TNAG-1722-FCO40-2415-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Basic-Law-1988 — Page 43

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/1.

academics, specialists and practitioners average citizen is left in the dark even more.

to obtain copies. The

We believe that, because supreme judicial interpretation is the guiding opinion of the SPP and SPC in the application of criminal law, because of the demands of legal democracy and the need to mobilize society to fight crime and because of the need to publicize law,

raise legal consciousness and further legal education and research, ને principle of public availability should be implemented for supreme judicial interpretations.

The SPP and the SPC should put greater efforts into the work of compiling their previously promulgated interpretations. In recent years this work has been carried out in the form of internal ' publications which is of some assistance to criminal justice work. Nonetheless the basic work of compilation has yet to get underway. While carrying out the work of compilation in a more timely manner the SPP and SPC should also reorganize previous supreme judicial interpretations. Consequently supreme judicial interpretations would not only be understood and applied in સ more timely manner, but the inconsistencies between previous and current interpretations could be dealt with. In conclusion, supreme judicial interpretation would

'

be strengthened and developed by the reorganization of compilation work, the declaration of which interpretations have been rescinded or are no longer in effect, and the resolution and elimination of contradictions between interpretations.

There are three

aspects to the extreme

judicial interpretation of criminal

importance of the supreme

1. Supreme judicial interpretation is the bridge between the norms of the criminal

of justice. China's

law and the administration criminal laws are comparatively general in form including some which contain sweeping generalities. This is due in part to China's theory and technique of drafting legislation and in part to China's lack of experience in criminal legislation. The interpretation of law by the SPP and SPC is the process in which the original intent of legislation is clarified and rendered specific so that it applied to individual legal cases.

may be

2. Supreme judicial interpretation is also the coordinating

mechanism of the national administration of justice. In China there are many regions and nationalities with political, economic and social differences. The country also suffers from deficiencies in legal consciousness and awareness among criminal justice organs and personnel, as well as ambiguous criminal legislation. Consequently, when similar cases are dealt with in different localities priority is rarely given to consistency, sometimes resulting in extreme

differences. The supreme judicial interpretation of criminal therefore an important means of coordinating national casework.

law is