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ABSTRACT
This article assesses the prospects of establishing a body of Chinese case law for the purpose of promoting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and devises appropriate strategies for such a proposal. Through a general survey of 22 significant BRI cases and a close examination of four samples drawn from them, this article explores the features, deficiencies, and promises of three prominent models of case law currently adopted by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and makes a number of suggestions for further developing a BRI case law system in China. It is suggested that a modified Typical Case Model should serve as the primary model at the present stage. The detailed case analyses conducted in the article reveal that case summaries provided by the SPC suffer from a number of flaws in need of fixing, including a general failure to address the needs of target users from BRI members, an insufficient number of cases, inaccessibility, incompleteness, and inaccuracy. Accordingly, a range of responsive measures are proposed to ameliorate the Typical Case Model. In particular, it is suggested that the model should focus more on cases involving the application and interpretation of international rules (such as the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods) in the immediate future.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Case Guidance Work (最高人民法院关于案例指导工作的规定) Fa Fa (2010) No. 51, approved by the Judicial Committee of the SPC (SPCJC) 15 November 2010, effective 26 November 2010.
2 Qiao Liu, ‘Chinese “Case Law” in Comparative Law Studies: Illusions and Complexities’ (2019) 14(S1) Asian Journal of Comparative Law 97, 108–09.
3 The term is intended to denote a body of court decisions in disparate cases which have been given legal significance, of varying degrees, that extends beyond the particular disputes concerned. In this article, ‘case law’ refers specifically to cases, whether in summary or full-fledged form, issued by the SPC and intended to perform a guiding function.
4 E.g. most recently, Notice by the Supreme People’s Court of Disclosing Relevant Information on Civil and Commercial Cases (最高人民法院关于公开民商事案件相关信息的通知) Fa (2019) No. 36, effective 3 February 2019.
5 See, e.g. Notice of the Supreme People’s Court on the Issuing of Guiding Opinions on Strengthening and Standardizing the Analysis and Reasoning in Adjudicative Instruments (最高人民法院印发《关于加强和规范裁判文书释法说理的指导意见》的通知) Fa Fa (2018) No. 10, effective 13 June 2018.
6 Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on Comprehensively Advancing the Strategy of Producing High-Quality Foreign-Related Commercial and Maritime Adjudication with a View to Providing Effective Judicial Safeguards for Establishing an Open Economic System and Building Up a Strong Maritime Power (最高人民法院关于全面推进涉外商事海事审判精品战略为构建开放型经济体制和建设海洋强国提供有力司法保障的意见) Fa (2015) No. 205, effective 14 July 2015, Arts 18 and 23–25.
7 Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Establishment of International Commercial Courts (最高人民法院关于设立国际商事法庭若干问题的规定) Fa Shi (2018) No. 11, approved at the 1743rd Session of the SPCJC on 25 June 2018, effective 1 July 2018.
8 Justice Steven Chong, ‘Dispute Settlement in the Belt and Road Initiative: Lessons from the Singapore Experience’ (2020) 8(1) The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law 30, 37–38.
9 Several Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on Providing Judicial Services and Safeguards for the Construction of the ‘Belt and Road’ by People’s Courts (最高人民法院关于人民法院为“一带一路”建设提供司法服务和保障的若干意见) Fa Fa (2015) No. 9, effective 16 June 2015, SPC Gazette Vol 229 (2015) Vols 11, 12, and 14 (Art 10).
10 Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on People’s Courts Further Providing Judicial Services and Guarantees for the Belt and Road Initiative (最高人民法院关于人民法院进一步为“一带一路”建设提供司法服务和保障的意见) Fa Fa (2019) No. 29, effective 9 December 2019, BRI Opinion II, SPC Gazette Vol 283 (2020) Vols 5, 18, and 20 (Art 6).
11 BRI Opinion II (n 8), Art 7. Also, SPC, ‘News Conference on Guiding Opinion Concerning People’s Courts Providing Service and Safeguards for the Further Opening-Up’ (25 September 2020) <www.court.gov.cn/zixun-xiangqing-259141.html> accessed 16 March 2021.
12 SPC, Batch 1 (8 cases), 7 July 2015 <www.court.gov.cn/zixun-xiangqing-14897.html>; Batch 2 (10 cases), 15 May 2017 <www.court.gov.cn/zixun-xiangqing-44722.html> both accessed 16 March 2021.
13 Notice of the SPC on the Issue of Batch No. 21 Guiding Cases (最高人民法院关于发布第 21 批指导性案例的通知) Fa (2019) No. 3, issued 25 February 2019, SPC Gazette Vol 275 (2019) Vol 9, 15.
14 The ‘jurisdictions involved’ are not confined to the jurisdictions from which the litigants came, or where the subject matter of the dispute was located, but include all jurisdictions with a real connection to the dispute.
15 Membership is not geographically limited to countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road: see ‘Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road’ (推动共建丝绸之路经济带和 21 世纪海上丝绸之路的愿景与行动) issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Commerce of the PRC on 28 March 2015, S VII <http://en.ndrc.gov.cn/newsrelease/201503/t20150330_669367.html> accessed 16 March 2021.
