Courts across the country handled an unprecedented number of cases last year, 10.71 million cases and up 11 percent over the previous year, with labor disputes showing the most dramatic rise of 94 percent, the top judge said yesterday.
The number of cases directly handled by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) was also up by about 30 percent to 10,553, SPC President Wang Shengjun told about 3,000 National People's Congress deputies while delivering a work report.
He said the economic downturn and the adoption of the new Labor Contract Law contributed to the rise. Labor dispute cases nearly doubled last year over 2007 to 286,221, and cases related to financial and real estate disputes, company share-holding reform, transfer of stock ownership, foreign-related and maritime disputes, were up 15.24 percent to about 1.14 million, according to the report.
He said courts this year will continue to focus on cases arising from the international financial crisis and domestic and external social and economic developments.
"We will cautiously handle such cases ... and promptly propose judicial suggestions to prevent or solve these problems," he said.
Wang said courts will intensify efforts to maintain social harmony and stability through strict law enforcement, while fine-tuning mechanisms for handling people's problems.
More attention will be paid to cases involving poisonous and harmful food and medicine and dereliction of duty leading to workplace accidents, he said.
In a separate report delivered to the NPC yesterday, Procurator-General Cao Jianming also promised to safeguard social harmony and stability.
Commercial bribery cases and crimes related to finance, securities and real estate, as well as job-related offenses in infrastructure construction and reconstruction of the earthquake-hit regions will receive special attention, he said.
Cao said law enforcement efforts improved last year; and good progress had been made in fighting corruption.
However, both Wang and Cao admitted that problems still exist. "Some judges are incapable of finding solutions while facing new situations or new problems," Wang said.
He said some judges don't have a strong sense of "serving the people" and sometime "turn a cold face" to people's needs.
Wang said some judicial staff take bribes while handling cases, causing severe damage to the system's reputation.
Han Deyun, a lawyer from Chongqing and also a NPC deputy, said the two reports, with detailed figures, reflect changes in the judiciary amid the current economic crisis.
"While the number of violent crimes decreased last year, economic crimes were on the rise. That reflects some new tendencies."
Source: China Daily
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