The Public Moral Dimension Of Judicial Trial In Contemporary China

Since report of the 15 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China for the first time put forward the basic strategy of governing the country according to law,from the 15 th to the 19 th,the construction socialism country under the rule of law and the breadth and depth of comprehensively promoting the rule of law has been increasing,which requires attaching importance to every link in the chain including legislative,law enforcement,judicial and law-abiding.As a key link in the process of law operation,judicial trial can not only evaluate the behavior of citizen,legal person or other organizations,but also detect whether the current legal system is in good operation.The public moral dimension of judicial trial is not only a classical theoretical problem with rich historical experience,but also a practical problem with contemporary judicial dilemma.The discussion of this issue among western jurists has not stopped even to this day,which has exerted a far-reaching influence on the judicial practice in the west.In China,the public morality may have a more significant influence on the judicial trial.In ancient Chinese judicial trials,public morality was often used as the reason and basis for judgment,and some cases even became typical examples of the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation.Forward along with the historical process,with improving the construction of the country under the rule of law,public morals is no longer as the referee basis,while legal norms as the basis of judgment has become a social consensus,but the effect of public morals for justice does not completely vanish with historical development which in some cases may even cause extremely strong influence to the justice.Based on the traditional judicial cultural and the contemporary national construction policy,the combination of moralities with laws in China,the relationship between judicial trial and public morality should be treated with a more inclusive,open and cautious attitude.Judicial authority is an unavoidable topic in the rule of law society.On the one hand,in a society with judicial authority,the judicial trial itself can be carried out more smoothly.The judicial process can not only settle disputes and resolve contradictions,but also effectively realize many social functions such as the law promotion and moral education.On the other hand,the establishment of judicial authority itself also depends on the good effect of judicial trial.The unification of legal effects and social effects in judicial trial can strengthen the belief of the rule of law of the public,which is the core element of judicial authority.The reality of contemporary Chinese judicial trials considering the dimension of public morality is not optimistic.Some judicial trials have effectively achieved the positive role of maintaining fairness,justice and social integrity,while some judicial trials have caused considerable damage to public morality.Through the appearance of these negative cases,we can figure out that the judicial trial in contemporary China mainly faces the following problems in the dimension of public morality: First,the social effects of cases which demand more to Chinese judicial trials bring pressure to courts.The second is the impact of social public opinion to the judicial trial.Because the age of the Internet provides more convenient platforms and more opportunities for the public and the concept of the rule of law which is widely accepted improves the participation awareness and ability.The social public opinion has become an important force.In the transition period,the conflict of tagging and identity is more likely to cause social resonance and public opinion explosion.The third is the problem with the public morality.The judge is an important subject of the judicial trial whose understandings of public morality affected by their personal attributes and values will affect judgment reasoning.Their words and deeds represent the image of judicial organs that to a large extent will affect the establishment of judicial authority.Chinese courts considering the public moral dimension of judicial trial not only reflects the purpose of people's judicature,but also expresses the attitude of Chinese judicial trials: “Let people feel the fairness and justice in every judicial cases”.Chinese judicial cultural tradition contains the proposition of integrating public morality into judicial trial and the contemporary Chinese judicial practice concerns public moral dimension in order to ensure the realization of people's rights and interests and social interests.Integrating public morality into justice can increase the understandability and acceptability of judicial trial and strengthen the unification of two results,but also can ensure justice in the orbit of the rule of law in accordance with social moral cognition.Chinese courts' consideration of the public moral dimension of judicial trials does not mean the decline of legal norms,but rather the respect for judges' work,the adherence to the rule of law and the elimination of moral arbitrariness.