This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government. T
CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[F 4841/398/10]
RE
- 1 JUN 1927
COL. OFFICE
No. 1.
[May 21, 192
SECTION 2.
192k, 20)
118
Mr. Teichman to Sir Austen Chamberlain.--(Received May 21.)
MR. E. TEICHMAN presents his compliments to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and has the honour to transmit herewith copy of a despatch addressed to His Majesty's Minister at Peking on the subject of an interview with the Minister of Justice of the Nationalist Government.
Hankow, March 27, 1927.
Enclosure in No. 1.
(No. 30.) Sir,
Mr. Teichman to Sir M. Lampson.
Hankow, March 28, 1927.
I HAVE the honour to report that a week ago I met Mr. Hsü Chien, the Minister of Justice of the Nationalist Government, and took the opportunity to make some enquiries about the courts and the judicial system in the regions under the control of that Government.
2. Mr. Hsü has had a remarkable career. A native of Anhui, he was a scholar of the old régime, and, having been connected with the law from his early days, he held posts of some importance in the Chinese judicial service under the Empire. After the revolution of 1911 he played a prominent part in Republican politics, and was twice Vice-Minister of Justice, the second time under Li Yuan-hung's presidency in Peking. Always a revolutionary and an admirer and follower of the late Dr. Sun Yat-sen, he attached himself to the latter at Canton during the later years of the republic and drifted with his chief more and more to the left until they finished up in the arms of the Russians, with the results which are now common knowledge throughout the world. Although he is not, I am told, a member of the Chinese Communist party, he appears to rank amongst the most extreme of the left wing of the Kuo Min-tang and gives one the impression of being somewhat of a political fanatic. If I remember rightly he was amongst the individuals proscribed as dangerous Communists by Tuan Ch'i-jui after the shooting of the students in Peking following on the Taku affair in March, 1926, when he made good his escape to Russia.
3. I enquired of Mr. Hsü whether he could tell me something about the judicial system of the Nationalist Government, e.g., whether the existing Chinese codes and procedure and courts had been adopted in their entirety by the Nationalist Govern- ment. Mr. Hsü replied that the laws in use were substantially the same in bulk, but that there were some important modifications of detail, and that the work of codification and revision was now in progress. There were also certain new codes, such as that governing counter-revolutionary offences. In answer to my further enquiries Mr. Hsü gave me, in the course of conversation, the following additional information.
4. The law courts (termed simply Fa T'ing, i.e., law court) themselves were not entirely the same as the Shen P'an Ting of Republican China. For one thing the arrangements in regard to the procurates (which under the system as we know it are attached to all the Shen P'an Ting) were different. Other alterations aimed at greater simplicity of procedure and the elimination of delay in litigation, the latter being notorious under the old system. Then there were the Peoples Courts, in which one of the two judges was chosen by popular election. These Peoples Courts (which I suspect to have some connection with the labour unions) had jurisdiction in civil cases up to a certain amount and in criminal cases could impose sentences up to a year's imprisonment. Means were provided, in the interests of popular justice, for direct appeals from the lower courts to the Supreme Court. Many of the original judges remained, but, as Mr. Hsü was careful to explain, they were being reappointed to new posts and not being retained in their original offices. In conclusion, I enquired what
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