Provisional Organizational and Judicial Regulations for Judicial Departments[1]

(June 9, 1932)

Chapter I General Principles

Article 1 The Judicial Department shall serve as a provisional judicial body before courts are established, temporarily exercising all functions and powers of a judicial institution and adjudicating proceedings in both criminal and civil cases.

Article 2 Except for active military personnel and staff of military organs, all proceedings in civil and criminal cases shall fall under the jurisdiction of the Judicial Departments.

Article 3 The organization of Judicial Departments at all levels within the territory of the Chinese Soviet Republic and the procedures for adjudicating cases must fully comply with the provisions of these Provisional Regulations.

Chapter II Organizational System of Judicial Departments

Article 4 Judicial Departments and Judicial Sections shall be established within the governments at the city, district, county, and provincial levels; however, they shall not be established in township soviets.

Note: Small city soviets may not establish a Judicial Section; the county Judicial Department shall directly adjudicate all cases in such cities.

Article 5 Lower-level Judicial Departments are directly subordinate to higher-level Judicial Departments. Higher-level Judicial Departments have the authority to appoint

[1] These Provisional Organizational and Judicial Regulations for Judicial Departments were issued by Mao Zedong in his capacity as Chairman of the Central Executive Committee, jointly with Vice Chairmen Xiang Ying and Zhang Guotao.

and remove the heads and staff of lower-level Judicial Departments. At the same time, Judicial Departments shall be guided by the presidium of the government at their own level.

Article 6 In judicial matters, the Judicial Departments are subject to the supervision of the Provisional Supreme Court; in judicial administration, they are guided by the Central People's Commissariat of Justice. The People's Commissariat of Justice has the authority to appoint and remove the heads and staff of Judicial Departments.

Note: In Soviet areas not yet integrated with the Central Soviet Area, the Provincial Executive Committee may exercise the functions and powers of the Provisional Supreme Court and the Central People's Commissariat of Justice to resolve all judicial issues.

Article 7 A district Judicial Department shall have one head and one clerk. A county Judicial Department shall have one head, one judge, and one clerk. A provincial Judicial Department shall have one head, one deputy head concurrently serving as judges (one specializing in criminal cases, the other specializing in civil cases), and one clerk. The head and deputy head shall form a Judicial Committee.

Note 1: A county Judicial Department may also form a Judicial Committee, composed of the head of the Judicial Department, the judge, the chief of the municipal police, and others.

Note 2: With the permission of the higher-level government, other technical staff may be employed when necessary.

Article 8 Judicial Departments have the authority to dispatch Red Guards, guard platoons, and people's police at any time to perform various tasks within judicial scope.

Article 9 Persons without the right to vote (including those under sixteen years of age) shall not work in the Judicial Department; even clerks must have voting rights to serve.

Article 10 Detention houses may be established under Judicial Departments at all levels to hold untried prisoners or those sentenced to short-term imprisonment. County and provincial Judicial Departments, in addition to establishing detention houses, shall also establish labor rehabilitation homes for detaining prisoners sentenced to long-term imprisonment.

Provisional Organizational and Judicial Regulations for Judicial Departments

Chapter III Organization of Courts and Their Trial Procedures

Article 11 Judicial Departments at all levels may organize criminal courts and civil courts to adjudicate criminal and civil cases respectively.

Article 12 Judicial Departments at all levels may organize circuit courts to go to the places where incidents occurred to adjudicate cases of relatively significant importance, so as to draw broad masses to attend the hearings.

Article 13 A court shall be composed of three persons; the head of the Judicial Department or the judge shall act as the chief judge, and the other two shall serve as lay assessors.

Note: Simple and unimportant cases may be adjudicated by the head of the Judicial Department or a judge alone.

Article 14 Lay assessors shall be elected from trade unions, hired farm laborers' unions, poor peasant leagues, and other mass organizations; two persons shall be replaced after each trial.

Note 1: Persons without voting rights (including those under sixteen years of age) shall not be elected as lay assessors.

Note 2: During their period of service, lay assessors shall be temporarily released from their original work while retaining their regular average wages. After completing their assessor duties, they shall return to their original work.

Article 15 When deciding a judgment, the chief judge and lay assessors shall base the decision on the opinion of the majority; if a dispute remains unresolved, the opinion of the chief judge shall determine the content of the judgment. If one of the lay assessors holds a particular opinion and firmly insists on retaining it, it may be sealed in an envelope and reported to the higher-level Judicial Department as a reference for that higher-level Judicial Department regarding the case.

Article 16 The trial of cases must be conducted publicly; if a case involves confidential matters, it may be tried in closed session, but the pronouncement of the judgment must still be made public.

Article 17 During the trial of a case, one or two clerks must be present to keep records.

Article 18 After the interrogation of a case is concluded in each court session, the court shall withdraw to deliberate on the judgment. Only after the judgment is pronounced may the second case be tried. It is absolutely forbidden to pronounce a judgment several days after concluding the interrogation.

Article 19 Persons who have family, kinship, or personal relationships with the defendant shall not participate in the trial of that defendant's case (this applies equally to lay assessors and chief judges).

