The Supreme People's Court independently exercises the highest judicial power according to law and is not subject to interference by any administrative organ, social organization or individual. It comprises a judicial committee, or the highest judicial organ, and several courts¨CNo.1 Criminal Tribunal, No.2 Criminal Tribunal, Civil Tribunal, Economic Tribunal, Administrative Tribunal, Complaint and Appeal Tribunal, and Communication and Transportation Tribunal.

According to the Constitution and statutes, the Supreme People's Court has three responsibilities:

¨CHandling cases that have the greatest influence, cases of appeals against judgments and rulings of higher courts and cases it deems it should deal with;

¨CSupervising the administration of justice by local people's courts and special courts at all levels, overruling wrong judgments they have made, and deciding to review the cases itself or to direct the lower-level courts to conduct a retrial; and

¨CGiving judicial interpretation of questions concerning special applications of laws in judicial proceedings, which must be carried out throughout the country.

The president of the Supreme People's Court is elected by the NPC for a term of five years and shall serve no more than two consecutive terms. The vice presidents, members of the judicial committee, chief judges of affiliated tribunals and their deputies, and judges are appointed and removed by the NPC Standing Committee.

The current president of the Supreme People's Court is Xiao Yang.