The session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee
which concluded yesterday was a productive one.
In just five days, the committee reviewed and passed two draft
laws and revised two more.
The anti-money-laundering law plugs a conspicuous loophole in
the nation's fight against corruption and cross-border financial
crime.
The revised law on supervision of the banking sector should
close several legal loopholes in the booming yet under-regulated
industry.
The law on farmers' specialized cooperatives also fills a gap,
legislating for an important new form of partnership in rural
communities.
The widely anticipated new version of the organic law for
people's courts, on the other hand, finalizes the legal procedure
for the Supreme People's Court to take back the power to approve
death penalties.
In order to facilitate a crackdown on severe criminal offences
such as murder, rape and arson, the Supreme Court authorized local
high courts to issue death sentences in the early 1980s. While
enhancing the deterrent potential of capital punishment, the
delegated authority has proved vulnerable to abuse.
Recalling that authority places the application of death
sentences under additional scrutiny. It is a practical move,
helping the judiciary honour its declared commitment to procedural
justice.
But the legislators' five-day gathering deserves our attention
not only because of the law-making aspects.
Chief Justice Xiao Yang's and Chief Procurator Jia Chunwang's reports on the progress of
judicial reform in their respective fields bear testimony to the
work the judiciary needs to do to live up to public expectations
for justice.
Both Xiao and Jia admitted that there were black sheep in their
ranks, and disregard for procedure as well as behind-the-scenes
maneuvers, they said, are behind much injustice and public
dissatisfaction.
In fairness to the judiciary, courts and procuratorates
nationwide have tried hard to correct and improve themselves since
the central leadership called in May 2005 for further regulation of
law-enforcement to promote justice.
Responding to issues of public discontent, both have made
efforts to enhance self-regulation, and installed mechanisms to
allow greater transparency and protect suspects' rights.
We all have witnessed the inspiring awareness of civil rights
and procedural justice our courts and procuratorates have displayed
recently. The adoption of the assumption of innocence is nothing
short of a revolutionary change in judicial philosophy.
Self-discipline on the part of judicial workers is essential for
justice to be done. But transparency works better as an antidote to
violations.
Chief Justice Xiao's plan to make the whole process of court
proceedings in civil and commercial litigations public is likely to
be generously rewarded in this regard.
Plans to enable information-sharing between the Supreme Court
and local high courts about public complaints may also prove a
worthy experiment.
(China Daily November 1, 2006)