The origin of the exam. Before 1995, judges and prosecutors in China were directly nominated by the courts and procuratorates and reported to the people's congresses at the same level for appointment. 1995 After the promulgation and implementation of the Law on Judges and the Law on Prosecutors, the two houses established an examination system for first-time judges and first-time prosecutors. It is stipulated that only those who pass the examination can be submitted to the National People's Congress for appointment as judges and prosecutors. The court system conducted 1995, 1997 and 1999 three junior judges' examinations. The procuratorial system also held three first public prosecutor examinations.
The lawyer qualification examination system was established before the qualification examination for judges and prosecutors. 1986 The lawyer qualification examination was held for the first time in China, and then every two years, with the time of 1988- 1992. After 1993, it was held once a year, and 1 1 was held successively, and 65438+ passed.
There are three obvious differences between the above three exams:
First, in the scope of candidates, the lawyer qualification examination is open to the public, and anyone who meets the prescribed conditions can register; The examination for newly appointed judges and prosecutors is oriented to the interior of the system, and only the personnel of courts and procuratorates are qualified to refer to it.
Second, in terms of examination subjects, the content and scope of the law examination are the widest, basically covering the main subjects of law. New judges have fewer exams than lawyers, excluding international law and private international law. The examination scope of new prosecutors is narrow, mainly limited to criminal law, civil law and economic law are relatively few.
Thirdly, in terms of examination papers and questions, the law exam consists of four volumes, including multiple-choice questions and case analysis questions; The examination for new judges and prosecutors consists of three volumes. The examination forms include multiple-choice questions, true or false questions, objective questions in the form of error correction, short-answer questions, material analysis, case analysis, document writing and other subjective questions. The subjective questions of the latter two are more important than the former, and there are many forms.
On June 30, 2006, the 22nd meeting of the Ninth the NPC Standing Committee passed the Judges Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Amendment to the Public Prosecutor Law of the People's Republic of China. The annex to the amendments to the two laws clearly stipulates: "The state implements a unified judicial examination system for newly appointed judges, prosecutors and lawyers, and the judicial administrative department of the State Council will work with the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate." "This provision marks the formal establishment of a unified national judicial examination system in China.
Introduction of National Judicial Examination in Previous Years
Introduction to previous exams
1. Review of Four Examinations
In 2002, more than 360,000 people took the first national judicial examination. The qualified score is 240 points. According to this qualified score line, more than 24,000 people in China have obtained legal professional qualification certificates. In the first national judicial examination, the qualified scores of counties included in the "National Eight-Seven Poverty Alleviation Plan" were relaxed to 235. According to the qualified scores, more than 700 people in China have obtained legal professional qualification certificates. The passing rate of the first national judicial examination accounted for 6.68% of the applicants.
The second national judicial examination was held in June 2003, with a total of 197000 applicants. The qualified score line is 240 points (225 points for the western region with relaxed conditions). More than17,000 people in China have reached this qualified score line, accounting for 8.75% of the total number of applicants, and10/8% of the actual reference number, which are higher than 6.68% and 7.74% in 2002 respectively. Among them, 95.57% have bachelor degree or above, and 4.43% have law college degree.
The third national judicial examination was held in September 2004, with more than 6,543,800 applicants. The qualified score line is 360 points, and the qualified score line in the western region with loose conditions is 335 points. * * * More than 20,000 people reached the eligibility line, accounting for 1 1.22% of the actual reference population, an increase of 1.04% compared with last year's18%.
In September 2005, the fourth national judicial examination was held, with 244,000 applicants, 360 qualified scores and 330 relaxed scores. The number of qualified people in China is 3 1664, accounting for 14.39% of the actual reference number.
2. Status quo characteristics
Compared with before, the judicial examination in 2003 has the following characteristics:
(1) Judging from the registration situation, it is characterized by "four liters and four drops".
First, the threshold has risen and the number of people has declined. According to the law, in 2003, applicants must have a bachelor's degree or above (including non-law majors) except in areas where the license is relaxed. According to the figures released by the judicial department, in 2003, 88.82% of the applicants had bachelor degree or above, while the number of applicants decreased by 45% compared with the previous year.
Second, the number of classes increased, while others decreased. Among the applicants in 2003, those who have received legal education, including junior college, undergraduate, double bachelor of law, master of law, doctor of law, etc., account for about 74% of the total number of applicants.
Third, the industry has risen and the industry has declined. Judging from the distribution of applicants this year, about 34% have legal professional experience and have engaged in relevant legal work in courts, procuratorates, law firms and notary offices.
