Democratization of judicial interpretation and the Supreme Court's political function

The new provisions on judicial interpretation work issued by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) explicitly establish two procedural institutions: "Citizen motion for project initiation of judicial interpretation" and "Seeking public comment." Under the rubric of democratization, these create "prima facie democratic legitimacy" for it to carry out the political function of developing law through judicial interpretation, and also enable it to broadly absorb information or knowledge in the course of Chinese-style judicial interpretation, especially abstract interpretation. However, the "democratization" trend gives also the impression that the SPC hews so close to public opinion that it will find itself in a quandary if it becomes necessary for it to make an independent and wise judgment. The SPC must find an appropriate balance between following behind and standing aloof from public opinion. Therefore, we should not take any further steps in "democratization." An acceptable strategy for the present would be for the SPC to retain abstract interpretation in a limited sphere while working on reforming the content, form and system of concrete interpretation and extending its scope of application, letting the two models of judicial interpretation coexist and compete for future development and choices.