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Text | Reporter Hua Bud Correspondent Jiang Liping Zhang Xiubin
Shulan City, Jilin Province, is located at 43 degrees to 44 degrees north latitude, which is the world's golden rice planting belt, and the Songhua River passes through the city here. In 2018, Shulan was awarded the title of "China's Ecological Rice Hometown" by the China Grain Industry Association.
The Ping'an People's Court of Shulan Municipal People's Court is located in Ping'an Town, which is known as the "Daoxiang Town". Ping An Court adheres to and develops the "Fengqiao Experience" in the new era, and strives to build a "Fengqiao-style Daoxiang Ping An Court" that files cases on the spot, mediates on the spot, and enforces simple disputes on the spot, so as to truly realize that "small matters do not go out of the village, major matters do not go out of the town, and conflicts do not turn in".
In May 2024, a judge of the Ping An People's Court of the People's Court of Shulan City, Jilin Province, mediates a dispute Photo courtesy of the People's Court of Shulan City, Jilin Province
Adhere to the guidance of party building
Build a "new position" to serve the people
"The conflict has been resolved, and the relationship between our family has eased." Li, a villager in Ping'an Town, held the judge's hand tightly and expressed his gratitude excitedly. Previously, Li had disputes with his uncles, nephews, and sisters because of property inheritance. After receiving the information from the village committee, the staff of the Ping'an Town Social Governance Comprehensive Service Center immediately contacted the judge of the Ping'an Court. Subsequently, the judge and the heads of the village's village committee, judicial office, police station and other relevant departments jointly mediated the dispute, and finally the two parties reached an agreement. This is just one example of the Ping An Court's insistence on justice for the people.
The Shulan Court adheres to the guidance of party building and gives full play to the leading and exemplary role of the "Fengqiao-style people's court". The court regards the construction of the safe court as a key project to do practical things for the people, constantly enriches the element support of the people's court, and positions the safe court as the "Shulan Daoxiang safe court". At the same time, in line with the principle of convenience and benefit to the people, the court pays attention to the standardization and standardization of "one court, one product" in the grassroots court, and resolutely follows the deployment requirements of the Jilin Provincial High People's Court, and with the strong support of the Jilin Intermediate People's Court, the Shulan Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, and the Party Committee of Ping'an Town, the Ping'an Court has been transformed in different places. Nowadays, there are multiple functional areas such as trial courts, mediation rooms, and conference rooms in the Ping An Court, which further standardizes the handling procedures.
In order to more actively integrate into the overall pattern of grassroots governance, the Ping An Court makes full use of information technology to improve the quality and efficiency of case handling through the "online + offline" method. In the daily handling of cases, the staff of the Ping An Court and the staff of the Litigation Service Center of the Shulan Court communicated the case situation through online video in a timely manner. After analyzing the case, the staff of the court's litigation service center formed a list of problems and submitted it to the Shulan City Social Governance Comprehensive Service Center. The city's comprehensive service center for social governance classifies disputes according to the type of conflict, the subject of responsibility, etc., and forms a list of responsibilities, which is then assigned to relevant departments. So far, the closed-loop operation workflow of "acceptance, research and judgment, diversion, mediation, supervision, and feedback" has been formed. From January to April 2024, a total of 389 cases were accepted and 384 cases were closed, with a completion rate of 98.71%. Among them, the number of pre-litigation cases resolved by judicial offices, resident mediators, and pre-litigation mediators was 81, a decrease of 7.4% compared with the same period last year.
Firmly control the source
Extending the "New Tentacles" of Serving the People
"Hello judge, Lao Ma from Suishuliu Town and Lao Li from our village had a dispute over the paddy field contract fee, and the staff of the village committee did not succeed in mediation. Now, other people's families have finished planting seedlings, and Lao Li's rice seedlings are still in the greenhouse, and I asked the judge to come to the village to help us mediate the dispute. Liu, the village secretary of Yongfeng Village, Ping'an Town, said into the phone, his tone full of anxiety.
Considering that it was the spring planting season, the judge immediately drove to Yongfeng Village, more than 30 miles away. In the "Solving Matters for the People" studio in Yongfeng Village, the judge learned in detail what had happened and found out the crux of the matter. Subsequently, under the leadership of village cadres and mediators, the judge went to Lao Li's house. On the kang, the judge prescribed the right medicine, patiently mediated, analyzed the law and reasoned, and the knot between Lao Ma and Lao Li gradually opened. Under the witness of the judge, Lao Li clarified the amount of the contract fee to Lao Ma and paid it to Lao Ma on the spot.
In order to facilitate the masses to resolve disputes, Ping An Court strives to create a "doorstep court + N" working mechanism. At present, the Ping An Court has set up "doorstep courts" in Huafeng Village, Ping'an Town, Longwang Village, Kaiyuan Town, Yangjia Village, Qili Township, and Jinma Village, Jinma Town, and formed a conflict resolution center with the town's comprehensive social governance service center, village social governance comprehensive service center, police station, judicial office, etc., forming a dispute resolution model of "one village one judge, one village one auxiliary police, one village one legal adviser, and one village one judicial mediator". In 2023, a catastrophic flood brought disaster to the people in the jurisdiction of the Ping An Court. In order to prevent the occurrence of conflicts and disputes after the disaster, the Ping An Court immediately launched the "Doorstep Court + N" working mechanism, and sent judges to various towns and villages to conduct investigations and visits. During this visit, we provided 4 legal consultation services to the affected people and 5 opinions and suggestions for post-disaster reconstruction to the local government.
According to the data, from January to April 2024, the Ping An Court provided 15 legal consulting services to the masses and guided rural mediation organizations to mediate conflicts and disputes 11 times.
Categorical policy
Igniting a "new engine" for serving the people
"When buying agricultural materials, we should pay attention to the quality of the product and the qualifications of the merchants, and avoid buying fake and shoddy products. At the same time, keep the relevant shopping vouchers. In April this year, in the central square of Ping'an Town, Shulan City, a lively Yangge feast was being staged. The officers and police of the Ping An Court seized the good opportunity of popularizing the law, shuttled back and forth among the crowds, actively carried out legal popularization activities, and provided legal advice and assistance to the vast number of farmers.
During the activity, the court staff had face-to-face communication with the masses, and popularized the legal knowledge related to spring plowing to the people in the jurisdiction through the distribution of publicity materials and answering legal questions, including laws and regulations on land contracting, agricultural material purchase, and the quality and safety of agricultural products. In order to deepen the public's understanding of laws and regulations, the judge cited a number of real cases in his speech.
In recent years, the Ping An Court has focused on the characteristics of frequent conflicts at the grassroots level, low "ignition point", and strong seasonality, and has carried out targeted legal services and legal popularization activities. This year, on the occasion of Children's Day, the court carried out the "Judges on Campus" legal popularization activity around the school bullying incident. In order to create a good business environment based on the rule of law, the court visited a number of enterprises and actively answered their questions.
At the same time, the Ping An Court aimed at the goal of creating non-litigation villages (tun), built 6 non-litigation villages (tun), and set up 38 "judge-speaking service points" in 142 villager groups relying on "people's talking points", truly achieving the effect of "hearing one case and educating one".
Where the needs of the masses are, the services of the people's courts will follow. Yu Zhongmin, president of the Ping An Court, said that in the next step, the court will run the concept of "as I am suing" throughout every judicial case, constantly interpret the strength and temperature of the judiciary, and contribute to the power of the people's court for the rural revitalization of the jurisdiction.
Cover and table of contents of this issue
China Trial, Issue 11, 2024
China Trial News Semi-Monthly, No. 345
Editor/Min Sun