13
to
original intent of legislation. Legislative interpretation then appears be the same a5 legislation, except that the formalities of promulgation are more complex for legislation. However, one possible distinction is that legislative interpretation is completely binding on the administrative commissions, ministries and bureaus of the State Council, whereas judicial interpretation is not.
There are indications that the N.P.C. Standing Committee is preparing to make greater efforts to fulfil1 its responsibility to supervise the legal system. In particular the Standing Committee will supervise the implementation of laws and the handling of cases to determine whether the constitution has been violated.
"
5. Unfortunately this article does little to clarify the distinction between judicial and administrative interpretation. The authors give the example in part I of the Ministry of Public Security's qualified acknowledgement of the exclusive powers of interpretation of criminal st? law. However they do explain what the limits on the effectiveness of judicial interpretation in the administrative sphere are. The 1981 Standing Committee of the N.P.C. "Resolution Concerning the Strengthening of Legal Interpretive Work" grants the State Council and its departments (including the Ministry of Public Security) the power to interpret law in the application of a particular statute in specific situations other than in the course of judicial or procuratorial work. On its face 1981 resolution appears to give some support to resistance by the Ministry of Public Security to complete acceptance of SPP and SPC interpretations of law.
There is also nothing to clarify the question of whether or not the courts are bound by a prior administrative interpretations of law made in the course of purely administrative work. As you may recall the SPC informed the study group that they are not bound by such interpretations and the Legislative Bureau of the State Council stated that the courts were bound. The 1991 resolution provides that any conflicts of interpretation between the SPP and the SPC are to be resolved by the N.P.C. Standing Committee. However there is no mention of how conflicts between judicial and administrative interpretation are to be resolved.
6. The article offers no hinte as to the specific role of the Communist Party in the interpretation of law. Apart from the general secrecy of this subject, one difficulty in describing the party's role may lie in the lack of an organized, systematic relationship between the government and the party. In recent private
a
conversation a Chinese diplomat commented that while the Political Legal Committee of the party certainly is extremely influential in legal matters he doubted the existence of any set procedures for its involvement.
7. The authors comment that very few interpretations of law are included in the "Supreme Court Gazette" i5 not unexpected, but
disheartening nonetheless.
only have a negative effect
As the article points out this secrecy can on the reliability of Chinese legal texts.
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