Integrating socialist core values into court judgments | Supreme People's Court Monitor

Integrating socialist core values into court judgments | Supreme People's Court Monitor

By Susan Finder (Peking University Transnational School of Law - Shenzhen)

The background for the SCV Guiding Opinion is that it is part of what is required by the Party Center to integrate socialist core values into the legal system and to promote their use in national governance.  This has been a theme in writings of Xi Jinping about the law, the Party  Plan on Building the Rule of Law in China (2020–2025), previous Party documents, and related SPC documents.  Some of those background documents are listed in a later section of this blogpost.

Article 1 provides that the underlying principles of the SCV Guiding Opinion are:

1. a fusion of law and morality, which is linked to their fusion in traditional legal thought ( 法治与德治相结合); 
2. people-oriented (以人民为中心), meaning that judgments should be clear to ordinary people and serve the purpose of educating them; and
3. the organic unity of legal, political, and social effectiveness (政治效果、法律效果和社会效果有机统一 ), because by strengthening the guiding role of socialist core values it will enhance the legal, social, and rational recognition of judicial judgment.

The summary below highlights some of the principal points for Chinese judges.

Article 4 specified the types of judgments in which the use of socialist core values should be increased:

1.  Cases involving national interests, major public interest, and widespread public concern;
2. Cases involving epidemic prevention and control, emergency rescue and disaster relief, protection of heroes, brave actions for righteousness, legitimate defense,  and other such cases may trigger social moral evaluation;
3. Cases involving the protection of vulnerable groups such as the elderly, women, children, and the disabled, as well as groups that have major disputes and may cause widespread concern in the society;
4.  Cases involving public order and good customs, customs, equality of rights, ethnic religions, etc., where the parties to the litigation have major disputes and may cause widespread concern in the society;
5. Cases involving new situations and new issues that require in-depth interpretation of legal provisions, judicial policies, etc., to guide social trends and establish value orientation;
6. Other analogous cases.

What this means is that in cases where there is a great deal of public concern, judges should seek to use socialist core values.  Some of these, especially with national interest, major public interest, types of cases that attract Party leadership attention, or wide public concern are likely to be those in which the higher levels of the courts, or local political-legal commissions provide their views.