China Justice Observer

中司观察

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China’s Supreme People’s Court

The Supreme People's Court (SPC, 最高人民法院) is China's Supreme Court .  

As of Jun. 2017, the SPC has 367 judges. 

The SPC’s main spheres of competence are to try cases and to issue judicial interpretations and cases, as follows:

1. The SPC handles the following cases: 

(1) first-instance cases that are under the jurisdiction of the SPC or that it deems to be under its jurisdiction; 

(2) cases of appeals or protests lodged against judgments and orders rendered by the high people's courts;

(3) cases of appeals or protests lodged pursuant to provisions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress;

(4) the retrial cases initiated in accordance with the adjudication supervision procedure;

(5) the death penalty cases submitted by the high people's courts for approval. 

2. The SPC may give interpretations with respect to the issues concerning the law application in the judicial work and may issue guiding cases.

Mon, 19 Sep 2022 China Legal Trends CJO Staff Contributors Team

In August 2022, a Hong Kong decree absolute of divorce was recognized by the Beijing Fourth People’s Intermediate Court, marking the first time that the “Arrangement of the Supreme People’s Court on Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement of Civil Judgments in Matrimonial and Family Cases by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” has been applied.