Judicial Independence and Company Law in the Shanghai People's Courts, 1992-2008

Authors

Nicholas C. Howson, University of Michigan School of LawFollow

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2010

Abstract

This chapter draws on a detailed study of corporate law adjudication in Shanghai from 1992 to 2008. The purpose of the study was to better understand the demonstrated technical competence, institutional autonomy, and political independence of one court system in the People's Republic of China ("PRC") in a sector outside of the criminal law. The study consisted of a detailed examination and comparison of full-length corporate law opinions for more than 200 reported cases, a 2003 Shanghai High Court opinion on the 1994 Company Law (describing a decade of corporate case outcomes), a 2007 report on cases implementing the Company Law in zoo6 (more than 760 cases), and extensive interactions with Shanghai court officials handling such disputes - all for a wide diversity of Shanghai jurisdictions and procedural postures. Due to space limitations, this chapter focuses on the demonstrated independence, and to a lesser extent autonomy, of the Shanghai courts when faced with a completely altered Company Law.

Publication Information & Recommended Citation

Howson, Nicholas C. (2005- ). "Judicial Independence and Company Law in the Shanghai People's Courts, 1992-2008." In Judicial Independence in China, edited by R. Peerenboom, 134-53. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2010.