The Application Of The Doctrine Of Forum Non Conveniens In China

The main content of this paper is to explore the possibility and necessity of the doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens applied in China, this historical system produced in the 17 th century Scotland, at the beginning of generating of the doctrine in order to avoid improper court adversely affect the litigant benefit and the realization of justice, so the courts to determine the exists of “more convenient court” or “the most convenient court” by a number of factors. This doctrine spread to the whole United Kingdom from Scotland, and then this doctrine got a new development in the United States later, and caused a widespread impact in the world ultimately because of its broad and flexible features and superior functionality.Through the development of the doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens and its historical evolution in different countries and regions, this doctrine were systematic studied. It has been more than 20 years since the doctrine first time applied in China, but it’s never before confirmed in the legislation, the Supreme People’s Court enacted judicial interpretation about application of PRC Civil Procedure Law in which the doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens was provided as article 532, this is the first time the doctrine admitted in China’s formal sources of law. We need to research how this article influencing China’s Civil Procedure system, and how to improve this system during its appliance.This paper is divided into four parts. The first part is the interpretation of the concept of the doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens, and research the origin, development and theoretical basis of it, includes discretionary power, theory of international comity, and the Doctrine of the Most Significant Relationship.The second part is the functionality of doctrine. By analyzing its positive effects to show its way of functioning. International coordination in value, the value of justice and fair, proceedings economic value, these are the reasons why the doctrine lasts so many years. And also analyzes the negative effects of the application of the principle that might arise, these drawbacks should attract enough attention, and targeted to be improved in the system design process.The third part introduces different modes of this doctrine in various countries and regions, the modes of Britain’s “more convenient court” and the United States’ “the most convenient court” are typical common law mode while the Australian mode has its unique characteristics. About the civil law countries, we list the doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens or some similar rules that applied in Japan, Netherlands, and Quebec.The forth part describes Chinese scholars’ different attitudes about the doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens, endorsed the introduction of the doctrine of forum non conveniens scholars accounted for most, and also opposing views has its reference value. And then I cite and analyze some cases of the doctrine’s application in practice, which shows Chinese court already applied this doctrine several times in history. The Supreme People’s Court enacted judicial interpretation about application of PRC Civil Procedure Law in which the doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens was provided as article 532, it means Supreme People’s Court formally recognized the doctrine of forum non conveniens, this paper analyzes the legal effect and the meaning of the judicial interpretation, I believe that this interpretation has “complementary legislation” legal effect. At last, I put forward some ideas about how to improve the system.