Study On Civil Evidence Exchange System

Evidence exchange system is a procedure that before the trial, the parties and theiragents in civil litigation should exchange their evidence relevant to the case under theorganization of the Court, otherwise they have to bear the adverse consequences. Itoriginated as Discovery System in Great Britain, then gradually evolved into animportant part of the pre-trial procedures in a civil action. Evidence exchange systemplays an important role in clearing the focus of controversy, preventing evidence raidand improving the efficiency of lawsuits. In China, the early “Civil Procedure Law” didnot set the provisions about evidence exchange. However, problems such as evidenceraid and delaying litigation appeared with the development of the economy and theincreasing number of lawsuits. The establishment of evidence exchange system becameessential. On December21,2001, the Supreme Court promulgated”Regulations onCivil Evidence”, which announced the establishment of evidence exchange system. Butthe judicial interpretation and the Civil Procedure Law has certain contradictions andthe effectiveness cannot fight the law. In the “Civil Procedure Law” promulgated in2012, pre-trial procedures were modified, which established a system for the exchangeof evidence from the legislation. But unfortunately, the provisions for evidenceexchange are too general to work in the judicial practice. This paper intends to startfrom the basic theory of evidence exchange system, and analyzing the characteristicsand role of the system, and the representative of common law and civil law countries tolearn, then discusses the status of our country’s evidence exchange system and thereasons for the existence of the problem. It also provides suggestions for improving thesystem and makes opinions in connecting the evidence exchange system and othersystems in the new Civil Procedure Law such as the principle of good faith, the use ofelectronic evidence, the litigant autonomy, and the statute of limitations.