1) Are juries used to decide any types of court cases in China? If yes, what types of cases?
Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at
4:11 pm
2) Is the loser in a court case routinely cheap prescription drugs required to pay the winner’s attorneys fees?
3) What is the name of the basic commercial code/statute in China?
4) Is China a signatory of the Convention on the International Sales of Goods?
5) Is there a law requiring enforcement of agreements to arbitrate in China? What are its basic provisions?
The use of juries is provided for in Chinese law. The main differences are- 1, this provision is not always, or even often used. 2, the idea of a random member of the public on a jury does not exist.
Depending on the severity of the case a jury may consist of- judges (highest cases) or ‘trusted persons’- these can be selected from among lawyers, Party members or the public at the discretion of the officials involved. When foreign scrutiny is present it can happen that juries are formulated similar to in the US or UK- but this is not usual.
In short most of what you ask has been provided for by Chinese law in the past 12 years or so. However these were mostly treaty based- and hence China has limited zeal, control or resources to enforce these provisions effectively.
US-China-WTO trade talks have transformed the Chinese lawbooks so that in theory legal processes equivalent to the US can be utilised but there is no guarantee your rights will be upheld to this standard.