The development of party rule in the judiciary: personnel changes and political transformation of the Nanjing government’s judicial center, 1927–1937

Abstract

After the establishment of the Nanjing Nationalist government in 1927, the Guomindang (GMD) gradually founded a national regime and started to implement the principle of “governing the nation by the party.” But the party-rule was not implemented immediately and effectively. In the early years of the Nationalist government, its judicial branch mostly hired former Beiyang judicial officials, who generally pursued the ideals of judicial independence and politics transcending party lines, ideals established in the Beiyang period. In 1932, when Ju Zheng became the president of the Judicial Yuan, founding members of the GMD began to replace the Beiyang officials in the judicial center. This personnel change was completed around 1935. Meanwhile, due to national crisis and the GMD’s concern that the judicial status quo did not meet its political needs, the GMD began to emphasize the political nature of the judiciary and to advocate the party-ization of the judiciary. Consequently, eight years after the founding of the Nanjing Nationalist government, GMD party members began to obtain de facto control of the judicial center, symbolizing the completion of the shift from Beiyang judicial practices to GMD party-rule in the judiciary. Nevertheless, during the following years, the GMD failed to penetrate, dominate, and integrate the middle and lower levels of the judicial system, where the judicial ideals and personnel structures still strongly retained their Beiyang legacy.

Keywords:

• Guomindang
• Nationalist government
• governing the nation by party
• judicial independence
• party-ization of the judiciary

Notes

¹ The Judicial Yuan also set up the Disciplinary Committee for Civil Servants in April 1932 and the Administrative Court in June 1933.

² Wang Chonghui was appointed minister of justice in the Beiyang Government three times, in 1912, 1921, and 1924. Compared with Ju Zheng, Qin Zhen, and their cohort, Wang had a fairly strong Beiyang background. I acknowledge that historical figures’ roles and identities were very complicated, and I admit that calling Wang Chonghui an old man of the Beiyang is a bit of an oversimplification.

³ To my knowledge, Wang Chonghui only discussed the party-ization of the judiciary in his article “Jinhou sifa gailiang.” Thereafter, he seldom discussed this issue.

⁴ Jin Peiren, “Guomindang faguan de xunlian,” 102.

⁵ Jin Peiren and Wang Zhenguo, “CC ‘danghuasifa,’” 195.

⁶ Shi Shangkuan, Xianfa luncong, 9; see also Tian Xiangbo, Zhongguo guomindang dangzheng tizhi, 364.

⁷ Rong Mengyuan, Zhongguo guomindang lici daibiao dahui, 544.

⁸ Zhongguo di’er lishi dang’anguan, Zhongguo guomindang zhongyang zhixing weiyuanhui, 64–65.

⁹ Zhongguo di’er lishi dang’anguan, Guomindang zhengfu, 620–621.

¹⁰ The judicial organs of the Nanjing Government employed many judicial officials from the former Beiyang judicial circles. This gave rise to the saying during the Northern Expedition, “The Northern Expedition of the revolutionary army, but the southern expedition of the judicial officials.” See Chen Sizhe, “1912 zhi 1949 nian,” 457.

¹¹ Qiu Menghan, “CC shentou de guomindang sifajie,” 89.

¹² Jin Peiren and Wang Zhenguo, “CC ‘danghua sifa,’” 196.

¹³ Zhongguo di’er lishi dang’an guan, Guomindang zhengfu, 626–627.

¹⁴ “Ling sifa xingzhengbu,” 18.

¹⁵ “Shi dangbu yu gaodeng fayuan.”

¹⁶ Yang Yingqi and Zhang Wandong, Erhao dixi, 137–139.

¹⁷ Wang Zizhuang, Wang Zizhuang riji, 150.

¹⁸ Ju Zheng did not belong to the Chiang Kai-shek’s faction, but as a political arrangement, Chiang placed this senior revolutionary in a very high position: Ju Zheng became one of the presidents of the five Yuan. It is worth noting that Chiang only placed Ju Zheng in this noncritical post, instead of in a more powerful military or administrative organ. Similar arraignments were also made for Tan Zheng and others, whom we will discuss later.

¹⁹ Ju Zheng, “Meichuan pujie li yan,” 87.

²⁰ Ibid., 87–124.

²¹ “Xiuzheng zhonghua minguo guomin zuzhi fa,” 1.

²² Ju Zheng once told Shao Yuanchong: “The real purpose of recently transferring the Ministry of Justice to the Judicial Yuan was to purge Luo Wengan.” See Wang Yangqing and Xu Yinghu, Shao Yuanchong riji, 1166.

²³ Jin Peiren, “Guomindang faguan de xunlian,” 104–105.

²⁴ Chen Sanjing and Ju Mi, Ju Zheng xiansheng quanji, 544–545.

²⁵ Ibid., 582.

²⁶ Wang Yongbin, “Shicha huabei qisheng,” 9.

²⁷ Ju Zheng, “Guomin zhengfu sifa gaizao,” 10.

²⁸ Li Zaiquan, “Xu Qian yu guomin geming,” 37–52.

²⁹ Wang Chonghui, “Jinhou sifa gailiang,” 285–290.

³⁰ “Geming sifa,” 28–30.

³¹ Yang Zhaolong, “Danghua sifa,” 7–8.

³² Ju Zheng, “Sifa danghua wenti,” 6–19.

³³ Ibid., 16.

³⁴ “Sifayuan faguan xunliansuo zuzhitiaoli,” 9–10.

³⁵ “Juyuanzhang shubenhui gangling,” preface.

³⁶ “Xianren faguan xunlian jihua dagang,” 2–4.

³⁷ Ibid.

³⁸ Jin Peiren and Wang Zhenguo, “CC ‘danghuasifa,’” 199–200.

³⁹ “Zhongyang ji ge shengshi,” 1–2.

⁴⁰ Wang Qisheng, chap. 7 in Dangyuan, dangquan yu dangzheng.

⁴¹ “Gejiguan zhenggong renyuan tongji.”

⁴² “Sifayuan xianren zhiyuan dangji tongjibiao,” 48.

⁴³ “Zuigao fayuan tuishi” and “Zuigao fayuan tingzhang,” 47–48. The Supreme Court consisted of 16 courts, hence there were 16 chief judges. But since one of them was the president of the Supreme Court, I did not count him.

⁴⁴ Sifayuan faguan xunliansuo, Sifayuan faguan xunliansuo gailan, 75. The percentage here is based on my estimate.

⁴⁵ Hu Ji, “Jiusifa zhidu,” 152.

⁴⁶ Zhu Qizhen, “Wosuo zhidao de,” 113.

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Zaiquan Li

LI Zaiquan is an associate research fellow at the Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing. He specializes in the political history of the Republic of China and modern Chinese legal history. He has published Rule of Law vs. Rule of Party: The Party-ization of the Guomindang Regime’s Judiciary, 1923–1948 (Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2012) and a number of articles in Historical Research and Modern Chinese History Studies.