16 Jiangyu Wang, ‘Dispute Settlement in the Belt and Road Initiative: Progress, Issues, and Future Research Agenda’ (2020) 8(1) The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law.
17 Interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning Application of the Law of the China on the Choice of Law for Foreign-Related Civil Relationships I (最高人民法院关于适用〈中华人民共和国涉外民事关系法律适用法〉若干问题的解释(一)), adopted at the 1563rd Session of the SPCJC on 10 December 2012, effective 7 January 2013, Art 1. Also, CICC Provisions (n 6) Art 3; SPC High-Quality Foreign-Related Adjudication Opinion (n 5) Art 21.
18 Siemens International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd v Shanghai Golden Landmark Co Ltd (西门子国际贸易(上海)有限公司与上海黄金置地有限公司申请承认和执行外国仲裁裁决案), BRI TC Batch 2, No. 4.
19 The ‘foreignness’ requirement was further relaxed in Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on the Provision of Judicial Safeguards for the Construction of Pilot Free-Trade Zones (最高人民法院关于为自由贸易试验区建设提供司法保障的意见), effective 30 December 2016, Art 9.
20 Namely, ‘domestic commercial cases involving the application of similar laws’ (such as cases involving disputes over letter of credit, bank guarantee, or judicial review of arbitral awards) and ‘other commercial cases closely related to the development of an open economy’ (such as commercial cases involving foreign investment enterprises, FTZ, or border trade): SPC High-Quality Foreign-Related Adjudication Opinion (n 5) Art 22.
21 Opinion of the Supreme People’s Court on Ameliorating the Work Mechanism for Unifying the Standards of Application of Law (最高人民法院关于完善统一法律适用标准工作机制的意见) Fa Fa (2020) No. 35, effective 14 September 2020, Art 5. It is not specified which office of the SPC is responsible for issuing Typical Cases.
22 Ibid.
23 SPC Gazette Vol 227 (2015) Vol 9, 25.
24 E.g. most recently, 2019 Typical Cases of Maritime Adjudication <www.court.gov.cn/zixun-xiangqing-252691.html> accessed 16 March 2021.
25 SPC Provisions on Case Guidance (n 1) Art 2.
26 Ibid, Art 7; Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Case Guidance (最高人民法院关于案例指导工作的规定>实施细则) Fa (2015) No. 130, approved by the SPCJC on 27 April 2015, effective 13 May 2015, Arts 9, 10, and 11.
27 The State Council Information Office of the PRC, News Conference on Guiding Cases Involving the Specialised Topic of the One Belt One Road Initiative (25 February 2019) <www.scio.gov.cn/xwfbh/qyxwfbh/Document/1647744/1647744.htm> accessed 16 March 2021.
28 See, e.g. Ping Yu and Seth Gurgel, ‘Stare Decisis in China? The Newly Enacted Guiding Case System’ in M Wan (ed), Reading the Legal Case: Cross-Currents Between Law and the Humanities (Taylor and Francis, 2012); Mark Jia, ‘Chinese Common Law? Guiding Cases and Judicial Reform’ (2016) 129 Harvard Law Review 2213.
29 Liu (n 2) 109, 116. See generally, Rodrigo Camarena González, ‘From Jurisprudence Constante to Stare Decisis: The Migration of the Doctrine of Precedent to Civil Law Constitutionalism’ (2016) 7(2) Transnational Legal Theory 257, 276.
30 By Judge Guo Feng’s count, there were no less than five more BRI Guiding Cases, which took the total percentage of BRI GCs to nearly 10% of all such cases at the time of his speech: BRI Guiding Cases News Conference (n 27).
31 Liu (n 26) 104 et seq.
32 SPC, Ten Typical Cases of Maritime Adjudication for the Year 2017 (2017 年度十件海事审判典型案例), 8 August 2018 <www.court.gov.cn/zixun-xiangqing-111541.html> accessed 16 March 2021.
33 Guiding Case No. 108: Zhejiang Longda Stainless Steel Co Ltd v AP Moller-Maersk A/S (浙江隆达不锈钢有限公司诉 A.P.穆勒-马士基有限公司海上货物运输合同纠纷案), SPC Gazette Vol 275 (2019) Vol 9, 17.
34 Re Zhejiang Longda Stainless Steel Co Ltd, Carriage of Goods by Sea Contract Dispute Retrial Civil Judgment (浙江隆达不锈钢有限公司海上、通海水域货物运输合同纠纷再审民事判决书), 29 December 2017, Zui Gao Fa Min Zai No. 412.
35 The case is available from a search on the ‘China Judgements Online’ website <wenshu.court.gov.cn> accessed 16 March 2021.
36 Respectively: Ningbo Maritime Court, 4 March 2016, (2015) Yong Hai Fa Shang Chu Zi No. 534 Civil Judgment; Zhejiang HPC, 29 September 2016, (2016) Zhe Min Zhong No. 222 Civil Judgment; SPC Retrial Judgment (n 34).
