Chinese Court System
Constitutional Framework and the Organic Law of the People’s Courts
The court system of the People’s Republic of China is constituted under the Organic Law of the People’s Courts, first adopted in 1979 and substantially revised in 2018. The Constitution of 1982 (as amended) provides in Article 128 that the people’s courts are the judicial organs of the state and exercise judicial power independently, subject to the requirement that they are “not subject to interference by administrative organs, social organizations, or individuals.” The tension between this constitutional declaration of judicial independence and the constitutional principle of the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership over all state work (Article 1 of the Constitution, amplified in the Party Constitution) is the central structural characteristic of the Chinese judiciary.
The Organic Law establishes a four-level hierarchy of general courts: the Supreme People’s Court at the apex, Higher People’s Courts at the provincial level, Intermediate People’s Courts at the prefectural level, and Basic People’s Courts at the county and district level. Within this hierarchy, the courts apply statutory law, administrative regulations, and, in practice, the policies and directives of the Chinese Communist Party. The system has undergone significant reform since 2014 as part of the comprehensive deepening of reform program announced at the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee.
The Supreme People’s Court
The Supreme People’s Court (SPC, Zuigao Renmin Fayuan) in Beijing is the highest judicial organ of the state. It exercises jurisdiction over cases of first instance that are “of nationwide importance,” appeals against judgments of Higher People’s Courts and specialized courts, and cases arising from decisions of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate. The SPC also supervises the administration of justice by all lower people’s courts.
The SPC is organized into divisions (ting) covering civil law, criminal law, commercial law, administrative law, intellectual property, and other specialized areas. In addition to its adjudicative work, the SPC issues judicial interpretations (sifa jieshi) — authoritative interpretations of statutes that have binding effect on all lower courts. These interpretations are a major source of law in practice, filling gaps left by broadly drafted legislation. The SPC also selects and publishes guiding cases (anli zhidao anli) under the Case Guidance System established in 2010. Guiding cases are not formally binding but lower courts “should refer to” them when adjudicating similar cases. As of 2025, the SPC has published over 200 guiding cases on topics ranging from contract interpretation to criminal sentencing standards.
A significant institutional innovation was the establishment of SPC circuit courts (xunhui fating) starting in 2015. Six circuit courts operate in Shenyang (covering Northeast China), Nanjing (East China), Zhengzhou (Central China), Chongqing (Southwest China), Xi’an (Northwest China), and Shenzhen (South China). Each circuit court functions as a branch of the SPC, handling appeals and retrials from the region, with the stated aim of reducing forum shopping, improving efficiency, and enhancing the credibility of the judiciary. The circuit courts have processed tens of thousands of cases since their establishment.
The SPC President is elected by the National People’s Congress for a term of five years, renewable once. The current President, Zhang Jun, assumed office in March 2023. The President presides over the Judicial Committee and represents the SPC before the National People’s Congress.
Court Hierarchy
Basic People’s Courts
Basic People’s Courts are established at the county, city-district, and县级市 (county-level city) level. There are approximately 3,100 Basic People’s Courts across China. They exercise first-instance jurisdiction over most civil, criminal, and administrative cases, except those reserved by law to higher-level courts. Within each Basic People’s Court, there are several divisions: criminal, civil, administrative, and enforcement. Basic People’s Courts also operate dispatched tribunals (renmin fating), which are sub-district units serving rural and remote areas. There are over 10,000 dispatched tribunals across China, handling minor civil disputes and conducting mediation.
Basic People’s Courts apply summary procedure (jianyi chengxu) to minor civil cases. The amended Civil Procedure Law (2021) expanded the scope of summary procedure and introduced a small claims procedure (xiaoe susong chengxu) for cases involving claims not exceeding 50% of the annual average urban wage, with judgments that are final and not appealable.
Intermediate People’s Courts
Intermediate People’s Courts operate at the prefectural level, including in autonomous prefectures and directly-administered municipalities. There are approximately 400 Intermediate People’s Courts. They exercise first-instance jurisdiction over major cases specified by law (including cases involving foreign nationals, serious criminal offences punishable by life imprisonment or death, and cases involving patents and maritime disputes), and hear appeals against judgments of Basic People’s Courts. The Intermediate People’s Court is also the court of second instance for most cases, and its judgments are final unless a retrial is granted.
Intermediate People’s Courts handle death penalty review cases. Under the 2007 amendment to the Organic Law, all death sentences must be approved by the Supreme People’s Court (the “death penalty review power,” sifa sihexing shenpi zhiquan), which effectively centralized capital punishment authority at the national level.
Higher People’s Courts
Higher People’s Courts are established at the level of provinces, autonomous regions, and directly-administered municipalities. There are 31 Higher People’s Courts in mainland China (excluding the courts of Hong Kong and Macau, which operate under separate judicial systems preserved under the “one country, two systems” principle). Higher People’s Courts exercise first-instance jurisdiction over cases of regional importance, hear appeals against Intermediate People’s Court judgments, and review applications for retrial.
