The Mediatory versus Legalistic Discourse in Chinese Courts

He, Xin; Li, Luoyun; Feng, Yuyao

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2909384

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…It is true that after the recent judicial reforms, judges have become more legally trained and more professional. It is also true that novice judges may have difficulty in mediating cases (He, Li, and Feng 2017). Given the institutional and political incentives, however, these legally well-trained judges have little difficulty acquiring and deploying such tactics, as already demonstrated in studies from the coastal area.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Judge as a Negotiator: Claims Negotiating and Inequalities in China’s Judicial Mediation

He¹

2021

Law Soc. Inq.

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I propose a three-way model of negotiation on judicial mediation: the judge as a negotiator. Primarily drawing on ethnographic observations of a civil judge in a basic-level court in hinterland China, I document Chinese judges’ tactics at the micro level. I find that the Chinese judge not only “expands” and “narrows” claims. In addition, included in her repertoire are “repression,” “conversion,” and “facilitation.” Following this, I explore the inequitable consequences of the judge’s apparent success in disposing cases. In negotiating the claims, the judge convinces or cajoles litigants who are economically vulnerable, inexperienced in the courtroom, legally bewildered, or timid in confronting the judges’ authority, into the settlement. But she often facilitates the claims of litigants who can mount credible political resistance. The interests of those who are vulnerable in one way or another, but not in a position to initiate political threats, are often dispensed. Inequalities are thus generated, reproduced, and reinforced. This three-way negotiation model provides a new perspective to study judicial mediation comparatively.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Judge as a Negotiator: Claims Negotiating and Inequalities in China’s Judicial Mediation

He¹

2021

Law Soc. Inq.

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“…My ethnographic analysis thus also contributes to recent debates on the supposed breakdown of morality in post‐Reform China and the advent of formal legal culture in its stead (He, Li, and Feng 2017; Pia 2016). At the grassroots level, the nuances evident in small‐stakes traffic disputes in contemporary China manifest in how perceptions of complex justice and interpersonal ethics respond to state‐driven attempts to institute rule of law.…”

Section: Conclusion: Justice As Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Processual Recognition in Chinese Traffic Disputes

Sangren

2022

PoLAR

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This article analyzes traffic dispute resolution in contemporary urban China as embodying what I term processual recognition. I describe how various complex status‐inflected qualities, legal‐bureaucratic institutions and actors, and processes and perceptions of recognition interact in producing resolutions and a sense of (in)justice or (un)fairness. My attention to “recognition” is distinctive in foregrounding disputants’ investments in identity and dignity as enacted through embodied and affective practices. Contrary to accounts of contemporary China that emphasize moral breakdown, I argue that traffic disputes between strangers produce a spatially and temporally contingent moral economy that connects the production of justice with individual desire for recognition, socio‐structural configurations, and legal‐bureaucratic imperatives. I further argue that existing accounts focused on substantive and procedural justice fail to accommodate variant cultural and institutional configurations of dispute resolution, and that scholars should also attend to questions of recognition.

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The Mediatory versus Legalistic Discourse in Chinese Courts

Cited by 2 publications

References 18 publications

The Judge as a Negotiator: Claims Negotiating and Inequalities in China’s Judicial Mediation

The Judge as a Negotiator: Claims Negotiating and Inequalities in China’s Judicial Mediation

Processual Recognition in Chinese Traffic Disputes

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