(Adopted at the Fourth Session of the Seventh National People's
Congress on April 9, 1991 and promulgated by Order No. 44 of the
President of the People's Republic of China on April 9, 1991)
Contents
Part One????? General
Provisions
Chapter I???? The Aim, Scope of
Application and Basic Principles
Chapter II??? Jurisdiction
? Section 1?? Jurisdiction by Forum
Level
? Section 2?? Territorial
Jurisdiction
? Section 3?? Transfer and Designation of
Jurisdiction
Chapter III?? Trial Organization
Chapter IV??? Withdrawal
Chapter V???? Participants in
Proceedings
? Section 1?? Parties
? Section 2?? Agents ad
Liter
Chapter VI??? Evidence
Chapter VII?? Time Periods and
Service
? Section 1?? Time Periods
? Section 2?? Service
Chapter VIII? Conciliation
Chapter IX??? Property Preservation and
Advance Execution
Chapter X???? Compulsory Measures
Against Obstruction of Civil Proceedings
Chapter XI??? Litigation
Costs
Part Two????? Trial
Procedure?
Chapter XII?? Ordinary Procedure of First
Instance
? Section 1?? Bringing a Lawsuit and
Entertaining a Case
? Section 2?? Preparations for
Trial
? Section 3?? Trial in
Court????????????
? Section 4?? Suspension and Termination
of Litigation
? Section 5?? Judgment and
Order
Chapter XIII? Summary Procedure
Chapter XIV?? Procedure of Second
Instance
Chapter XV??? Special
Procedure
? Section 1?? General
Provisions
? Section 2?? Cases Concerning the
Qualification of Voters
? Section 3?? Cases Concerning the
Proclamation of a Person as Missing or Dead
? Section 4?? Cases Concerning the
Determination of Legal Incapacity or Restricted Legal Capacity of
Citizens
? Section 5?? Cases Concerning the
Determination of a Property as Ownerless
Chapter XVI??? Procedure for Trial
Supervision
Chapter XVII?? Summary Procedure for Hastening
Recovery of a Debt
Chapter XVIII? Procedure for Publicizing Public
Notice for Assertion of Claims
Chapter XIX??? Bankruptcy and Debt
Repayment Proceedings for? Legal Person
Enterprises??
Part? Three??? Procedure of
Execution
Chapter XX???? General
Stipulations
Chapter XXI??? Application for Execution
and Referral
Chapter XXII?? Execution Measures
Chapter XXIII? Suspension and Termination of
Execution
Part Four????? Special
Provisions for Civil Proceedings of Cases Involving Foreign
Element
Chapter XXIV?? General Principles
Chapter XXV???
Jurisdiction?
Chapter XXVI?? Service and Time
Periods
Chapter XXVII? Property?
Preservation
Chapter XXVIII Arbitration
Chapter XXIX?? Judicial
Assistance
Part One
General Provisions
Chapter I
The Aim, Scope of Application and Basic Principles
Article 1 The Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of
China is formulated on the basis of the Constitution and in the
light of the experience and actual conditions of our country in the
trial of civil cases.
Article 2 The Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of
China aims to protect the exercise of the litigation rights of the
parties and ensure the ascertaining of facts by the people's
courts, distinguish right from wrong, apply the law correctly, try
civil cases promptly, affirm civil rights and obligations, impose
sanctions for civil wrongs, protect the lawful rights and interests
of the parties, educate citizens to voluntarily abide by the law,
maintain the social and economic order, and guarantee the smooth
progress of the socialist construction.
Article 3 In dealing with civil litigation arising from disputes
on property and personal relations between citizens, legal persons
or other organizations and between the three of them, the peoples'
courts shall apply the provisions of this Law.
Article 4 Whoever engages in civil litigation within the
territory of the People's Republic of China must abide by this
Law.
Article 5 Aliens, stateless persons, foreign enterprises and
organizations that bring suits or enter appearance in the people's
courts shall have the same litigation rights and obligations as
citizens, legal persons and other organizations of the People's
Republic of China.
If the courts of a foreign country impose restrictions on the
civil litigation rights of the citizens, legal persons and other
organizations of the People's Republic of China, the? people's
courts of the People's Republic of China shall follow the principle
of reciprocity regarding the civil litigation rights of the
citizens, enterprises and organizations of that foreign
country.
Article 6 The people's courts shall exercise judicial powers
with respect to civil cases.
The people's courts shall try civil cases independently in
accordance with the law, and shall be subject to no interference by
any administrative organ, public organization or individual.
Article 7 In trying civil cases, the people's courts must base
themselves on facts and take the law as the criterion.
Article 8 The parties in civil litigation shall have equal
litigation rights. The people's courts shall, in conducting the
trials, safeguard their rights, facilitate their exercising the
rights, and apply the law equally to them.
Article 9 In trying civil cases, the people's courts shall
conduct conciliation for the parties on a voluntary and lawful
basis; if conciliation fails, judgments shall be rendered without
delay.
Article 10 In trying civil cases, the people's courts shall,
according to the provisions of the law, follow the systems of panel
hearing, withdrawal, public trial and the court of second instance
being that of last instance.
Article 11 Citizens of all nationalities shall have the right to
use their native spoken and written languages in civil
proceedings.
Where minority nationalities live in aggregation in a community
or where several nationalities live together in one area, the
people's courts shall conduct hearings and issue legal documents in
the spoken and written languages commonly used by the local
nationalities.
The people's courts shall provide translations for any
participant in the proceedings who is not familiar with the spoken
or written languages commonly used by the local nationalities.
Article 12 Parties to civil actions are entitled in the trials
by the people's courts to argue for themselves.
Article 13 The parties are free to deal with their own civil
rights and litigation rights the way they prefer within the scope
provided by the law.
Article 14 The people's procuratorates shall have the right to
exercise legal supervision over civil proceedings.?
Article 15 Where an act has infringed upon the civil rights and
interests of the State, a collective organization or an individual,
any State organ, public organization, enterprise or institution may
support the injured unit or individual to bring an action in a
people's court.
Article 16 The people's conciliation committees shall be mass
organizations to conduct conciliation of civil disputes under the
guidance of the grass-roots level people's governments and the
basic level people's courts.
The people's conciliation committee shall conduct conciliation
for the parties according to the Law and on a voluntary basis. The
parties concerned shall carry out the settlement agreement reached
through conciliation; those who decline conciliation or those for
whom conciliation has failed or those who have backed out of the
settlement agreement may institute legal proceedings in a people's
court.
If a people's conciliation committee, in conducting conciliation
of civil disputes, acts contrary to the law, rectification shall be
made by the people's court
Article 17 The people's congresses of the national autonomous
regions may formulate, in accordance with the Constitution and the
principles of this Law, and in conjunction with the specific
circumstances of the local nationalities, adaptive and
supplementary provisions. Such provisions made by an autonomous
region shall be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National
People's Congress for approval; those made by an autonomous
prefecture or autonomous county shall be submitted to the standing
committee of the people's congress of the relevant province or
autonomous region for approval and to the Standing Committee of the
National People's Congress for the record.
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