[ { "id": 209465, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1982", "page_number": 122, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "100 \n\nW. ALLYN RICKETT \n\nat the operations level consisted almost entirely of hastily trained students or political cadres, amateur in approach and guerrilla in methods of work. Thus, while the Chinese Communists may have had some intellectual appreciation of the need for formal laws and institutions, the slightest excuse in the name of survival was sufficient for a reversion to revolutionary expediency.3 Moreover, Mao Zedong himself, with his hatred for bureaucratization and emphasis on the mass line, was never willing to consider law any more than a mere tool of the revolution, to be used or rejected as changes in the political scene dictated.\n\nThe basic guidelines for the new China were set out in a series of Mao's speeches and writings involving his concept of \"New Democracy,\" culminating in his essay \"On the People's Democratic Dictatorship\" released on June 30, 1949 just before the founding of the new People's Republic. In this latter document in particular, Mao does not mince words; good people belonging to the four classes of the New Democracy (workers, peasants, petty bourgeoisie and national bourgeoisie) would be entitled to democratic rights, people belonging to the enemy classes (landlords and bureaucratic capitalists) would be subjected to repression and dictatorship.\n\nWhen Communist forces took over the country in 1948-49, local areas first came under military control commissions. In the cities these brought together \"conferences of all circles\" which formed people's governments beginning at the local level and then expanding upwards. In the countryside peasant associations formed the basic units which were to conduct land reform and form the bases for local governments. As local people's governments developed, powers were increasingly turned over to them by the military control commissions. However, the military control commissions retained power in all cases affecting security through their public security forces. The military control commissions also continued to maintain military tribunals in some areas for trying counter-revolutionary cases as late as 1954. People's Courts were formed immediately following 1949, largely in accordance with the demands of the situation and types of personnel available. In Shanghai, for example, a new People's Court was constituted by giving some 200 former judicial personnel and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209467, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1982", "page_number": 124, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "102\n\nW. ALLYN RICKETT\n\nJudicial Conference was held for the primary purpose of regulating local courts and local court-affiliated organizations such as neighbourhood mediation and factory-based comrade adjudication committees.\n\nBy the end of 1953, the Chinese Communists announced that the period of reconstruction was coming to an end, the \"New Democratic\" phase of the revolution was complete, and it was time to start the building of socialism. In September 1954, a new constitution was promulgated which established a new government under a National People's Congress (NPC) and provided the basis for a judicial system, which in administering justice, was supposed to be independent, subject only to law. There was a standard list of rights for citizens including freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press. Although this did not prevent a repressive campaign against intellectuals and the arrest of the writer Hu Feng in 1955, in general the 1954 Constitution set the stage for what was to be the most constructive period for legal development in China during the first 30 years of the People's Republic. Provision was made for a Ministry of Justice responsible for the general administration of justice and the training of judicial cadres, and for a procuratorate which was to review recommendations from public security offices concerning the arrest of suspected criminals, and which would also prosecute cases before the court. The procuratorate was also charged with ensuring that the activities of government complied with the law, and investigating and prosecuting serious crimes committed by state officials. Malfeasance involving officials was also investigated by a Ministry of Supervision, an organ which was later eliminated. However, the investigation of Party members was the prerogative of Party control commissions.\n\n\"The Organic Law of the People's Courts,\" adopted by the NPC at the same time as the Constitution, spelled out in more detail some of the basic provisions of the Constitution, providing, for example, that in \"adjudicating cases the people's courts shall apply the law equally to all citizens irrespective of their nationality, race, sex, occupation, social origin, religious belief, educational standard, property status, and length of residence.