Study On The Independence And Improvement Of Small Claims Procedure

Small claims procedure originated in western countries, it is mainly applied to a huge number of minor debt cases in our daily life. Its core values are to safeguard ordinary people’s rights of access to justice through providing them with convenient, low-cost and efficient judicial relief. Small claims procedure is very popular all over the word because it plays an irreplaceable role in hearing minor debt cases, and it meets the needs of people’s requirement of justice. At present, many countries had already established the small claims procedure.This article begins with the analysis of two typical minor debts cases, and then gives a brief introduction of China’s small claims procedure judicial practice and legislation. Besides the judicial authority, theoretical circles have already paid attention to small claims procedure a long time ago. So far, many scholars have made an intensive study on the concept and specific system design of small claims procedure. And they have made a great achievement in those fields. Just like a coin has two sides, we achieved significant successes as well as shortcomings, in terms of small claims procedure practice, the most prominent problem is the current Civil Procedure Law stipulates small claims procedure but does not give it an independent legal status, not to mention the specific system design. The unique characteristics and advantages cannot be fully shown in this regulation. What is worse, judges from different areas may have different understandings on small claims procedure in practice, obviously, this will bring troubles on themselves while hearing a minor debt case. As regards to the parties, they may not have enough confidence to choose the applicable of small claims procedure. In order to solve this problem, we should establish our own independent small claims procedure as soon as possible.Before discussing the establishment of independent small claims procedure, it is necessary to focus on the analysis of its independence. Understanding and researching on the independence of small claims procedure will be meaningful both to our legislative and judicial work, therefore, based on the achievements by former scholars, I try to make a pilot study on this issue from the perspective of small claims procedure’s principle, function and features. It will deepen our understanding of small claims procedure through this analysis. Moreover, we can get a thorough cognition of the difference between small claims procedure and summary procedure. Simultaneously, it provides the necessary theoretical basis for the design of China’s independent small claims procedure. In addition to the issue of its independence, the legitimacy of small claims procedure is the other fundamental principle which guides the specific construction of it. For my money, its legitimacy contains three specific aspects and they are the value of access to justice, the expense equivalent principle and the principle of attaching equal importance to both efficiency and fairness. On one hand, these principles endow the small claims procedure with adequate legitimacy; on the other hand, they can prevent the possible wrong tendencies of small claims procedure in judicial practice.The independence and legitimacy of the small claims procedure provide theoretical basis for its construction. From the viewpoint of practical needs, it is necessary for us to build the independent small claims procedure. As we all know that our judicial organs are generally facing a large number of minor debt cases, the establishment of independent small claims procedure can help the court to separate simple cases from complicated cases, and consequently, this can improve the utilization rate of the national judicial resources. From the viewpoint of improving public legal awareness, the small claims procedure can also improve people’s legal belief. As to the current situation of China’s rule of law, the establishment of independent small claims procedure already has a sufficient basis in reality. We have a wealth of small claims practice as well as the basis of experience, the institutional and social basis. Furthermore, we can learn the advanced legislative experience from foreign countries. In a word, all these factors make well preparations for us to build our small claims procedure.On the above analysis, this article builds a concrete idea on our independent small claims procedure. It discusses from the scope of application, protection of rights of the parties, specific design of the system, and prevention mechanism of abusing Small Claims Procedure. Of course, these proposals and ideas should be based on the Chinese situation rather than merely a simple copy. In addition, the construction of independent small claims procedure should seriously grasp the connotation of the system and the concept of litigation, so that it can really play its convenience and efficient role.