for improving the disclosure system of judgment documents in our country.Apart from foreword and conclusion, this essay is divided into four parts which containsabout23,000words, and the main contents are as follows:Part One，Overview of making public of judgment documents. The nature of judgmentdocuments is authoritative legal written conclusion made by the state regarding one specificcase and its entity and procedure problems. Production of judgment documents is one part ofjudicial activity of People’s Court. As a carrier of judicial activity, judgment documents bearthe responsibility of open trial. Therefore, making public of judgment documents is acontinuation of open trial, which is an indispensable part of open trial. The right to know isone of citizen’s basic rights, which mainly includes judicial right to know. Judgmentdocuments reflect much judicial information and are one of major forms of delivering judicialinformation. Meanwhile, making public of judgment documents reflects the international norm of public judicial activity, especially for WTO judicial transparency. It requires allmemberships to make public of laws, regulations and relevant provisions, make public ofbilateral or multilateral agreements concluded by member governments with othergovernments and organizations and relevant trade arbitration award and judicial decision.Public judgment documents means that the documents can accept supervision from allquarters of the society, which can curb corruption in judiciary, improve case guidance systemand promote the process of professionalization of the judges.Part Two， Current situation and features of public judgment documents. From the socialbackground of public judgment documents in our country, making public of judgmentdocuments is a new measure of judicial reform. During the progress of judicial reform, theSupreme People’s Court constantly improves management and publicity of judgmentdocuments. In Dec.2009, the Supreme People’s Court published Six Rules on PublicJudiciary, in Nov.2010, Regulations on Making Public of Judgment Documents Online wasreleased, and meanwhile, the Supreme People’s Court also determined100courts to setexamples. All these measures promote institutionalization and normalization of publicjudgment documents. Regarding the features of public judgment documents, the subject isPeople’s Court at all levels, the scope is mainly involved with cases in public trial, thecontents include judgment reasons, legal basis, results and making public to the partiesconcerned and the whole society; and the approach is internet-based and supplemented bycourt internal journals, TV programs and other medias.Part Three， existing problems of public judgment documents in our country. Firstly,judgment documents in our country contains too many technical terms, the documents are toosimple or too complicated, all these have a bad impact on making public of judgmentdocuments. Secondly, there is no specific legal rule on making public of judgment documents,which hasn’t been written into basic law of our country. Nowadays, regarding publicity ofjudgment documents, it mainly comes from judicial interpretation and internal regulation ofthe Supreme People’s Court, and regulations on online judgment documents formulated bypeople’s court at all levels, which cause the situation of each does things in his own way concerning publicity of judgment documents. In addition, public query and supervisionsystems for making public of judgment documents have not been formulated. There is nouniform system or method regarding public judgment documents, and a thorough publicinspection system is not yet established. In judicial practice of most courts, except for theparties concerned and their defenders, other people or organizations are not allowed to lookup judgment documents.Part Four，measurements for improving publicity of judgment documents. The measuresshould be put forward by combining actuality and features of public judgment documentswith existing problems. Firstly, overall quality of judges shall be improved. The quality ofjudgment documents mostly lies in the quality of judges. Secondly, establishing a website forsearching judgment documents, making all judgment documents online, defining the scope,method and procedure of making public of judgment documents. Thirdly, improvingresponsibility and supervision mechanisms of public judgment documents, establishingexamination and evaluation mechanism and supervision mechanism for monitoringimplementation of publicity of judgment documents. Fourthly, set up feedback mechanismand improve question-answering system after making court decision. All these can helpPeople’s Court at all levels in avoiding conflicts, better implementing justice for the peopleand better safeguarding social stability.