\" It also stated that cases \"shall be heard in public unless otherwise provided for", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209468, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1982", "page_number": 125, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "103\n\nby law,\" and \"the accused shall have the right to defense.” This latter provision formed the basis for the establishment of legal advisory offices attached to courts and staffed by people's lawyers, who in addition to performing all sorts of advisory and mediative work, were also empowered to defend both civil and criminal defendants, including counter-revolutionaries, in court.\n\nWhat followed during the next three years until the late spring of 1957 seemed very promising at the time. Work was begun on a series of codes, legal education was greatly expanded, law journals began to appear which by late 1955 were discussing a wide range of topics with increasing frankness. For example, in 1955, the majority of the articles published in the most important of these journals, Zhengfa yanjiu, were of a simple informative or propaganda nature. The remainder were divided between articles on Soviet law, which were important in providing acceptable precedents supporting reform, and articles dealing with practical problems such as how to prepare documents, the meaning of legal terms, investigative procedures, and questions involving the marriage law and inheritance. While none of these articles were particularly controversial in nature, they did indicate a move toward professionalism. By 1956 and through the first half of 1957, however, many articles began dealing with such highly sensitive issues as what constitutes evidence, particularly the place of confessions, the proper attitude of the court toward the defendant (one writer even called for presumption of innocence), the use of analogy, the need for Party and state organizations and functionaries to obey the law, and various problems of procedure.\n\nIn spite of the increasing demand for professionalism in judicial work and liberalization of the legal system, none of these articles faced up to the basic problem of Party control over the courts. This had to await the revitalized \"Hundred Flowers Movement\" in the late spring of 1957. Following Mao's February speech, \"On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People,\" the Party Central Committee urged non-Communists to voice their criticisms of Party work in order to assist the Committee in eradicating the three evils of bureaucratism, subjectivism, and sectarianism. In late May the Chinese Political Science and Law Association organized a series of forums for the stated purpose of giving the judicial circles in Beijing an opportunity", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209475, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1982", "page_number": 132, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "110\n\nW. ALLYN RICKETT\n\nadvisory offices were established in most cities throughout the country. The year 1979 also witnessed the beginnings of a major nationwide campaign to publicize the new laws and explain the rights and obligations of citizens contained therein. An impressive number of legal publications have appeared, including an increasing number of law journals. Numerous delegations of Chinese lawyers have visited abroad, and a number of Chinese students have been sent abroad to study Western law.\n\nThe new system, with some minor changes, harks back to that instituted in 1954. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the general administration of justice and the training of judicial cadres. The court system is composed of the Supreme People's Court, Higher People's Courts, Intermediate People's Courts, and Basic People's Courts. There are also special courts: military, railway transport, water transport, forestry, as well as special branch courts dealing with economic affairs. There is a two-trial (one appeal) system, and trials are open unless they involve state secrets, matters of personal shame such as rape, or juveniles. As in the 1950s, judges, except in minor civil and criminal cases or where otherwise specified by law, are assisted by elected lay assessors, who are members of the trial court and enjoy equal rights with its judges when the judges perform their duties in court. Court presidents are elected by people's congresses at various levels while judges are appointed by the standing committees of these congresses. Courts are no longer accountable to local governments, but only to the people's congress of their constituency. The Supreme Court has been given an expanded role over its 1954 predecessor. While only the Standing Committee of the NPC has the authority to interpret the Constitution and other laws, the Supreme Court can give explanations on questions concerning the specific application of laws and decrees in judicial procedure. It also must rule on all death sentences.12\n\nThe right of defense is spelled out in the Criminal Code of Procedure, which provides that the accused may either defend himself or request the assistance of a relative or guardian, a member of his unit, people's organization, or other citizens approved by the court, or a lawyer. Lawyers function under provisions contained in Articles 28 and 29 of the Criminal Code of Procedure and \"The Provisional Regulations Governing the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212429, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 371, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "348\n\nthe police, the courts and the judiciary, and correctional services. Among the topics examined are armed robbery, drug abuse, vice, commercial crime, illegal immigration, and smuggling.