Research On Electronic Service Way Of Civil Procedure

With Chinese citizens’ growing awareness of their rights, there are increasinglymore and more cases heard in courts year by year. Chinese laws provide that serviceis the function of courts, so it is necessary for courts to deliver lawsuit documents tolitigants and other participants in proceedings by certain means according to specificprocedures. Limited judicial resources can’t handle annually increased cases and it israther difficult for courts to fulfill service due to strenuous work on service oflitigation documents and increasing mobility of population in present society.Furthermore, it is impossible for traditional means of service to solve problems on“difficult and confused services” that have obsessed courts for years. To handle thisdifficulty, the service system of civil procedural needs to be modified.Electronic service, as an important part of Chinese reform of service system, hasbeen attached more and more importance by theoretical and practical circles over thepast few years. To realize efficient and fast service, a number of courts havesuccessively tried telephone recording, email and other electronic means of service,accumulating lots of experience and lessons. This paper pertinently analyzes Chinesecurrent legislation and judicial practices on electronic service by analysis andcomparison, integrating theories with practices. It points out the deficiencies ofChinese electronic service and puts forward relevant proposals, in hope of facilitatingthe improvement of Chinese system of electronic service to certain extent.This paper is divided into five parts, with more than30,000words in total.Part1summarizes electronic service. First of all, starting from the concepts ofelectronic service, this part analyzes the features of electronic service different fromtraditional means of service. Next, it describes specific means of electronic service,such as fax, telephone and email, etc. Finally, a comparison is made betweentraditional and electronic ways of service to analyze the weaknesses and strengths ofelectronic service.Part2demonstrates the value of electronic service. Procedural efficiency andjustice are two major goals that have been always pursued in each proceeding. In thispart, the author doesn’t neglect that priority is given to litigation efficiency in currentperiod of electronic service. Nonetheless, both the litigation efficiency and justice can be completely improved by electronic service if great efforts are made to establishprocedures for electronic delivery. In the mean time, the existence of electronicservice is still of value to the society. With the emergence of such new service means,the needs of courts and litigants have generally been satisfied, so they conform to thelaw of social development.Part3sums up the history and development of electronic service in China. Ascourt informatization is constantly enhanced, electronic service has gone through aperiod from its emergence to development. Firstly, electronic service, developingfrom telephone recording, is gradually favored by many areas’ courts. Next, thediversity of communication technologies make multiple means of electronic serviceavailable, including email, SMS platform and electronic service system for judicialdocuments. Then, this paper illustrates the application of electronic service inforeign-related civil proceedings. At last, the role of electronic service is formallyrecognized by law with the second amendment of “Civil Procedural Law”. Thus,electronic service is bound to be popularized all over China.Part4introduces electronic means of service of some foreign countries. Thecourts of developed countries are informatized to a larger extent than China and theyhave applied electronic service earlier as well. The comparative study on theelectronic service of Britain, America and Germany is of great significance for betterdevelopment of Chinese electronic service.Part5is the perfection of Chinese electronic service. Based on analyzing currentlegislation and judicial practices of Chinese electronic service, this part points out thedisadvantages of domestic electronic service and brings forth several suggestions,forecasting the prospects of electronic service.