A study of Ju Zheng: Legal ideas and judicial practices 1932--1948

For more than sixteen years (1932-1948) Mr. Ju Zheng was the most influential figure of the national judiciary under the Nanjing Regime, making the case of his legal thoughts and practices highly illustrative of the legal history of modern China. Building on Mr. Ju's personal background and experiences, this thesis attempts to foster a better understanding of Ju Zheng and his era in terms of legal history.This thesis consists of five chapters: The first chapter introduces the scope of inquiry, the main themes of the study, the sources and the literature on this subject. Next chapter documents Ju Zheng's efforts in tackling the problems of Supreme Court inherited from his predecessors during his first three years in the key position of the judiciary. The third Chapter deals with the process of party control over the judiciary. In hindsight, this process went through two stages: first, it was a project to revolutionize the justices which ended up making most judges party members the atmosphere of the next stage manifested in an article of Ju Zheng which called attentions to efficacious partisan indoctrinations and to ground nationalism as the guideline for the justices. This process of intermingling of the judiciary and the party did generate some positive results. For instance, it created a vigorous nation-wide movement to seek abolition of the unequal treaties with foreign powers, which later on undergirded the judicial pattern of deciding amnesty cases by Ju Zheng judiciary. Chapter four explores the legal nationalization movements initiated from the National Conference of Justices in the year of 1935, vividly epitomized in the following nation-wide discussions in 1930s and 1940s on how to create a new legal system embedded in China context. The discussions eventually converged to two distinct lines: the first line claimed that it was the long-lasting Chinese culture (zhong guo gu you) that was to become the starting-point for a new legal system in contrast, the second line argued for "rebuilding" (chong xin jian li ) a new legal system for the modern China. The last chapter offers a few concluding remarks.Ever since the judicial reform in late Qing, all aspects linking to China law reforms were forced to be aligned with the national goal of abolishing the unequal treaties between China and foreign powers. Forty years' legal history, as the epochal era in shaping the modern Chinese legal system, became an integral part of history of the national movement against unequal treaties. Within the period where Ju Zheng was dominant in the sphere of law, the judiciary under party control and the nation-wide discussions on China new legal system were two successive processes of the national movement: the former was meant to create solidarity and political space needed for the anti-unequal-treaties movement, and the latter was measured to offer cultural continuity and identity consensus essential for national autonomy en course toward modernity. What's more, nationalism became the overarching ideology in legal sphere during Ju's times, and its repercussions helped foment a solid legal nationalization movement. This movement was embodied in organizations at the national level, namely the National Conference of Justices and the National Association in Jurisprudence of Republic of China. Second, the movement has two essential features: Party control over the judiciary and building of a new Chinese legal system. In this legal nationalization movement, Ju Zheng was the central figure and leader from the beginning right through the end.