China’s Judiciary: Past, Present, and Future

China Law Professor Blog’s recent post alerted me to the video recording and outline of a speech delivered by Justice Wan Exiang (万鄂湘) at the Organization of American States.

Justice Wan Exiang had his legal training in Wuhan University in China and at Yale Law School, and he is recognized as an expert in international law. He is a Grand Justice of the Supreme People’s Court of China, and teaches at the Wuhan University Law School. Here is his resume in Chinese; here in English.

On September 25, 2007, he delivered his speech, in his own words, as a law professor so as to promote open discussion on the reforms of China’s judiciary. The speech last about an hour, but he did a nice job of sketching out the grand schemes of reforms undertaken by China as well as work that remains to be done.

It is well worth the time to listen to the speech in its entirety. I advise you to read the outline first so that you don’t miss anything in listening to it.