Fourth, the number of students has increased and the number of employees has decreased. Among the applicants this year, fresh graduates accounted for more than 10%, and graduate students accounted for more than 6%. Due to the increase in the proportion of fresh graduates, the age structure of applicants is further younger.
From the characteristics of the above four aspects, we can see that the overall quality of the people who signed up for the national judicial examination is improving, and the proportion of people with legal professional education background and preliminary legal vocational training is rising.
(2) Judging from the proposition, it presents a trend of "three transformations".
First of all, this topic is academic. In order to promote the reasonable connection between judicial examination and law education, legal history was added as an examination subject in 2003, thus maintaining the consistency between the national judicial examination subject and the fourteen core courses of higher law undergraduate education.
Second, objective questions are subjective. In order to comprehensively test the candidates' mastery of legal professional knowledge, case analysis ability and legal theory literacy, in 2003, the national judicial examination made appropriate adjustments to the contents of the examination paper. On the premise of keeping the basic structure of the examination paper unchanged (three objective papers and one subjective question), the proportion of subjective questions was increased, and the test of candidates' case analysis ability and legal theory literacy was strengthened.
Third, the subjective questions are flexible. The change in the form and content of the questions in the fourth volume highlights the examination of candidates' legal practice, legal thinking, logic and writing ability, and adds questions without standard answers.
Fourth, the integration of test sites. In 2003, the scores of multi-disciplinary comprehensive examination questions in the department were stronger than those in the major. For example, there is no standard answer to the eighth question in Volume 4, which is similar to the application of the civil service examination. Candidates are required to use comprehensive knowledge for discussion, with 20 points for a single question.
(3) From the perspective of qualified rate, it shows a pattern of "high in the east and low in the west".
The geographical distribution of the qualified rate of judicial examination is very uneven. Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and other provinces (cities) have higher qualified rates, and the registration ratio exceeds10%; The qualified rate of western provinces is relatively low, and some areas are even far below the national average. Due to the serious shortage of legal reserve talents in these areas, the contradiction of demand is prominent, and the policy background of western development, the Ministry of Justice decided to relax the qualified score line in specific areas to 225 points, in order to alleviate the difficulties and urgent needs of legal professional departments and social legal service industries in these areas to supplement reserve talents.
Compared with 2003, the judicial examination in 2004 showed some new features:
(1) The higher the educational level, the wider the source of candidates. In 2004, the number of applicants with bachelor degree or above was179,000, accounting for 9 1.95% of the total number of applicants, an increase of 3. 13 percentage points over the previous year. The number of applicants for regional law majors is10.5 million, accounting for only 8.05% of the whole country. In addition, in 2004, Hong Kong and Macao residents were allowed to take the national judicial examination for the first time, and 522 Hong Kong and Macao residents signed up. Among them, there are 460 Hong Kong residents and 62 Macao residents.
(2) The papers have changed face, and there are more than two hospitals. In 2004, the examination department made major adjustments to the examination paper structure, score, question type and examination time. The first is to change 400 points to 600 points. The change of this grading system, for example, from centimeter to millimeter, increases the accuracy of grading, which is more conducive to the scientific evaluation and judgment of knowledge points and knowledge levels, and also relieves or avoids the embarrassing situation that liberal arts candidates can't pass the examination of science candidates, "science classes" can't pass the examination of non-law majors, and practical candidates can't pass the examination candidates, making the score statistics of department examinations more scientific, reasonable and fair. Secondly, the proposition increases the theoretical difficulty, and the requirement for candidates has shifted from the study of simple rules and principles to the study of the ability to comprehensively apply concepts, principles and principles to solve practical problems, which is not only beneficial to older candidates with poor memory, strong understanding and practical experience, but also fully embodies the characteristics of Si Kao as an elite selection examination.
The effect of the above improvement has been verified in the examination practice. In 2004, the number of qualified people in the court system was over 3,500, accounting for 17.37% of the whole country. The number of qualified people in the procuratorial system is more than 2 100, accounting for 10.73% of the country. Compared with previous years, the proportion and qualified rate of the two universities have increased, and the top three universities in China are all in the two systems.
(3) The new objection procedure makes the answer more rational. After the examination in 2004, the Ministry of Justice announced the examination papers and reference answers to the public, and set an objection period for the answers to the questions. If you have any objection to the answer to the question, you can raise your objection and explain the reasons on the website specially set up by the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice organized a special person to collect and sort out the opinions put forward by all parties on the answers to test questions, and submitted them to a specially established "Expert Group for Examination of Reference Answers to Test Questions" for research and demonstration before the formal marking, and finally finalized the grading answers, thus forming an answer objection and examination system of "publishing the answers to test questions-accepting objections-examining objections-formally marking", which made the determination process of test answers more democratic and the results more reasonable, and was an improvement on the examination system in 2004.
