National Judicial Conference In 1916 And Judicial Reform In The Early Republic Of China

The cause of judicial reform,which started in the late Qing Dynasty,suffered unprecedented setbacks in Yuan Shikai’s autocratic period,and the cause of judicial reform entered a trough.After the end of the Defense War,the re-establishment of the Republic,and the social landscape changed,the judicial reform gave birth to new impetus.From November 10 to 28,1916,under the convening of the Ministry of Justice of the Beijing government,the judicial elite gathered together and held the second national judicial Conference.The meeting discussed the practical problems encountered in the process of judicial reform from various aspects,and discussed the corresponding solutions based on the conditions of The Times.In this judicial conference,the most time-consuming and most discussed is the county governor and the judicial system.Many participants detailed the shortcomings of the county governor and the judicial system and expressed their strong dissatisfaction with the county governor and the judicial system.Due to the restriction of practical conditions,the judicial system of the county governor and the county governor has its rationality,but in general,the harm of the judicial system of the county governor and the county governor is far greater than its rationality.As for the alternative to the judicial system of the county governor and the county magistrate,the delegates proposed to set up local chambers in each county or to set up judicial offices in each county.Due to the constraints of practical conditions,the alternative to the judicial system of the county governor and the county magistrate is difficult to achieve the desired effect.In addition,the meeting also focused on the financing of the judicial system,the mother of all things,the funding problem is the biggest obstacle in the process of judicial reform,the return of county governor and judicial system is largely caused by the lack of funding.Delegates at the meeting proposed to make up for judicial funds by establishing budget and increasing judicial income,but in the actual implementation process,there are still many difficulties,such as the central commitment cannot be guaranteed,there is no basis for the implementation of registration.Compared to the first National Judicial Conference in the first year of the Republic of China,this National Judicial Conference held a more pragmatic attitude towards judicial reform.It is precisely because the judicial community is aware of the huge obstacles faced by judicial reform and no longer desires drastic reform methods.Instead,it adopted a more stable,even more "negative austerity" approach to active judicial reform.This national judicial conference is another active attempt by the Chinese judicial community to actively seek improvement,based on the experience of the first national judicial conference in the past and facing the dilemma of judicial reform.Due to financial difficulties caused by the unequal judicial salary issue also caused the attention of the meeting,due to the different financial situation,there are huge differences in the treatment of judicial personnel in different regions,resulting in uneven distribution of judicial resources.In order to be fair,it is urgent to unify the treatment of magistrates and improve the loss of judicial personnel.Representatives of the conference proposed to unify the salaries of magistrates and draw up the salary table of magistrates for discussion.Although the conference failed to form a unified approach,the proposal still laid the foundation for the unification of the salaries of magistrates and other officials later.In addition,the meeting also focused on the promotion and improvement of prisons,the recovery of consular jurisdiction is the most important source of power for the Republic of China government to carry out prison reform,faced with a large number of old prisons left by the late Qing Dynasty and the task of building new prisons,in the discussion of the meeting,the meeting representatives discussed the decision of both the rectification of old prisons and the promotion of new prisons.During the period of Republic of China,the judicial elite attempted to carry out the prison reform with a two-pronged complete plan,but its effect was greatly reduced due to practical reasons.However,some achievements were made in the prison improvement in the early period of the Republic of China.A number of new prisons were established,which changed the dark condition of the old prisons to a certain extent and promoted the slow transformation of China’s prison system to modern times.Compared with the first national judicial Conference in the first year of the Republic of China,the national judicial Conference held more of a pragmatic attitude towards judicial reform.It was precisely because the judicial circle was aware of the huge resistance faced by judicial reform,and no longer expected bold and resolute improvement methods,but adopted more stable ones.And even more "negative austerity" for positive judicial reform.This National judicial Conference is on the basis of absorbing the experience of the first National judicial Conference in the past,facing the dilemma of judicial improvement,China’s judicial circle actively seeks to improve another active attempt.