With lawsuits soaring in recent years, due to significant social and economic changes, China’s 190,000 judges are facing growing pressure, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) said.

The number of court cases increased by at least 25 percent from 2005 to 2009, but the total number of judges remained almost unchanged, according to the first-ever annual report of the SPC released on Tuesday. (China Daily)

The rise in cases should not be surprising to anyone. In a country with rapid economic, social and legal change, this is to be expected. Certainly the following problems do not help alleviate overloaded dockets either:

• Intellectual property infringement;
• Property disputes, including relocation and compensation;
• Product quality and other consumer matters; and
• Labor disputes.

That’s a short list. I could have added quite a few other emerging trends that lead to lawsuits.

The most troubling aspect of that report, of course, is that the number of judges has remained unchanged. There has been a huge lawyer and judge gap in this country for many years now, which basically operates as a brake on the economy. Some may disagree, but the presence of lawyers and access to the court system facilitates commerce, it doesn’t slow it down. Once folks have faith in the system (e.g. believe that contracts can be enforced), they are more likely to take more risks and expand business activity.

Without more judges, the ones with overloaded dockets face more pressure to facilitate quick settlements, which as I wrote about last week is not always a good outcome. One hopes that this new report will light a fire under someone in the Central Government and some additional funding will flow to the judiciary. However, with local budgets under a tremendous amount of fiscal strain these days, I’m not so optimistic about the short-term for district and intermediate court staffing.

Last point. Anyone who has been involved with China foreign investment for more than a couple years is probably well familiar with the following statement: “Chinese people don’t like to use the courts.” This is what you hear from your Chinese general manager when your joint venture is falling apart and you (the foreign party) feel that it’s time to call in the lawyer.

That well-worn line has always been a bullshit excuse to forestall uncomfortable negotiations and, even worse, embarrassing and long-drawn-out dispute resolution proceedings. I hope we can finally put that one to rest. Chinese enterprises and individuals have no problem using the courts when they think they can get something out of it, and that trend is increasing.

I would not be surprised if China eventually surpasses the United States (in terms of reputation) as the most litigious nation in the world. Let’s just hope that before that happens, someone hires a few more judges.