Higher People’s Courts also play a significant role in the supervision of lower courts within their territorial jurisdiction. They conduct judicial quality assessments, issue guiding opinions on the application of law within the province, and coordinate with the local Party committees and government on judicial matters.
Specialized Courts
China has developed a range of specialized courts alongside the general hierarchy. Military courts (junshi fayuan) exercise jurisdiction over criminal offences committed by military personnel. They are organized in three tiers: the Military Court of the People’s Liberation Army, military courts of the theatre commands, and military courts at the corps level.
Maritime courts (hashi fating) were established in 1984 in coastal cities to handle maritime and admiralty disputes. There are 11 maritime courts, located in Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Beihai, Haikou, Wuhan, and Nanjing. Their decisions are appealable to the relevant Higher People’s Court.
Intellectual property courts (zhishi chanquan fating) were established in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou in 2014 to hear patent, trademark, copyright, and other IP cases. These courts have cross-regional jurisdiction and are intended to strengthen IP enforcement and judicial expertise. In 2023, the Hainan Free Trade Port Intellectual Property Court was established as part of the Hainan Free Trade Port legal framework.
Internet courts (wangluo fating) were established in Hangzhou (2017), Beijing (2018), and Guangzhou (2018) to adjudicate disputes arising from online transactions, social media, and e-commerce. Internet courts operate entirely online: case filing, mediation, evidence exchange, hearings, and judgment delivery are conducted through a dedicated online platform. They have been highly efficient, with average case processing times of approximately 30 days.
In 2018, the Shanghai Financial Court was established to handle financial disputes, providing specialized expertise in securities, banking, and insurance litigation. The Shanghai Financial Court sits as a first-instance court for major financial cases, with appeals going to the Shanghai Higher People’s Court.
The Judicial Committee
Within each people’s court, the judicial committee (shenpan weiyuanhui) serves as the highest internal decision-making body. Composed of the court president, vice-presidents, division heads, and senior judges, the judicial committee discusses and decides major, difficult, or complex cases, and provides guidance on judicial work. The 2018 Organic Law revision emphasized that the judicial committee discusses “cases of major, difficult, or complex nature” and “cases concerning the application of law.” The judicial committee was historically criticized for deciding cases without hearing arguments directly (shenpan weiyuanhui shen er bu pan), but reforms have sought to limit its role to questions of law rather than fact.
A related reform has been the establishment of the judge accountability system (faguan yuan’an zeren zhi), which requires that the judges who hear a case also decide it, and that they bear personal responsibility for erroneous judgments. This reform, implemented from 2015, was designed to counteract the previous tendency for court presidents and division heads to review and approve judgments without having participated in the trial.
Judicial Reform Since 2014
The third plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in November 2014 adopted a comprehensive reform program that included major judicial reforms. The key reforms include centralized management of judicial personnel (judges below the provincial level are now selected and managed by the provincial-level judicial authorities rather than local Party committees), a judge quota system (yuan’e zhi) that limits the number of judges and significantly increases their salaries and status, and professionalization requirements including that court presidents and division heads must personally hear cases.
The judge quota system has been controversial. By 2017, approximately 120,000 judges had been selected from an original cohort of about 210,000 — a reduction of roughly 40%. Quota judges receive higher salaries (reportedly 50% higher than non-quota judges) but also face stricter accountability. The reform has been criticized for creating a two-tier judiciary and for the subjective criteria used in judge selection.
A further major reform has been the requirement for court presidents and division heads to hear cases personally. Previously, these senior judicial administrators rarely presided over trials; they focused on administrative duties and case approval. The reform has significantly increased the number of cases presided over by court presidents and division heads, enhancing the professional authority of senior judges.
Judicial Independence and Party Leadership
The relationship between judicial independence and Party leadership is the defining tension of the Chinese legal system. The 2018 constitutional amendments removed the two-term limit for the President and added the “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” to the preamble, reinforcing the Party’s dominant role. The 2018 revision to the Organic Law of the People’s Courts explicitly requires courts to “uphold the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party” (Article 4).
In practice, Party leadership operates through several mechanisms. The Political and Legal Affairs Commission (zhengfa wei) of the Party at each level coordinates the work of courts, procuratorates, police, and judicial administrative organs. The Party group (dangzu) within each court ensures Party policies are implemented. Judicial decisions in politically sensitive cases — including those involving ethnic unrest, political dissent, media criticism, and major commercial disputes with state-owned enterprises — are often subject to prior review or coordination with Party bodies.
Nevertheless, significant progress has been made in ordinary adjudication. The establishment of the case filing system (li’an dengji zhi) in 2015 replaced the previous practice of case acceptance review and gave courts the formal authority to decide whether to accept cases. Civil litigation has become more transparent and predictable in routine matters. The enforcement of civil judgments has also improved, with the central government introducing measures including travel bans, credit blacklists, and asset disclosure requirements to address the long-standing problem of judgment enforcement.