Responsive justice in China during Transitional Times: revisiting the juggling path between Adjudicatory and Mediatory Justice

Abstract

China has been discussed in international literatures as a transitional state in social and economic sense. Literatures are however scant in analyzing how China’s justice system responds to the country’s social and economic transitions. This Article studies the international “transitional justice” framework, which examines justice system in economic, societal, and political transitions in post‐Communism Central and East European (CEE) jurisdictions. Although China is not a transition state in political sense, the transitional justice studies, particularly the analyses on how successor regimes in CEE countries deal with the aftermath of economic restructuring and societal reparations through justice system, is of relevance to Chinese ongoing judicial reform and its future development. By comparing judicial situations in China to the CEE countries during transitional times, this Article attempts to analyze China’s distinctive justice response to her massive economic and societal transformation, so as to conceptualize “responsive justice” in China during transitional times.