Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China
Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China
Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China
Order of the President [1991] No.44
April 9, 1991
(Adopted at the Fourth Session of the Seventh National People's Congress on April 9, 1991)
Contents
Part One General Provisions
Chapter I The Aim, Scope of Application and Basic Principles
Chapter II Jurisdiction
Section 1 Jurisdiction by Forum Level
Section 2 Territorial Jurisdiction
Section 3 Transfer and Designation of Jurisdiction
Chapter III Trial Organization
Chapter IV Withdrawal
Chapter V Participants in Proceedings
Section 1 Parties
Section 2 Agents ad Litem
Chapter VI Evidence
Chapter VII Time Periods and Service
Section 1 Time Periods
Section 2 Service
Chapter VIII Conciliation
Chapter IX Property Preservation and Advance Execution
Chapter X Compulsory Measures Against Obstruction of Civil Proceedings
Chapter XI Litigation Costs
Part Two Trial Procedure
Chapter XII Ordinary Procedure of First Instance
Section 1 Bringing a Lawsuit and Entertaining a Case
Section 2 Preparations for Trial
Section 3 Trial in Court
Section 4 Suspension and Termination of Litigation
Section 5 Judgment and Order
Chapter XIII Summary Procedure
Chapter XIV Procedure of Second Instance
Chapter XV Special Procedure
Section 1 General Provisions
Section 2 Cases Concerning the Qualification of Voters
Section 3 Cases Concerning the Declaration of a Person as Missing or Dead
Section 4 Cases Concerning the Adjudgment of Legal Incapacity or Restricted Legal Capacity of Citizens
Section 5 Cases Concerning the Determination of a Property as Ownerless
Chapter XVI Procedure for Trial Supervision
Chapter XVII Procedure for Hastening Debt Recovery
Chapter XVIII Procedure for Publicizing Public Notice for Assertion of Claims
Chapter XIX Procedure for Bankruptcy and Debt Repayment of Legal Person Enterprises
Part Three Procedure of Execution
Chapter XX General Provisions
Chapter XXI Application for Execution and Referral
Chapter XXII Execution Measures
Chapter XXIII Suspension and Termination of Execution
Part Four Special Provisions for Civil Procedure of Cases Involving Foreign Element
Chapter XXIV General Principles
Chapter XXV Jurisdiction
Chapter XXVI Service and Time Periods
Chapter XXVII Property Preservation
Chapter XXVIII Arbitration
Chapter XXIX Judicial Assistance
PART ONE GENERAL PROVISIONS
Chapter I The Aim, Scope of Application and Basic Principles
Article 1 The Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China is formulated on the basis of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and in the light of the experience and actual conditions of our country in the trial of civil cases.
Article 2 The Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China aims to protect the exercise of the litigation rights of the parties and ensure the ascertaining of facts by the people's courts, distinguish right from wrong, apply the law correctly, try civil cases promptly, affirm civil rights and obligations, impose sanctions for civil wrongs, protect the lawful rights and interests of the parties, educate citizens to voluntarily abide by the law, maintain the social and economic order, and guarantee the smooth progress of the socialist construction.
Article 3 In dealing with civil litigation arising from disputes on property and personal relations between citizens, legal persons or other organizations and between the three of them, the people's courts shall apply the provisions of this Law.
Article 4 Whoever engages in civil litigation within the territory of the People's Republic of China must abide by this Law.
Article 5 Aliens, stateless persons, foreign enterprises and organizations that bring suits or enter appearance in the people's courts shall have the same litigation rights and obligations as citizens, legal persons and other organizations of the People's Republic of China. If the courts of a foreign country impose restrictions on the civil litigation rights of the citizens, legal persons and other organizations of the People's Republic of China, the people's courts of the People's Republic of China shall follow the principle of reciprocity regarding the civil litigation rights of the citizens, enterprises and organizations of that foreign country.
Article 6 The people's courts shall exercise judicial powers with respect to civil cases. The people's courts shall try civil cases independently in accordance with the law, and shall be subject to no interference by any administrative organ, public organization or individual.
Article 7 In trying civil cases, the people's courts must base themselves on facts and take the law as the criterion.
Article 8 The parties in civil litigation shall have equal litigation rights. The people's courts shall, in conducting the trials, safeguard their rights, facilitate their exercising the rights, and apply the law equally to them.
Article 9 In trying civil cases, the people's courts shall conduct conciliation for the parties on a voluntary and lawful basis; if conciliation fails, judgments shall be rendered without delay.
