Order of the President of the People's Republic of China

No. 27

The Judges Law of the People's Republic of China, adopted at the Second 19th Meeting of the Thirteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on April 23, 2019, is hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of October 1, 2019.   

Xi Jinping

President of the People's Republic of China

April 23, 2019

Judges Law of the People's Republic of China

(Adopted at the 12th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on February 28, 1995, amended for the first time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Judges Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 22 Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress on June 30, 2001, amended for the second time in accordance with the Decision on Amending Eight Laws Including the Judges Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 29th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on September 1, 2017, and amended at the 10th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on April 23, 2019)

Contents

Chapter I  General Provisions

Chapter II  Duties, Obligations, and Rights

Chapter III  Requirements and Selection 

Chapter IV  Appointment and Removal

Chapter V  Management

Chapter VI  Appraisal, Awards, and Disciplinary Actions

Chapter VII  Professional Guarantee 

Chapter VIII  Supplementary Provisions 

Chapter I

General Provisions

Article 1: This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution to advance the cultivation of high-caliber judges, strengthen the management and supervision over them; safeguard their legitimate rights and interests; ensure that people's courts independently exercise their judicial power in accordance with the law and that judges legally perform their functions and duties, and safeguard justice. 

Article 2: Judges refer to members of the judiciary who exercise state judicial power in accordance with the law, including the presidents, vice presidents, adjudication committee members, and chief judges and associate chief judges of court divisions, and the judges of the Supreme People's Court, all local people's courts, and special people's courts such as military courts.

Article 3: Judges shall observe the Constitution and laws, safeguard social fairness and justice and be devoted to serving the people.

Article 4: Judges shall treat the parties and other participants in the proceedings fairly, and be equal in the application of the law to all individuals and organizations.

Article 5: Judges shall stay diligent, honest, and clean, and live by professional ethics.

Article 6: Judges shall perform their duties objectively and impartially on the basis of facts and law.

Article 7: Judges shall be protected by law, and brook no interference from administrative bodies, social groups or individuals when performing their duties in accordance with the law.

Chapter II

Duties, Obligations, and Rights

Article 8: Duties:

(1) To participate in collegiate panels or act as the sole judge to try criminal, civil, administrative, or State compensation cases, or other cases in accordance with the law;

(2) To handle extradition, judicial assistance or other cases in accordance with the law; and 

(3) To perform other duties provided for by law.

Judges shall be accountable for the cases they handled within the scope of their authority.

Article 9: The presidents, vice presidents and adjudication committee members of people's court, chief judges and associate chief judges of court divisions, shall, in addition to performing their duties as judges, also perform the duties appropriate to their positions.

Article 10: Judges have the following duties:

(1) To strictly observe the Constitution and laws;

(2) To handle cases impartially and not to bend the law for personal gain;

(3) To protect the procedural rights of the parties involved and other participants in the proceedings in accordance with the law;

(4) To safeguard the interests of the State and the public, and the lawful rights and interests of individuals and organizations; 

(5) To protect State and judicial secrets as well as the trade secrets and personal private information learned of in the performance of duties; 

(6) To accept legal and public oversight in accordance with the law; 

(7) To raise public awareness of the rule of law and promote a rule-of-law society by handling cases in accordance with the law and interpreting the laws involved in cases; and

(8) To perform other duties provided by law. 

Article 11: Judges shall enjoy the following rights: 

(1) To have the power and working conditions essential to the performance of their duties; 

(2) Not to be transferred, removed, demoted, dismissed, or sanctioned without legally recognized causes or without going through statutory procedures;

(3) To enjoy professional guarantee, welfare and benefits from the performance of duties; 

(4) To enjoy personal safety and safety of the property and residence as ensured by law; 

(5) To lodge petitions or complaints; and

(6) To enjoy other rights provided by law.

Chapter III

Requirements and Selection

Article 12: Judges shall meet the following requirements: 

(1) Having the nationality of the People's Republic of China; 

(2) Upholding the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and the socialist system; 

(3) Having political integrity, professional competence, and decent ethics; 

(4) Being physically fit to perform their duties; 

(5) Having an undergraduate diploma in law and a Bachelor of Laws or a higher degree in law from a college or university; having an undergraduate diploma or above in non-law specialties from a college or university as well as having received master's degree in law or jurisprudence or above; or having an undergraduate diploma or above in non-law specialties from a college or university as well as having an relevant degree and professional knowledge of law;

(6) Having engaged in legal work for five years. Of these, the number of years engaging in legal work may be shortened to four or three years respectively for those who have obtained a masters in law or jurisprudence, or obtained an LL.D; and

(7) Judges serving their first post shall have passed the national uniform legal professional qualification examination and obtained the legal professional credentials.

In areas where there are real difficulties for the academic requirements specified in Subparagraph (5) of the preceding paragraph to be met, upon review and confirmation by the Supreme People's Court, the academic requirements for judges may be relaxed for a period of time to include bachelor's degrees from universities.

Article 13: The following persons shall not serve as judges:

(1) Those who have been subjected to criminal punishment for committing a crime; 

(2) Those who have been discharged from public office; 

(3) Those whose certificates for practice as a lawyer or notary public have been revoked, or have been removed from an arbitration commission; and 

(4) Those with other circumstances provided for by law.

