Event

How to understand the operation of Chinese courts and legal systems more generally after Xi Jinping took power and thoroughly reformed its judiciary? Different from the existing theories on Chinese law, this book presents a governance model. The courts have two overarching characteristics under this model: supporting the state's goals of policy implementation and legitimacy enhancement. The various policies that the courts are tasked with implementing and the approaches the courts use for enhancing the judiciary's legitimacy—and by extension, that of the state—have played key roles in the courts' evolution. The model sheds light on the rationales that have underlain the changes in the system over time.

Xin He is a professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong. He obtained his LL.B. from Peking University, China, and his J.S.D. degrees from Stanford University. His monograph Embedded Courts: Judicial Decision Making in China with Kwai Ng (Cambridge University Press 2017) won multiple book awards. His most recent book is Divorce in China: Institutional Constraints and Gendered Outcomes (NYU Press, 2021). His research interests include Law and Society and Chinese Legal Systems.

Open to all, informal lunch provided. This event is held onsite with a Zoom session. Please register below for Zoom access:

https://upenn.zoom.us/meeting/register/h0E30n9OQDSjrqB8-hKUNA