\n\nWacks, Raymond, editor, HUMAN RIGHTS IN HONG KONG, Hong Kong, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. xxiii + 542 pp. Index. In this important work fourteen scholars at the University of Hong Kong examine the future of human rights in Hong Kong in the context of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which comes into effect on 1 July 1997, the Bill of Rights, enacted in Hong Kong in June 1991, and international conventions and statutes that guarantee human rights. The editor is Professor of Law and Head of the Department of Law at the University of Hong Kong.\n\nWolf, Margery, THRICE TOLD TALE: FEMINISM, POSTMODERNISM AND ETHNOGRAPHIC RESPONSIBILITY, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992. 153 pp. Bibliography. Index. Even for the non-specialists who are not concerned with scholarly arguments over research methods and terminology, the tales Professor Wolf tells are fascinating.\n\nPang Pang, THE DEATH OF HU YAOBANG, translated from the Chinese by Si Ren, paperback. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Center for Chinese Studies, 1989. viii + 74pp. The book was written immediately after the death of Hu Yaobang on 15 April 1989, before the events of June that year. It is an account of Hu's last days in the Beijing Hospital, juxtaposed with revealing interviews with people closest to Hu. Very good easy reading.\n\nPeters, Emrys L., THE BEDOUIN OF CYRENAICA: STUDIES IN PERSONAL AND CORPORATE POWER. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Emrys L. Peters articles, edited by Jack Goody and Emanuel Marx, for the interested reader and anthropological students.\n\nRoberts, Priscilla (editor), SINO-AMERICAN RELATIONS SINCE 1900, Hong Kong: Centre of Asian Studies, 1991. iv + 563 pp. This important volume on Sino-American relations in the 20th century consists of papers presented at an international conference held at the University of Hong Kong in January 1990. There are more than 30 papers presented in Chinese and English. The Chinese papers", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213002, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1993", "page_number": 70, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "49\n\nThese two questions, however, could not be directed to the figures in Columns 3 and 4. Despite larger counts are found in Column 3, the percentages of each level are quite similar. That is, for sentences depicting basic factors of face of other countries, people, athletes other than those of China, the proportions of these sentences against the levels they portray do not make much difference be they enhancing or threatening face.\n\nFigures on the low percentage also reflect the same picture. Sentences which have themes of enhancing China take on a much more collective character. At the second level, the delegation in general, 74.7% are enhancing China whereas only 9.1% are threatening to China, showing that the former is more than nine times of the latter. But in Columns 3 and 4, the figures are 12.6% versus 3.5%, representing a much diminished fraction of less than four times. The next cross-tabulation between the level of other's reactions and face situations (Table 1) present even stronger evidence of this collective character in the enhancing China sentences.\n\nIn Column 1, other's reactions to Chinese delegation take up a larger proportion to that at individual level (44.0% to 43.3%). But in the other three columns, the largest proportions are still found in the first row and take up majorities in respective columns. Other's reactions which are enhancing to China amount to 8.8% for the three collective levels. However, the figure is nil in the second column. For people of other countries, other's reaction to them are quite unfavourable. Only 3% of the enhancing ones are directed to the people, while 18.2% of the threatening ones are found in this row. This seems to give further proof of the observations made in Table 10.\n\nTable 11. Cross-Tabulation of Level of Others' Reaction by Theme\n\n \n Count\n Col %\n Face Situations (Theme)\n \n \n \n \n Enhancing China\n Others\n Threatening China\n Enhancing Others\n Threatening Others\n Total\n \n \n Athletes\n 202\n 6\n 36\n 6\n 250\n \n \n Row %\n 80.8%\n 2.4%\n 14.4%\n 2.4%\n \n \n \n Col %\n 43.3%\n 75.0%\n 54.5%\n 54.5%\n \n \n \n Delegation\n 205\n 2\n 3\n 0\n 210\n \n \n Row %\n 97.6%\n 1.0%\n 1.4%\n 0%\n \n \n \n Col %\n 44.0%\n 25.0%\n 4.5%\n 0%\n \n \n \n Row %\n \n \n 38.1%", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 } ]