China's courts Tuesday introduced a new disciplinary measure under
which leading judges are advised to resign in cases of malpractice.
The malpractice subject to the new measure includes serious misuse
of the law which incurs huge losses and bad influence, failure to
report or investigate cases of law infringement within the courts
and major accidents caused by the lack of proper
administration.
"These are all related to the failure of court presidents or
vice-presidents in carrying out their duties fully and correctly,''
said Liu Jiachen, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court at a
press conference unveiling the new regulation. "They should
therefore resign.''
In
cases of malpractice where court leaders fail to resign, the
regulation empowers the courts on a higher level to propose to the
people's congresses or their standing committees to remove the
offenders from their posts.
Presidents of courts are elected and removed by the people's
congresses on their corresponding levels under Chinese laws. The
hiring of other judges also need approvals from the standing
committee of the people's congresses.
Judges' performance has been a concern of the public in recent
years, particularly in 1998 when a nationwide campaign was launched
to root out court corruption.
Tuesday's measure represented a development on the March idea put
forward by Xiao Yang, president of the Supreme People's Court. Xiao
pledged at the plenary session of the National People's Congress
the comprehensive implementation of the measure this year and said
he will work to weed out the "black sheep'' in judicial ranks.
"The public's confidence in the judicial branch as well as their
respect for judicial authority hinge on the performance of the
judicial officials,'' said Liu. "We have already put high on agenda
the strengthening of the contingent of judges as an effort to
re-establish judicial authority.''
Sources with the Supreme People's Court Tuesday said that they will
continue to work out detailed explanations for the regulation.
The new regulation is the latest in a series of the court's efforts
to improve its work.
Statistics from the Supreme People's Court indicate that last year
more than 1,200 judges in China were disciplined for misusing
judicial power for personal gain, in addition to another 46 who
were prosecuted for malpractice and illegal law enforcement.
(China Daily November 7,
2001)