37 Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations in this article are my translation.
38 SPC Gazette Vol 275, 17.
39 SPC retrial judgment (n 34).
40 Guiding Case No. 110: Nanhai Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Transport v Archangelos Investments ENE and Shanghai Representative Office of Hong Kong Andaousen Co Ltd (交通运输部南海救助局诉阿昌格罗斯投资公司、香港安达欧森有限公司上海代表处海难救助合同纠纷案), SPC Gazette Vol 275 (2019) Vol 9, 23.
41 Nanhai Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Transport v Archangelos Investments ENE and Shanghai Representative Office of Hong Kong Andaousen Co Ltd, Retrial Civil Judgment (交通运输部南海救助局与阿昌格罗斯投资公司、香港安达欧森有限公司上海代表处海难救助合同纠纷申请再审民事判决书), 7 July 2016, (2016) Zui Gao Fa Min Zai No. 61 Civil Judgment, SPC Gazette Vol 241 (2016) Vol 11, 26.
42 Concluded 28 April 1989, entered into force 14 July 1996; 1953 UNTS 182, 185, 197, and 200.
43 28 March 2014, (2012) Guang Hai Fa Chu Zi No. 898 Civil Judgment.
44 16 June 2015, (2014) Yue Gao Fa Min Si Zhong Zi No. 117 Civil Judgment.
45 SPC Retrial Judgment (n 41).
46 SPC Gazette Vol 275, 23.
47 SPC Gazette Vol 241, 26.
48 Guiding Case No. 111: Liwan Subbranch, Guangzhou Branch of China Construction Bank Co Ltd v Guangdong Lanyue Energy Development Co Ltd et al (中国建设银行股份有限公司广州荔湾支行诉广东蓝粤能源发展有限公司等信用证开证纠纷案), SPC Gazette Vol 275 (2019) Vol 9, 25.
49 Liwan Subbranch, Guangzhou Branch of China Construction Bank Co Ltd v Guangdong Lanyue Energy Development Co Ltd et al, Civil Judgment (中国建设银行股份有限公司广州荔湾支行诉广东蓝粤能源发展有限公司等信用证开证纠纷案民事判决书), 19 October 2015, (2015) Min Ti Zi No. 126 Civil Judgment, SPC Gazette Vol 235 (2016) Vol 5, 31.
50 21 April 2014, (2013) Hui Zhong Fa Jin Min Chu Zi No. 158 Civil Judgment.
51 19 September 2012, (2014) Yue Gao Fa Min Er Zhong Zi No. 45 Civil Judgment.
52 SPC Civil Judgment (n 49).
53 SPC Gazette Vol 235, 40.
54 Ibid.
55 SPC Gazette Vol 235, 41.
56 SPC Gazette Vol 275, 25–26.
57 The index measures the coke’s hardness. The higher the HGI value, the softer and more grindable is the coke.
58 Guiding Case No. 107: Sinochem International (Overseas) Pte Ltd v ThyssenKrupp Metallurgical Products GmbH (中化国际(新加坡)有限公司诉蒂森克虏伯冶金产品有限责任公司国际货物买卖合同纠纷案), SPC Gazette Vol 275 (2019) Vol 9, 15.
59 Sinochem International (Overseas) Pte Ltd v ThyssenKrupp Metallurgical Products GmbH (中化国际(新加坡)有限公司诉蒂森克虏伯冶金产品有限责任公司国际货物买卖合同纠纷案民事判决书), 30 June 2014, (2013) Min Si Zhong Zi No. 35 Civil Judgment, SPC Gazette Vol 226 (2015) Vol 8, 33.
60 19 December 2012, (2009) Su Min San Chu Zi No. 0004 Civil Judgment.
61 SPC Gazette Vol 275, 16.
62 SPC Gazette Vol 226, 45.
63 SPC Gazette Vol 226, 33 (Rule 1).
64 SPC Gazette Vol 275, 15–16.
65 Qiao Liu, ‘The Chinese Guiding Case System Through the Lens of a CISG Case’ (2021) 51(1) Hong Kong Law Journal 339.
66 SPC Gazette Vol 226, 33.
67 Susan Finder, ‘China’s Evolving Case Law System in Practice’ (2017) 9 Tsinghua China Law Review 245, 246.
68 Joseph S Nye Jr, ‘Soft Power’ (1990) 80 Foreign Policy 153, 155–56.
69 BRI Guiding Cases News Conference (n 28).
70 As of the time of writing, 68 of the 94 (72.3%) Contracting States of the CISG are BRI member states, while CISG Contracting States make up 48% of the 138 BRI member states.
71 Lutz-Christian Wolff, ‘From a “Small Phrase with Big Ambitions” to a Powerful Driver of Contract Law Unification? China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the CISG’ (2017) 34 Journal of Contract Law 50, 68.
72 At the time of writing, one civil judgment and four civil rulings of the CICC are published on its website, and all but one of the rulings have an English transcript.