Pursuant to a Circular issued by China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) on 9 June 2021, the “Decision of the Supreme People's Court on Revising the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Judicial Interpretation” (最高人民法院关于修改〈最高人民法院关于司法解释工作的规定〉的决定) came into force on June 16.
The SPC shall make judicial interpretations on issues concerning the specific application of law in the judicial practice of the courts.
According to the previous version of the “Provisions on Judicial Interpretation” (关于司法解释工作的规定), there were only four types of judicial interpretations, namely, interpretations (解释), provisions(规定), decisions(决定) and replies(批复). In accordance with the amended version, the “Rule”(规则) is the fifth type of judicial interpretation.
Such amendment clarifies the nature of many legal documents issued by the SPC under China’s legal framework. According to the new version of the “Provisions on Judicial Interpretation” (关于司法解释工作的规定), documents named with the "Rule(s)", such as the “Online Litigation Rules for People’s Courts” (人民法院在线诉讼规则, promulgated on 17 June 2021), also fall within the scope of judicial interpretation and hence has legal force.
Cover Photo by Kaiyu Wu (https://unsplash.com/@kaiyu_wu) on Unsplash
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
