How the Supreme People's Court Serves National Strategy and 'Makes Law': The Pilot FTZ Opinion and its Implications

Abstract

This book chapter from the book International Economic Law and the Challenges of the Free Zones examines the Supreme People's Court (SPC) of China's "Opinion on Providing Judicial Guarantees for the Building of Pilot Free Trade Zones" (最高人民法院关于为自由贸易试验区建设提供司法保障的意见)(the FTZ Opinion). The FTZ Opinion provides a window into multiple aspects of the operation of the Chinese judiciary and Chinese law generally, and also illustrates how the gaps in Chinese law, both substantive and procedural (among other issues), create obstacles to achieving the long-term goal set by the political leadership, of China becoming an international dispute resolution center. The FTZ Opinion provides insights into why and how the SPC fulfills its political and substantive roles, and how the SPC communicates and evolves judicial policy in the context of an important reform initiative to support changing Party and government policies, and its relationship with the concerns of the lower courts.

Keywords: Free Trade Zones, Supreme People's Court, Judicial Policy