Characteristics and Practical Development of Procuratorial Public Interest Litigation System in Mainland China
內地檢察公益訴訟制度特色與實踐發展
Date & Time: April 22, 2025 (Tuesday) 11:00-12:00
Venue: Room 723, 7/F, Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong
Language: Mandarin
(In-person event)
Abstract:
The procuratorial system is a vital component of modern national political and judicial frameworks. The socialist procuratorial system with Chinese characteristics has evolved by grounding itself in China’s unique national conditions, drawing on Chinese cultural heritage, and addressing distinctly Chinese challenges. Public interest litigation prosecution, an emerging procuratorial function, joins criminal prosecution, civil prosecution, and administrative prosecution to form the “four major prosecutions.” Together, these functions are inherently unified under the legal supervisory authority granted to procuratorial organs by the Constitution. The mainland’s public interest litigation system has neither adhered rigidly to traditional models nor adopted foreign frameworks. Instead, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, it has emerged as a distinctive symbol and original achievement of contemporary China’s rule of law development. This dynamic and robust practice also contributes to building China’s independent knowledge system, advancing the broader process of Chinese-style modernization.
Speaker:
Song Jinglin (宋京霖) is Professor of Law at the National Prosecutors College and Director of the Public Interest Litigation Research Department. Prior to 2016, her research centered on public law and politics. After completing visiting scholar programs at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, the Swiss Institute of Federalism, the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, and Harvard Law School, she authored a study reexamining the political-administrative dichotomy. This work culminated in her book, The Accountability Mechanism of Modern Administration: Rethinking the Political-Administrative Dichotomy (Xiandai Xingzheng de Zeren Jizhi: Fansheng Zhengzhi/Xingzheng Erfenfa de Toushe Xiaoying, Law Press China, 2018). Since joining the National Prosecutors College in 2016, Professor Song has focused her research on the public interest litigation system and its role in Chinese-style modernization. She also serves as a member of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s legislative panel for public interest litigation law.
Host:
Ying Xia is Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Philip K. H. Wong Center for Chinese Law at The University of Hong Kong.
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