As China's economy continues to grow and globalize, the legal
community has come to realize that the country's body of laws needs
updating and globalizing, as well. In some situations, China didn't
have a law; in others, it wasn't current.
So, the country began sending judges and prosecutors overseas
for legal training along with lawmakers to bring legislation and
law enforcement up to international standards.
Shen Xiaojie, a district-level prosecutor in his 20s from
Shenyang, Liaoning Province in Northeast China, was one of
them.
After studying for 15 months in a programme offered jointly by
Temple and Tsinghua universities, he received a Master of Law
(LL.M.) degree from Temple in October.
Shen and his classmates studied on Temple's main campus, located
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for two months. During the 13
remaining months, they went to Tsinghua in Beijing, where teachers
from Temple's Beasley School of Law instructed them.
"A scholar once said that in the legal field, globalization is
Americanization to a large extent, so we have to learn from the
United States," Shen said, referring to both knowledge and the way
of thinking.
For example, courts in some regions in China began to experiment
with plea bargaining between the prosecutor and criminal defendant
a procedure learnt from the Anglo-American legal system, Shen
said.
"Through systematic study, I know how plea bargaining is
conducted in the United States and how the system balances the
interests of various parties," he said.
What he learnt in the United States and from his American
teachers will help him deal with some future reform measures, Shen
said, but principles related to China's legal code will not be
changed solely through judicial reform.
"Learning from overseas will help China grow stronger," Shen
said.
Shen and the other judges and prosecutors, who accounted for
half of the student total, did not pay the US$18,000 tuition. That
was paid through donations, according to Adelaide Ferguson,
Temple's assistant vice-president for international programmes.
Yuan Duoran, a civil and commercial judge from the Supreme
People's Court who participated in Temple's programme in 2000, said
he learnt things from the programme that he uses in his work now.
"China's civil and commercial law system and practices gained much
from the US in the field of Securities Law, Corporation Law and
Trust Law," he said.
In fact, in the continental legal system, which China has
traditionally followed, there is no trust law, Yuan said: "So
China's legislation governing the issue was adapted from
Anglo-American countries, mainly Britain and the United
States."
Another benefit: Yuan said his spoken and written English, which
he used to search for information, was enhanced considerably.
Wang Chenguang, dean of the Tsinghua University Law School, said
sending judges and prosecutors to receive legal education in the
United States was significant.
"With the deepening of China's reform and opening-up,
Sino-foreign economic collaboration is evident, and legal relations
should be strengthened, as well," he said, as foreign investors and
businessmen in China need legal guarantees.
Some of China's practices are not up to international standards,
he said. Judges, prosecutors and lawyers need to know more about
foreign legal systems, especially in the area of economic law, such
as trade rules and World Trade Organization rules.
"We must train professionals so that they know both China's law
and foreign systems," Wang said.
But that doesn't mean that China needs to imitate the Western
legal system, Wang said.
"Although it needs to be reformed, China's judicial system
basically suits the country's condition," he said.
Wang stressed that as China's society is quite different from
that of Western countries, the Chinese judicial system cannot be
expected to match theirs.
For example, some Chinese judges have adopted mediation more
than their foreign counterparts, instead of merely making
judgements.
Even so, Wang stressed the necessity for Sino-foreign
co-operation.
"The influence of globalization goes far beyond the economic
field," Wang said, noting that, for example, co-operation between
China and other countries on extraditing Chinese fugitive officials
charged with corruption is strengthening.
"We learnt the principles of presumption of innocence in the
criminal code and human rights guarantees in the Constitution from
successful experiences overseas," he said.
(China Daily December 22, 2006)