乡村司法存在的问题及对策

在乡镇设立人民法庭,是方便人民群众诉讼的重要举措,也是司法为民、便民的重要方式。但通过对乡村典型司法个案考察发现,近年来我国乡村司法存在人民法庭受理案件小但涉及面广、当事人法律意识不强导致法官负担较重,部分法官业务素质偏低、不遵守相关诉讼程序甚至违法办案、对法律与习俗之间的冲突处理把握不准,人民陪审员监督和制约机制不完善、严重影响人民法官形象等问题。对此,提出如下建议:将人民法庭改为小额诉讼和速裁受理法庭,使其向法律审判、调解功能延伸;让优质司法人力资源下乡,以形式正义展现实质正义;对典型司法个案多尽告知义务,突出司法文书的宣教功能;让当事人选择便利的案件管辖地,加大对特殊人群的法律援助力度等。

The Existing Problems in Rural Judicature and Countermeasures

The establishment of people＇s courts in townships serves not only an important measure to offer convenient litigation for ordinary people, but also an important way to better help the public. However, by investigating typical rural judicial cases, the fact shows that there are still many problems in China＇s rural justice in recent years. For instance, the cases accepted by the People＇s Court are narrow in the subject while wide in range,which in turn brings a heavier burden on judges; unqualified staff fail to comply with relevant litigation proceedings and handle the relationship between law and custom in a proper way, and even handle the case in an illegal way; the people＇s jury supervision and restriction mechanism are far from perfect so that the image of the judges have been seriously affected. Countermeasures and suggestions are presented as follows： changing People＇s Court to a special court that accepts small litigation and quick judicial arbitration, making extension in the function of People＇s courts to justice and mediation,making adjustment within the Court＇s assessment criteria so that some qualified judicial manpower resources can be moved to the countryside, showing substantive justice through formal justice, highlighting the procedural informing obligations of judges over typical judicial cases, highlighting the propaganda and education function of judicial documents, and fully considering the jurisdiction place of the case beneficial for the parties by corresponding program design, increasing their efforts of legal aid for special populations, and working together to build the cornerstone of rural social stability.