Palmer, Michael --- "Mediating state and society: social stability and administrative suits" [2014] ELECD 559; in Trevaskes, Susan; Nesossi, Elisa; Sapio, Flora; Biddulph, Sarah (eds), "The Politics of Law and Stability in China" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014) 107

Book Title: The Politics of Law and Stability in China

Editor(s): Trevaskes, Susan; Nesossi, Elisa; Sapio, Flora; Biddulph, Sarah

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783473861

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: Mediating state and society: social stability and administrative suits

Author(s): Palmer, Michael

Number of pages: 20

Abstract/Description:

A significant dimension of legal systems committed to important principles such as the rule of law and good governance is their use of the courts to make public officials in some way accountable for the manner in which their decisions affect individuals. This is especially so where such decision-making gives rise to a citizen grievance. In post-Mao China’s legal development, one of the most serious difficulties has been the need for effective legal controls over the exercise of administrative powers by the state. The traditional, paternalistic authority of the Chinese state has been reinforced by a socialist dictatorship and the perceived need to protect rapid economic growth by ensuring a stable socio-political environment, so that China retains a very strong executive, albeit one still at the call of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). At the constitutional level in the People’s Republic, a greater emphasis on the need for a regular legal framework for the exercise of authority has encouraged the introduction of important new values and rights. But the impact of such progress is muffled by the fact that constitutional rights are not justiciable. A system of administrative litigation (xingzheng susong) was experimented with in the 1980s under the provisional civil procedure code, and was introduced in the form of a national code in 1990.