Article 20 A judgment shall first state the time of trial, and the names of the chief judge, lay assessors, and those participating in the trial; then state the defendant's background and criminal charges; next state the determined penalty; and finally state the period for appeal available to the defendant. If imprisonment is sentenced, the term shall be calculated from the day of arrest. Each judgment must be stamped or signed by the chief judge and lay assessors to assume responsibility.

Article 21 One copy of the original text of each judgment must be provided to the defendant.

Article 22 All materials and evidence of each case must be compiled together into a single case file, arranged in numerical order, and preserved in the Judicial Department; loss is not permitted.

Article 23 During open court sessions, in addition to procurators appearing in court as plaintiffs, for cases related to mass organizations, those mass organizations may also dispatch representatives to appear in court as plaintiffs.

Article 24 A defendant may send a representative to appear in court for defense for his own interests, but must obtain the court's permission.

Article 25 For cases adjudicated by Judicial Departments at all levels, the defendant has the right to appeal within the appeal period specified in the judgment. The appeal period is prescribed as two weeks. The court adjudicating the case shall determine the deadline for appeal based on the content of the case.

Note: The date of appeal is calculated from the day the defendant delivers the appeal petition to the Judicial Department that adjudicated the case, not from the day the appeal petition reaches the higher-level Judicial Department.

Article 26 In all cases where the death penalty is adjudicated, even if the defendant does not lodge an appeal, the Judicial Department adjudicating the case must still submit the judgment and the complete case file to the higher-level Judicial Department for approval.

Article 27 The judgment of a case may be enforced only after the appeal period prescribed in the judgment has expired or after approval has been granted by the higher-level Judicial Department.

Article 28 Judicial Departments may use three types of instruments: summons, arrest warrants, and search warrants.

Chapter IV Jurisdiction of Judicial Departments at All Levels

Article 29 Judicial Departments have the authority to issue warnings, impose fines, confiscate property, assign forced labor, impose imprisonment, and execute by shooting.

Article 30 District Judicial Departments adjudicate generally unimportant cases; the term of punishment they decide, whether forced labor or imprisonment, shall not exceed six months.

Article 31 A county Judicial Department is the court of final appeal for cases decided by district Judicial Departments, and at the same time serves as the court of first instance for adjudicating cases of significance to the entire county. It has the authority to adjudicate the death penalty but does not have the authority to execute it; a death sentence adjudicated by a county Judicial Department can only be executed after approval by the provincial Judicial Department.

Note: A county Soviet Judicial Department isolated from the provincial government may execute the sentence without approval from the provincial Judicial Department.

Article 32 A provincial Judicial Department is the court of final appeal for cases adjudicated by county Judicial Departments, and at the same time serves as the court of first instance for adjudicating cases of significance to the entire province. It has the authority to adjudicate the death penalty, but must submit the case to the Provisional Supreme Court for approval before execution.

Note: In provinces not yet integrated with the Central Soviet Area, the provincial Judicial Department has the authority to finally decide cases.

Chapter V Work and Tasks of Procurators

Article 33 A provincial Judicial Department may establish one chief procurator and one deputy procurator; a county Judicial Department shall establish

one procurator; a district Judicial Department shall not establish a procurator.

Article 34 Procurators manage the pretrial examination of cases. Except for cases that are simple and clear and do not require pretrial examination, all cases sent to the Judicial Department must undergo pretrial examination by a procurator. Furthermore, procurators have the authority to investigate all criminal acts.

Article 35 After completing the pretrial procedure, if the procurator concludes that there are facts and evidence of a crime, he shall make a conclusion and then transfer the case to the court for trial.

Article 36 In cases where discovery of a criminal act requires arrest before investigation can proceed, the procurator has the authority to arrest the offender first.

Article 37 During the investigation of a case, the procurator has the authority to summon and interrogate any person related to the case at any time.

Article 38 When investigating a case, whether interrogating the defendant or witnesses, a pretrial record must be made and signed and sealed by the interrogated person (defendant and witnesses) and the procurator, to serve as evidence in the case.

Article 39 A procurator represents the state as the plaintiff; during open court sessions, he may appear in court on behalf of the state to prosecute.

Note: Before the procurator system is established, one of the judges may be assigned to conduct pretrial work, performing the duties of a procurator on his behalf. However, the judge who conducted the pretrial examination shall not serve as the chief judge or lay assessor when the court adjudicates that case. Regarding counter-revolutionary cases, the State Political Security Bureau may dispatch a representative to act as plaintiff on behalf of the state.

Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions

Article 40 The Central Executive Committee has the authority to amend or suspend these Regulations at any time. These Regulations shall be promulgated by order of the Central Executive Committee.

Provisional Organizational and Judicial Regulations for Judicial Departments

Article 41 These Regulations shall take effect in Jiangxi Province, Fujian Province, and Ruijin Directly Administered County from the date of promulgation. However, for Soviet areas not yet integrated with the Central Soviet Area, they shall take effect from the date the document is received.

Chairman of the Central Executive Committee Mao Zedong

Vice Chairmen Xiang Ying Zhang Guotao

June 9, 1932