Article 10 In trying civil cases, the people's courts shall, according to the provisions of the law, follow the systems of panel hearing, withdrawal, public trial and the court of second instance being that of last instance.
Article 11 Citizens of all nationalities shall have the right to use their native spoken and written languages in civil proceedings. Where minority nationalities live in aggregation in a community or where several nationalities live together in one area, the people's courts shall conduct hearings and issue legal documents in the spoken and written languages commonly used by the local nationalities. The people's courts shall provide translations for any participant in the proceedings who is not familiar with the spoken or written languages commonly used by the local nationalities.)>
Article 12 Parties to civil actions are entitled in the trials by the people's courts to argue for themselves.
Article 13 The parties are free to deal with their own civil rights and litigation rights the way they prefer within the scope provided by the law.
Article 14 The people's procuratorates shall have the right to exercise legal supervision over civil proceedings.
Article 15 Where an act has infringed upon the civil rights and interests of the State, a collective organization or an individual, any State organ, public organization, enterprise or institution may support the injured unit or individual to bring an action in a people's court.
Article 16 The people's conciliation committees shall be mass organizations to conduct conciliation of civil disputes under the guidance of the grass- roots level people's governments and the basic level people's courts. The people's conciliation committee shall conduct conciliation for the parties according to the Law and on a voluntary basis. The parties concerned shall carry out the settlement agreement reached through conciliation; those who decline conciliation or those for whom conciliation has failed or those who have backed out of the settlement agreement may institute legal proceedings in a people's court. If a people's conciliation committee, in conducting conciliation of civil disputes, acts contrary to the law, rectification shall be made by the people's court.
Article 17 The people's congresses of the national autonomous regions may formulate, in accordance with the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the principles of this Law, and in conjunction with the specific circumstances of the local nationalities, adaptive and supplementary provisions. Such provisions made by an autonomous region shall be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for approval; those made by an autonomous prefecture or autonomous county shall be submitted to the standing committee of the people's congress of the relevant province or autonomous region for approval and to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for the record.
Chapter II Jurisdiction
Section 1 Jurisdiction by Forum Level
Article 18 The basic people's courts shall have jurisdiction as courts of first instance over civil cases, unless otherwise provided in this Law.
Article 19 The intermediate people's courts shall have jurisdiction as courts of first instance over the following civil cases:
1. major cases involving foreign element;
2. cases that have major impact on the area under their jurisdiction;
3. cases as determined by the Supreme People's Court to be under the jurisdiction of the intermediate people's courts.)>
Article 21 The Supreme People's Court shall have jurisdiction as the court of first instance over the following civil cases:
1. cases that have major impact on the whole country;
2. cases that the Supreme People's Court deems it should try.
Section 2 Territorial Jurisdiction
Article 22 A civil lawsuit brought against a citizen shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place where the defendant has his domicile; if the place of the defendant's domicile is different from that of his habitual residence, the lawsuit shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place of his habitual residence. A civil lawsuit brought against a legal person or any other organization shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place where the defendant has his domicile. Where the domiciles or habitual residences of several defendants in the same lawsuit are in the areas under the jurisdiction of two or more people's courts, all of those people's courts shall have jurisdiction over the lawsuit.)>
Article 23 The civil lawsuits described below shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place where the plaintiff has his domicile; if the place of the plaintiff's domicile is different from that of his habitual residence, the lawsuit shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place of the plaintiff's habitual residence:
1. those concerning personal status brought against persons not residing within the territory of the People's Republic of China;
2. those concerning the personal status of persons whose whereabouts are unknown or who have been declared as missing;
3. those brought against persons who are undergoing rehabilitation through labour;
4. those brought against persons who are in imprisonment.)>
Article 30 A lawsuit brought on claims for damages caused by a railway, road, water transport or air accident shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place where the accident occurred or where the vehicle or ship first arrived after the accident or where the aircraft first landed after the accident, or where the defendant has his domicile.
Article 31 A lawsuit brought on claims for damages caused by a collision at sea or by any other maritime accident shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place where the collision occurred or where the ship in collision first docked after the accident or where the ship at fault was detained, or where the defendant has his domicile.
Article 32 A lawsuit instituted for expenses of maritime salvage shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place where the salvage took place or where the salvaged ship first docked after the disaster.
