Zhou Hongjun
I. Introduction
As a junior majoring in law, I learned some basic knowledge about law at school. The study of legal theory knowledge makes me have a strong curiosity and desire to explore legal practice.
In order to "participate in practice and test learning", I decided to be an intern in the court this summer vacation. From July 2, 2005 to August 26, 2005, when I had the opportunity to practice in Zhanjiang Intermediate People's Court or Zhanjiang Development Zone People's Court, which was envied by other students, I chose to practice in Leizhou People's Court near my home. This is not only because I am close to home, but most importantly, the internship in Leizhou People's Court not only gives me a chance to understand the relevant work of the grassroots people's courts, but also allows me to know more about my hometown from the relevant information of various local cases and the legal awareness and legal level of local people in legal practice.
In my opinion, the data of the number of various civil disputes accepted by the people's courts in a region and its proportion in civil cases can often best reflect the economic development and people's legal awareness in that region. Before starting my internship, I made a survey in the research room and political engineering department of the hospital, and learned that the number of civil cases accepted by the hospital at present is mostly divorce disputes, traffic accident damage compensation disputes, rural land contract disputes and so on. These cases were tried by the first court of civil trial of the hospital (hereinafter referred to as the first court of the people's Republic of China). To this end, I specially requested to go to the People's First Court for this internship.
At this point, my internship in the First People's Court is over. Although more than a month is a short time, I often attend court trials, pay attention to the opinions and methods of judges in handling various cases, and listen carefully to the guidance and instructions of judges. With the enthusiastic help and guidance of the court staff, especially the judges, I basically achieved the original internship goal of "putting myself into practice and testing my study". The following are only my personal experiences and opinions during my internship in Leizhou People's Court (hereinafter referred to as the court).
Second, the judge: the coordination of principle and flexibility, legal publicity and legal interpretation throughout the trial.
On Thursday, July 2, 2005, Kloc-0, I came to Leizhou People's Court in the morning, and found that President Chen Guangqing of the First People's Court (hereinafter referred to as President Chen) and another student who went to the court as a trainee at the same time were led by an aunt of the Political Department. Dean Chen is very easygoing and enthusiastically accepted our internship in the court. This is the first time I met Dean Chen, which impressed me deeply-he has the unique seriousness of a judge, but there is no lack of easygoing and humor.
At that time, there happened to be President Chen as the presiding judge, and two other judges were sitting in the collegial panel of the Fifth Court to hear the case. Therefore, my internship in the People's First Court began by sitting in on the trial of this case. This audit is the beginning of my internship and my first personal experience of the trial work of the people's court. Deeply touched, I would like to elaborate here and talk about some personal experiences and opinions.
This trial is a rural land contract dispute case between a village and a contractor in Kelu Town, Leizhou City. When I walked into the Fifth Court, the trial was about to begin. The representative of the contractor and the entrusted agent have been seated in the corresponding seats, but the defendant's seat is empty. Only a few interns who arrived a few days earlier than me sat in the gallery below.
More than half an hour has passed since the trial, and the defendant has not yet appeared in court. Due to the time, the collegial panel decided to try the case by default according to the relevant provisions of China's Civil Procedure Law and relevant laws and regulations. ...
No sooner had the plaintiff finished the prosecution statement than seven or eight villagers walked into the court and sat in the gallery. Upon inquiry by the judge, it was confirmed that they were villagers in a village of the defendant, and it was learned that their village chief was on his way. Considering the particularity of grassroots work, in order to find out the facts of the case and protect the legitimate rights and interests of both parties, the presiding judge decided to suspend the court investigation and wait for the legal representative of the defendant village, that is, the village head.
A few minutes later, the village chief finally came. We are relieved that the trial can finally go on as usual. However, in the process of evidence cross-examination, it was found that the village head was actually illiterate and did not entrust an agent ad litem, which made it impossible to conduct cross-examination activities involving a large number of written evidence. Finally, with the advice and permission of the presiding judge, on the premise of returning the power of attorney after the court session, he temporarily hired the former village head and a villager who had been a teacher as his litigation agents to assist him in this litigation activity.
During the trial, the villagers in the gallery made loud noises about some controversial things from time to time, and refused to listen after being admonished by the collegiate bench. Because there is no court police, the trial is going on intermittently in this environment. But obviously, judges have long been accustomed to hearing cases in this environment. They carefully guide and listen to the statements, arguments and debates of both sides, just like hearing a case in a quiet court.
The legal level of the legal representative of the defendant and his agent ad litem is very limited. In order to let them know and understand the provisions of relevant laws and regulations during the trial and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the parties to the maximum extent, President Chen has to give them corresponding legal publicity and legal explanations from time to time during the trial, and sometimes he can explain the law clearly.