Article 14: New judges are selected by means of both tests and evaluations and in accordance with the criteria of both ability and integrity, and from those with the qualifications for becoming judges. 

Presidents of people's courts shall possess legal knowledge and legal practice experience. Vice presidents and adjudication committee members shall be selected from among judges, procurators, or others with qualifications to be judges. 

Article 15: As necessary for adjudicative work, people's courts may openly select judges from the legal professionals, such as lawyers, and educators and researchers of law.

In addition to having the qualifications for serving as judges, lawyers participating in the aforementioned open selection shall have at least five years in actual practice, have rich practice experience, and have a good reputation; educators and researchers of law participating in the open selection shall have an intermediate-level professional title or higher and have been engaged in teaching or research for at least five years, with outstanding capacity for research and corresponding research accomplishments.

Article 16: Provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government shall establish judge selection committees, responsible for reviewing the professional competence of new judge candidates.

Members of a provincial-level judge selection committee shall include judges of local people's courts at all levels, other members of the legal profession, and representatives of relevant parties, of whom not less than one third shall be judges. 

The routine work of a provincial-level judge selection committee shall be undertaken by an office established within the provincial-level people's court.

A Supreme People's Court Judge Selection Committee shall be established for the selection of Supreme People's Court judges, responsible for reviewing the professional competence of the judge candidates.

Article 17: New judges shall generally serve in the primary-level people's court. Judges of a people's court at a higher level shall usually be selected from the people's courts at the next lower level. Judges of the Supreme People's Court and a higher people's court may be selected from the people's courts at the next two lower levels. Judges participating in the judge selection of higher-level people's courts shall have served a number of years in the lower-level people's court, and have work experience corresponding to the new post.

Chapter IV

Appointment and Removal

Article 18: The appointment and removal of judges shall be handled in accordance with the scope of appointment and removal authority and procedures provided for by the Constitution and laws.

The President of the Supreme People's Court shall be elected or removed by the National People's Congress; its vice presidents, adjudication committee members, and the chief judges and associate chief judges of its court divisions shall be appointed or removed by request of the President to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

The presiding presidents and vice presiding presidents of the circuit courts of the Supreme People's Court shall be appointed or removed by request of the president to the standing committee of the people's congress at that level.

The presidents of each level of local people's courts shall be elected or removed by the people's congress at the same level, and the vice presidents, adjudication committee members, and the chief judges and associate chief judges of their court divisions shall be appointed or removed by request of the presidents to the standing committee of the people's congress at that level.

The president of an intermediate people's court established in a province by region  or in an autonomous region or a municipality directly under the central government shall be appointed or removed by the standing committee of the people's congress of the province, autonomous region or municipalities directly under the central government upon nomination by the chairman's council of the said people's congress, and the vice presidents, adjudication committee members, chief judges and associate chief judges  of its court divisions shall be appointed or removed by request of the president of the higher people's court to the standing committee of the people's congress of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the central government.

The presidents, vice presidents, adjudication committee members, chief judges and associate chief judges of court divisions, and judges, of the people's courts of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and specialized people's courts at all levels shall be appointed and removed in accordance with relevant provisions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Article 19: After judges are selected in accordance with the statutory procedure, they shall take a constitutional oath publicly when taking office.

Article 20: Where a judge has any of the following circumstances, a proposal shall be made to request his removal from the judge's post in accordance with the law:

(1) Where he has forfeited the nationality of the People's Republic of China;

(2) Where he has been transferred out of the people's court where he held a position;

(3) Where changes in his position does not require him to retain the position of judge, or he personally requests to be removed from a position as judge and it is approved;

(4) Where he is evaluated as unable to successfully serve as a judge;

(5) Where he cannot perform his duties for a long time due to illness;

(6) Where he retires;

(7) Where he resigns or should be discharged in accordance with the law; or

(8) Where he is unsuited to hold office due to a violation of disciplinary standards or laws.

Article 21: Where a judge is found to have been appointed in violation of the conditions provided by this Law, the organ that appointed him shall revoke the appointment. Where the people's court at a higher level finds that the appointment of a judge of the people's court at a lower level violates the conditions provided by this Law, it shall require the people's court at the lower level to submit a request to the appointing organ for revoking the appointment in accordance with the law.

Article 22: Judges shall not concurrently serve as members of the standing committees of people's congresses, hold posts in administrative, supervisory or adjudicative organs, enterprises, or other for-profit organizations or public institutions, or serve as lawyers, arbitrators, or notaries public. 

Article 23: Judges who are connected by husband-wife relationship, lineal consanguinity, collateral consanguinity within three generations, or close affinity, shall not assume the following posts at the same time:

(1) The president, vice presidents, adjudication committee members, or chief judges or associate chief judges of court divisions, at the same people's court; 

(2) The president, vice presidents, or judges at the same people's court; 

(3) The presiding president, vice presiding presidents, or judges at the same court division; or 

(4) The president or vice presidents of people's courts at the levels next to each other.

Article 24: Where a judge's spouse, parent or child falls under any of the following circumstances, he or she shall recuse himself or herself: 

(1) Serving as a partner or founder of a law firm within the jurisdiction of the people's court at which the judge works; or

(2) Serving as an agent ad litem or defender in the capacity of a lawyer, or providing other paid legal services to parties in a lawsuit, within the jurisdiction of the people's court at which the judge works.