Judicial Interpretation and the Socialist Core Values

Earlier this year, the Communist Party authorities issued a five-to-10 year plan to fully incorporate the country's socialist core values into its system of laws. The plan, which has not been released in full, apparently included the phrase “judicial interpretations should be amended and improved in a timely manner according to the demands of socialist core values.” That meant that the SPC needed to incorporate socialist core values into its judicial interpretations. Last month, the SPC issued a plan to do so interpretations over the next five years. The SPC plan implements the Communist Party document.

Although the SPC document appears to be still classified, this article is primarily based on the summary provided by Jiang Qibo, head of the SPC Research Office. That office oversees the drafting of judicial interpretations. Judicial interpretations are an important supplement to statutory law in the Chinese legal system. The SPC Research Office acts as the gatekeeper for reviewing proposals, and examining and coordinating the drafting of judicial interpretations. It also acts as the liaison when other central institutions forward their draft legislation and judicial interpretations to the SPC for comments, coordinating the SPC's response with other divisions and offices, with a knowledgeable person noting that “the view of the Research Office prevails.”