Article 33 A lawsuit brought for general average shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place where the ship first docked or where the adjustment of general average was conducted or where the voyage ended.
Article 34 The following cases shall be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the people's courts herein specified:
1. a lawsuit brought on a dispute over real estate shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place where the estate is located;
2. a lawsuit brought on a dispute over harbour operations shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place where the harbour is located;
3. a lawsuit brought on a dispute over succession shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place where the decedent had his domicile upon his death, or where the principal part of his estate is located.
Article 35 When two or more people's courts have jurisdiction over a lawsuit, the plaintiff may bring his lawsuit in one of these people's courts; if the plaintiff brings the lawsuit in two or more people's courts that have jurisdiction over the lawsuit, the people's court in which the case was first entertained shall have jurisdiction.
Section 3 Transfer and Designation of Jurisdiction
Article 36 If a people's court finds that a case it has entertained is not under its jurisdiction, it shall refer the case to the people's court that has jurisdiction over the case. The people's court to which a case has been referred shall entertain the case, and if it considers that, according to the relevant regulations, the case referred to it is not under its jurisdiction, it shall report to a superior people's court for the designation of jurisdiction and shall not independently refer the case again to another people's court.)>
Chapter III Trial Organization
Article 40 The people's court of first instance shall try civil cases by a collegial panel composed of both judges and judicial assessors or of judges alone. The collegial panel must have an odd number of members. Civil cases in which summary procedure is followed shall be tried by a single judge alone. When performing their duties, the judicial assessors shall have equal rights and obligations as the judges.
Article 41 The people's court of second instance shall try civil cases by a collegial panel of judges. The collegial panel must have an odd number of members. For the retrial of a remanded case, the people's court of first instance shall form a new collegial panel in accordance with the procedure of first instance. If a case for retrial was originally tried at first instance, a new collegial panel shall be formed according to the procedure of first instance; if the case was originally tried at second instance or was brought by a people's court at a higher level to it for trial, a new collegial panel shall be formed according to the procedure of second instance.
Article 42 The president of the court or the chief judge of a division of the court shall designate a judge to serve as the presiding judge of the collegial panel; if the president or the chief judge participates in the trial, he himself shall serve as the presiding judge.
Article 43 When deliberating a case, a collegial panel shall observe the rule of majority. The deliberations shall be recorded in writing, and the transcript shall be signed by the members of the collegial panel. Dissenting opinions in the deliberations must be truthfully entered in the transcript.
Article 44 The judicial officers shall deal with all cases impartially and in accordance with the law. The judicial officers shall not accept any treat or gift from the parties or their agents ad litem. Any judicial officer who commits embezzlement, accepts bribes, engages in malpractice for personal benefits or who perverts the law in passing judgment shall be investigated for legal responsibility; if the act constitutes a crime, the offender shall be investigated for criminal responsibility according to the law.
Chapter IV Withdrawal
Article 45 A judicial officer shall of himself withdraw from the case, and the parties thereto shall be entitled to apply orally or in writing for his withdrawal in any of the following circumstances:
1. he being a party to the case or a near relative of a party or an agent ad litem in the case;
2. he being an interested party in the case;
3. he having some other kind of relationship with a party to the case, which might affect the impartiality of the trial. The above provisions shall also apply to clerks, interpreters, expert witnesses and inspection personnel.
Article 46 In applying for the withdrawal, the party shall state the reason and submit the application at the beginning of the proceedings; the application may also be submitted before the closing of arguments in court if the reason for the withdrawal is known to him only after the proceedings begin. Pending a decision by the people's court regarding the withdrawal applied for, the judicial officer concerned shall temporarily suspend his participation in the proceedings, with the exception, however, of cases that require the taking of emergency measures.
Article 47 The withdrawal of the presiding judge who is president of the court shall be decided by the judicial committee; the withdrawal of judicial officers shall be decided by the court president; and the withdrawal of other personnel by the presiding judge.
Article 48 The decision of a people's court on an application made by any party for withdrawal shall be made orally or in writing within three days after the application was made. If the applicant is not satisfied with the decision, he may apply for reconsideration which could be granted only once. During the period of reconsideration, the person whose withdrawal has been applied for shall not suspend his participation in the proceedings. The decision of a people's court on the reconsideration shall be made within three days after receiving the application and the applicant shall be notified of it accordingly.
Chapter V Participants in Proceedings
Section 1 Parties Article
49 Any citizen, legal person and any other organization may become a party to a civil action.
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