This is the first book in English on judicial independence in China. This may not seem surprising given China remains an effectivelysingle-party socialist authoritarian state, the widely reported prosecutions of political dissidents and the conventional wisdom that China has never had independent courts.

This brief adopts a neo-institutional approach to derive some generalizations about how China’s policies are enforced, why enforcement remains such a problem, and what foreign firms can do to meet the challenges provided by China’s enforcement regime.

In particular, the brief draws on the protection of intellectual property rights to illustrate the following.

Courts in China today often act like legislative bodies, making law by issuing interpretations of laws that are binding on the courts. The general trend in China has been towards more transparency and greater public participation in legislative law-making and administrative rulemaking processes. In contrast, the judicial interpretation process is less transparent, with significantly less room for public participation.

Constitutional disputes are unique among social disputes, given that the constitutionality or legality of laws (acts) and government actions is contested, and to solve them requires particular institutions and procedures.