In the stage of court investigation and court debate, the judges listened carefully to the facts of the case and the reasons and basis of their claims provided by both the original and the defendant. However, at the end of the court debate, the plaintiffs pointed out that due to objective reasons, they could not investigate and collect some facts of the case by themselves and applied to the court for ex officio investigation and evidence collection. The plaintiff's application was legal and reasonable, and the collegial panel recognized their application. After investigation and evidence collection by the court, it was decided to adjourn the court and resume the trial of this case.
After the recess, due to the inability to correctly understand some legal issues, the villagers present talked endlessly. At this time, President Chen took the initiative to go to the public gallery and patiently explained the problem to them. Finally, the villagers went back convincingly.
This is my first time to attend the trial of Leizhou People's Court. During the audit, I was deeply impressed by President Chen's handling of related issues, which made me have a preliminary understanding of the work of judges in grassroots people's courts in areas with relatively low legal awareness, and also aroused my interest in grassroots people's courts in such areas.
I have also been to Zhanjiang Intermediate People's Court and Chikan District People's Court before. At that time, because the legal awareness of the participants in the proceedings was not low, and the parties entrusted lawyers as litigation agents, the court police were present at the trial to maintain order. There is no case where the participants in the proceedings need the judge to seriously explain legal issues, and the observers seriously violate court discipline. So at that time, I always thought that mastering jurisprudence and skillfully applying the law were the only requirements for judges.
However, all the experience of this internship shows that although the Chinese government has carried out legal education activities for many years and promoted the rule of law, it has made great achievements, and the people's legal concepts and legal awareness have been greatly improved. But so far, people's legal awareness and legal level are still very low in many economically underdeveloped areas of China. This inevitably requires that the judges of the grass-roots people's courts in such places not only have rich legal knowledge, but also have the ability to handle the relationship between the courts and the masses, patiently explain the law to the masses, seize every opportunity to publicize the law to the masses, make the law popularization activities go deep into practice, and make use of all available opportunities to let the people further understand and understand the laws and regulations, and on this basis, gradually establish their belief in the law and establish the sacred position of the law in their minds.
The above is my understanding of the requirements of judges working in grassroots people's courts in areas where people's legal awareness and legal level are low, and it is also the particularity that I think the work of judges in grassroots people's courts should have. It is these judges who work in grassroots people's courts in areas where people's legal awareness and legal level are low. They are at the forefront of propagating the concept of "ruling the country according to law", carrying out legal publicity and instilling legal awareness. I am in awe of their great efforts and contributions to this end.
Third, valuable "internship" experience.
Friday, August 12, 2005, is an unforgettable day, and it is a special day for me to participate in the real trial for the first time as a "clerk", which will be unforgettable all my life.
This morning, Dean Chen came to me and said, "There will be a court session this afternoon. Please be my clerk. " I was so happy that I didn't know what to say. I was stupefied for a while before I quickly agreed. During my internship, I have never seen an intern as a "clerk" in this hospital, not to mention that I am only a sophomore intern. How can this not excite me? But excitement turns to excitement, so I have to start preparing at once. After all, this is the first time, and it is the trial record of the collegiate bench with President Chen as the presiding judge. Unfortunately, I still had many tasks assigned by the judges at that time, and they all had to be completed on the same day. So, while I was serious, I accelerated the speed of completing the task, and finally tried to complete other tasks that morning. It won me time to go back at noon and prepare for the afternoon "clerk" work.
The trial in the afternoon is only the continuation of the trial mentioned in the second part of this article. It is the resumption of trial activities after the court investigated and collected some facts of the case according to the plaintiff's application. This trial is mainly to cross-examine new evidence and mediate the parties.
Considering the particularity of various factors at that time, the venue of the trial was chosen in Room 403, the first court of civil trial.
When I was a "clerk" for the first time, I was afraid I couldn't do it well. After all, this is not a mock trial, but a real trial. However, the trust and encouragement of Dean Chen made me feel that I could not waste such a rare "internship" opportunity and live up to his nurturing heart, so I slowly calmed down and prepared to start this trial record.
During the formal court session, Dean Chen asked me to sit next to him and take notes to guide my recording work. When I wrote my name behind the "Clerk" column in the court record, I felt a sense of responsibility in addition to excitement.
In this way, under the careful guidance of President Chen, I started this special "shop assistant" experience …
On Thursday, August 18, 2005, after a short training for judges, I acted as a "judge" that afternoon.
It was a divorce dispute. As the school term is just around the corner, in order not to affect the study of their married sons (14 years old) studying in other places, the court decided to hold a pre-trial meeting to ask their personal views and opinions on the case in advance according to law, so as to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. I was lucky to get the trust and guidance of the judge, and I was surprised to become a "judge". I successfully completed this simple and significant "judge" task.
There are several similar experiences. They are a rare "internship" opportunity provided by the judges, and they trust and cultivate me. These experiences made me realize some basic conditions that relevant judicial personnel should have, and at the same time let me see my own shortcomings in these aspects and the direction that should be improved.
