"With the relaxation of restrictions on domestic non-governmental capital, cases concerning disputes in investment, financing, tax, land use and foreign trade will increase," said Xiao Yang, president of the Supreme People's Court, at the opening session of a three-day national conference in Beijing. "Efforts should be made to enhance awareness of the need for equal protection of all subjects in the marketplace. "

Xiao said that legal measures should be adopted to make sure that the non-State economy can develop in a sound way, calling for efforts to improve the legal system to better protect private property.

Non-State capital has played an increasingly important role in China's economy in recent years, but has not attracted the same attention as State-owned capital.

A significant change of attitude is taking place, however, following the amendment of the Constitution in 1999.

In the amendment, the non-State sector was described as "an important constituting part" of the socialist market economy.

For the nation's judges, challenges also come from the financial and securities sectors.

Xiao said that judges should hear cases concerning the financial market fairly and efficiently to help maintain its order and guard against financial risks.

He added that they should also properly handle civil compensation cases in the securities market to protect the legitimate rights of individual investors.

The Supreme People's Court lifted a ban on the trial of civil compensation cases that resulted from fraud in the disclosure of information about listed companies in January.

One such case was settled through courtroom mediation in Southwest China's city of Chengdu.

But none of nearly 900 other cases nationwide have been concluded due to a lack of detailed guidelines on the trials and the compensation.

Sources with the Supreme People's Court have said that a judicial interpretation for such cases will come out soon.

Official statistics indicate that during the 1997-2001 period, Chinese courts tried 23.95 million civil and commercial cases of first instance, an increase of 36.3 per cent over the previous five years.

The total funds involved in these cases hit 2,890.1 billion yuan (US$348.2 billion), 3.4 times the sum recorded between 1992 and 1996.

As the caseload rises, the range of cases coming before the courts is also increasing.

According to Xiao, judges now have more say when dealing with computer or Internet crime and when settling disputes over the registration of domain names or the ownership of software, biotechnology, and research and development.

(China Daily December 23, 2002)