The above characteristics reflect that the quality of candidates is constantly improving, the examination difficulty is further increasing, the examination system is constantly improving, and the fairness and impartiality of the examination are also constantly strengthening.
3. The direction of the exam
With the promotion of the rule of law in China and the wider and deeper integration with the international community, the judicial examination will show the following trends: First, the status of "national examination" and "the first examination in the world" will be further strengthened and consolidated; Second, the difficulty of the examination itself may continue to increase, especially the integration of theory and practice, procedural law and substantive law, and various subjects, and the trend of testing candidates' comprehensive application ability will be strengthened; Third, the scope of reference personnel may be further expanded, such as the participation of candidates from Hong Kong and Macao, and the total number of applicants will increase. On the contrary, the proportion of admission is likely to decline, and the competition for exams will become more intense.
Examination objectives
The goal of the national judicial examination is to test whether candidates have mastered the basic knowledge contained in the prescribed examination subjects, and whether they can flexibly use these knowledge and relevant laws, regulations and judicial interpretations to deal with practical problems, that is, whether they have the ability to engage in legal profession.
Examination mode
The national judicial examination is held once a year, and the national unified proposition, unified examination and unified marking are implemented, and the principles of fairness and justice are adhered to in terms of registration conditions and procedures, examination contents, examination methods, examination management, grading and qualified standards. The examination adopts the closed-book method. At the specified time and in the designated examination room, the candidates will answer the questions independently.
Each exam lasts 2 days, and there are 4 exams in the morning and afternoon. In contrast, there are four papers. Before 2004, each volume scored 100, with a total score of 400. In 2004, it was changed to 150, with a total score of ***600. After the annual review, the Ministry of Justice and the "two highs" will be finalized according to various conditions.
Examination content
The content of the national judicial examination includes five aspects: theoretical law, applied law, current legal provisions, legal practice and legal professional ethics. The scope of the proposition is subject to the outline of the national judicial examination formulated and published by the Ministry of Justice every year. In 2003 and 2004, the national judicial examination subjects were 14, and the specific subjects were:
Jurisprudence, legal history, constitutional law, administrative law and administrative procedure law, criminal law, criminal procedure law, civil law, civil procedure law, commercial law, economic law, international law, private international law, international economic law and legal professional ethics.
According to the examination papers in 2003 and 2004, the distribution of the above subjects in each volume is as follows
Book 1: Comprehensive knowledge. Including jurisprudence, constitutional law, legal history, economic law, international law, private international law, international economic law and legal professional ethics;
Volume II: Criminal and administrative legal systems. Including: criminal law, criminal procedure law, administrative law and administrative procedure law;
Volume III: Civil and Commercial Legal System. Including: civil law, commercial law and civil procedure law (including arbitration system);
Volume IV: Example (case) analysis. 2003 includes: Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law, Civil Law, Civil Procedure Law, Administrative Law and Administrative Procedure Law. In 2004, it was changed to: jurisprudence, constitutional law, administrative law and administrative procedure law, criminal law, criminal procedure law, civil law, commercial law and civil procedure law.
Examination questions
There are two types of questions in the national judicial examination:
The first category is the objective multiple-choice questions in the first three volumes. Including single choice questions, multiple choice questions and indefinite choice questions. Each volume is 100. Among them: in 2003, there were 30 multiple-choice questions, 50 multiple-choice questions and 20 indefinite multiple-choice questions, each question was 1 minute, each volume was 100 minute, and the corresponding score ratio was 30 ∶ 50 ∶ 20; In 2004, it was changed to 50 multiple-choice questions, each with 1 point, 50 multiple-choice questions and indefinite multiple-choice questions with 2 points each, each with 150 points. Examination time of the first three volumes 180 minutes.
The second category is the subjective analysis questions in Volume 4. The 2004 syllabus should include: analysis short answer questions, legal document questions, essay questions and other questions, but there are no legal document questions in the actual test paper. Generally, the fourth volume contains about 10 questions, with 8- 12 points for each question and *** 100 points. In 2004, the examination paper was 8 questions 150 points, and the examination time was changed to 2 10 minutes.
At the same time, the examination syllabus also stipulates that qualified personnel must take all the above-mentioned four volumes, and no one can score zero. The test scores of candidates' papers are valid in that year.