Institutional Arrangement and Practice of Judicial Openness of Chinese Courts

Tian He

【Abstract】Judicial openness, as an important component of the judicial system and a major content of the judicial reform in China. is a constitutional principle to be strictly followed by people's courts. In recent years, China has made major progresses in developing this system, both in institutional arrangement and in practice. This article analyzes the historical background of judicial openness in China. With the development of the economy, the differentiation of social interest has raised higher demand on the administration of Justice, and challenged the public confidence and the authority of the. Judicial openness represents one of the basic requirements of a society under the rule of law and is conducive to improving public confidence in the judiciary and safeguarding citizens' right to know. Although the development of the system of judicial openness has displayed a tendency of proceeding from the exterior to the interior, different social groups have different opinions on this development. This article also analyzes the role played by the Supreme Court in supervising over the implementation of the system of judicial openness by people's courts throughout the country, the open evaluation of judicial openness by a third party of academic institution, as well as the results achieved by and the direction of future reform of the system of judicial openness in China.

【Key words】Administration of Justice; Judicial Openness; Third Party Evaluation