The Preliminary Analysis Of The Criminal Justice Institutions In The Period Of Nanjing National Government(1927-1949)

Since ancient times, rulers took criminal justice activities as the important means tomaintain its dominance and make social order stable. As the hardware facilities of thecriminal trial, the criminal justice institution is a important subject in our research. Afterthousands of years of traditional judicial organization development, the Qing Dynastygovernment modeled on the western legal system established a new type of criminal justiceagencies in judicial reform, and construction of new criminal justice institutions graduallystandardized in the early of the Republic of China. During the Nanjing national governmentperiod, which referred to as "the most complete period of the legal system since theestablishment of the republic of China", the government established and optimized the newjudicial system, realized the modernization of criminal trial organization form bystrengthening legislation. Our modern institutions of criminal justice settings, from themacroscopic system framework to microcosmic of judicial organization, etc., all deeplyinfluenced by that of the Nanjing national government. However, a sound legal system did notfully achieved in practice, many problems occurred in the process of the construction of theNanjing national government criminal justice institutions, which are also worth our reflection.Therefore, this article intends to study the setting and working of the Nanjing nationalgovernment criminal justice institutions, in order to help today’s legal construction of ourcountry.The full text is mainly composed of introduction, text and conclusion. The introductionpart mainly introduces the paper’s topic significance, the research status and research methods.The main text is divided into four parts.The first part mainly introduces the history of the Nanjing national government criminaljustice institutions. Because the ancient law values criminal law more the civil law, theancient Chinese criminal justice agencies actually refers to the national judicial institutions.The emperor had the highest judicial power, the central authorities set up a special judicialauthority, while the local authority is the unity of administrative and judicial, thegovernor-general is responsible for the civil and criminal trial. In the late Qing Dynasty, indomestically, the Qing government was forced to reform the law, set up the new judicialdepartments at different levels which are not attached to the administrative organs, and distinguish between civil and criminal courts. The criminal justice institutions turn to themodernization development. The establishment of the Republic of China promoted theprocess of the legal system and judicial independence and democracy. At the beginning, thenew criminal justice institutions tend to be more independent and standardization, not only topromote their settings, but also pay attention to optimization of the whole system of criminaljustice institutions, which laid the foundation for later development.The second part mainly analyzes political economic and cultural background of theNanjing national government criminal trial institution’s building, and then introduces the mainlaw for the development of the criminal justice institutions. After the northern expedition, theeconomic recession, social unrest, frequent crime makes the government to strengthen theconstruction of criminal justice institutions. Influenced by Yat-sen Sun’s democraticconstitutionalism thoughts and the transplantation of western law, the Supreme CourtConstitution and the Constitution court’s Law were made. In addition, based on the specifictime background, the government also established the county judicial organizations ordinanceand regulations on the special criminal court organization law, rules for the criminal justicesystem.The third part mainly elaborated the Nanjing national government’s criminal trialinstitution types, level and specific operations. Criminal justice institutions during this periodcan be divided into ordinary criminal courts and special ones, which also include specialcriminal court and military court. Ordinary criminal courts are divided into3levels: the firstlevel includes county judicial court, district court and its branch, the secondary is the SupremeCourt and its branch, the third level is the Supreme Court. The operation process of threelevels of criminal justice institutions also show us how the whole system works. And the casesexplain the trial level relationship.The fourth part comments achievements and problems of the Nanjing nationalgovernment’s criminal justice agencies, and the enlightenment for the contemporary.Advanced system design and legal system make benefit for the social order, economic andsocial development, create the conditions for judicial modernization. However, subject to theturmoil of the society and the lack of funds, talents, criminal justice institutions are notcompletely established as expected. The quality and efficiency of trial is low. In addition, theadministration of judicial intervention and the internal corruption of the judicial system, alsoseriously affect the independence of criminal justice institutions and normal operation. We should learn from the Nanjing national government’s criminal trial institution constructionachievements and sum up experience from its limits. Today’s criminal justice institutions shallstrictly follow the principle of judicial independence, improve the efficiency and quality ofcriminal justice, guarantee fairness and justice, prevent judicial corruption.