As a sophomore, I can get these precious "internship" opportunities, which makes my classmates, especially my juniors, envious. And I have benefited a lot from it myself. They will be a valuable asset for my future life and study.
Fourth, the people's court review.
After more than a month's internship, Min Yiting left a deep impression on me. Let's talk about it briefly.
For the judges of the People's First Court, I have summarized them and think that they basically have the following characteristics:
1, strong tolerance and good affinity. Facing the grassroots people with low cultural and legal awareness, they can be flexible and meticulous in their work.
2. Be able to implement the principle of mediation well, tirelessly and patiently coordinate mediation between all parties.
3. In the trial process, we can be objective and realistic, and achieve "principle and flexibility are coordinated, and legal propaganda and legal interpretation run through the whole trial process".
There is nothing in the world. Due to various subjective and objective reasons, the people's courts inevitably have some problems and face some difficulties. Below, I only talk about my immature views and opinions based on some experiences in this short internship experience:
1. No bailiff was present at the trial to maintain court discipline. When the observers can't consciously abide by the court discipline, it will seriously affect the court trial activities and damage the seriousness of the court and the dignity of the judges.
The court is located beside the expressway. The noise of passing vehicles often leads to the inability of the judge and the litigant participants to hear each other clearly, which is not conducive to the litigant participants' normal exercise of their legal litigation rights, affects the judge's understanding of the facts of the case, and damages the legitimate substantive rights and interests of the parties.
The court didn't install air conditioner or large electric fan. In hot weather, it is very likely to affect the emotional fluctuation of judges, participants in litigation and observers, which is not conducive to maintaining court discipline and thus affecting trial activities.
4. Some basic court disciplines have not been well implemented and observed. The ringing of the mobile phone from time to time often interrupts the ongoing trial activities. It is worth noting that this is also mixed with the ringtones of individual judges. Some people even openly use mobile phones in court during the trial, which is simply contempt of court.
5. The participants in the proceedings have a weak concept of proof and limited probative power. Often in the process of trial, some "new evidence" that can be easily collected (even in the hands of the parties) is suddenly presented. Some of them engage in "evidence surprise", but what is more obvious is the result of the participants' weak concept of proof and limited ability to prove.
6. Weak awareness of self-protection of legitimate rights and interests. As an individual citizen, the parties who respond to the lawsuit rarely hire lawyers to defend themselves in court (and these parties often know nothing about the law, which leads to illiteracy). To a great extent, this makes the personal legitimate rights and interests of some parties fail to be well protected because of their weak awareness of protecting their legitimate rights and interests.
Fifth, see the habit and feel it.
The summer vacation in 2005 was the most meaningful holiday I ever spent, because I had this internship experience. It is of great significance to me: this is my first personal experience in legal practice, the first time to apply the legal knowledge I have learned to practice, the first time to feel the greatness of the work of judges in grassroots people's courts in my hometown and such areas, the first time to understand my hometown from the legal perspective, and the first time to have the experience of being a "clerk" and a "judge" ... This significant "first time" is still in this internship.
In retrospect, the most important thing for me in this internship is that I learned a lot that books can't.
"I think it's an armchair strategist. I don't know if it should be done." The short internship experience made me deeply feel the shallowness of my knowledge and the lack of professional knowledge in practical application. During this time, I learned a lot of experience and knowledge that I couldn't learn in books at all. Most of them come from the careful teaching of court leaders and judges, which will also be an invaluable asset in my life. As a law student who is about to enter the society, I still have a lot to learn, and judges are my best teachers in related fields. I can learn a lot from them both professionally and in my life and work.
During my internship, I studied with an open mind, practiced boldly, actively participated in the specific work of civil and commercial trials in the First People's Court, carefully observed and understood all aspects of relevant civil and commercial trials, and made corresponding legal analysis in combination with specific cases, so as to apply the learned legal knowledge to practice. Usually, listen carefully to the guidance and teaching of the judges, assist the judges to do the relevant work, and conscientiously complete the tasks assigned by the judges. Really from the classroom to the society, from theory to practice.
Here, I would like to thank all the staff of Leizhou People's Court for their help and guidance for my internship, and thank you for your help and efforts for my smooth internship. Especially the judges of the people's court, you have provided all kinds of convenience and careful guidance for my internship, and I have learned a lot from you ... thank you-you are my first teachers to go to society!
After the internship, I will go back to school to start the new school year in two days. At the moment, my mood is very heavy, a heavy reluctance to "teachers", a heavy silent gratitude to "teachers" for their help, and even heavier silent gratitude to them for their great contribution to the legal publicity in Leizhou. Finally, I'd like to end this article with a poem I wrote based on my personal experience and the teaching of the judges:
In summer, the scorching sun explodes the dried bamboo,
Dewdrops grow in the thunder yard.
Be a man and do things with a conscience,
Ask the reason, and ask the result according to national laws.
Tuesday, 30 August 2005
Write it in Leizhou's home