A Research On The Publicity Of The Vice File Of Chinese Court

Vice file of Chinese court,as a common practice with Chinese characteristics,has consistently remained very popular in Chinese juridical system for over six decades.And in view of its particularity,the material in the vice file is always kept highly classified,thus inaccessible to the public.This practice,whose negative effects on judicial independence and credibility is often leveled at criticism,was somewhat reasonable in times of judicial resources shortage,but it is obviously inappropriate in today’s process of judicial publicity.So the vice file publicity of Chinese court must be enforced by promoting social justice to guarantee people a sense of well-being and security.Judicial transparency and confidentiality in judicial practice are essentially contradictory to each other.Transparency is about ensuring justice and fairness in China’s legal system,whereas confidentiality increases efficiency in the judiciary.And in such contradiction is the vice file system.Documents in the vice file mainly includes records of exchange of personal opinions that the court believes are for internal circulation only.With “the most ridiculous official letter” from Lidu New Area Administrative Committee in Chongqing,“the mining rights case in Shaanxi”and “the missing court documents” involving Wang Linqing coming to light,the public have every reason to believe that the practice of vice file of Chinese court hides too many inside stories,which goes against judicial transparency and gives rise to the phenomenon of “ judges have no rights to pass judgment”.And this is bound to influence of the image of Chinese court negatively.It is a pity and at the same time it is inevitable to have a misconception: there is too much negativity in vice file system,which makes jurisdiction get close to false pattern of cooperation and makes court trial become a show.Vice file has a profound influence and determines the final adjudication,but it goes out of the supervision of the public and litigants.With the long-term wide-spread application of vice file,too many people have taken it for granted.And there is still lack of relevant laws concerning vice file.All these make it even more difficult for the documents in vice file to be accessible to the public.To reinforce the reform of judicial transparency scientifically and systematically,it is essential to address the root cause.Firstly,he research paper unpacks the definition and the history of vice file of Chinese court,and analyzes the problems arising from the vice file system.Secondly,the paper advocates setting the principle of judicial transparency and the principle of judicial independence as the starting point and the finishing line of making vice file transparent respectively,thus helping establish the regulation of the transparency of vice file.Thirdly,the paper emphasizes the importance of addressing the theoretical and practical problems to ensure that the two principles coexist in harmony,so that the foundation for vice file transparency can be laid and the desired effect can be achieved.Lastly,as to the specific measures to reinforce the reform of vice file,the research paper reflects on reform path,system design and related regulations,and anatomizes the details of every relevant problem,hoping to promote the gradual and systematical judicial transparency and even accomplish its full transparency.