Capital Punishment in China: Ditch the Moral Argument
May 28, 2012
When it comes to arguing against the death penalty, the normative argument is a loser. Let’s stick with rule of law and fairness.
Tag Archives: rule of law
When Transparency is Meaningless
May 11, 2012
Even the best administrative rules in the world can be subverted by crony capitalism.
Transparency, Political Accountability, and the Broadcasting of Criminal Trials
March 12, 2011
China’s transparency reforms move forward, with Henan Province announcing that it will netcast 5,000 criminal trials this year.
China & Rule of Law: Did Someone Throw This Sucker in Reverse?
March 3, 2011
My comments on a recent post by Evan Osnos in the New Yorker about mediation and China’s commitment to Rule of Law reforms.
New Trial for Toll Road Scofflaw
January 14, 2011
Looks like that farmer who received a life sentence because he owed a huge amount in highway toll fees will get a retrial. Good news for him, maybe bad news for Rule of Law.
Zhao Lianhai and Criticizing China’s Legal System
December 30, 2010
Critics of the Zhao Lianhai case have many valid points, but I part company with them when they use anecdotal evidence to call into question China’s entire legal system.
Rule of Law & Superstition Do Not Mix
October 17, 2010
Construction of public buildings driven by fengshui principles? Bad idea.
Will BYD Be Punished for Illegal Land Use?
August 26, 2010
BYD, China’s fastest-growing major automaker, will be a test case for whether the government values corn and wheat over cars.
Grassroots Legal Reform and the Rule of Law
July 16, 2010
Criminal and civil litigation has increased in China, and a large number of grassroots legal reforms are being implemented around the country. Will this undermine or strengthen the rule of law?
Yet Another Police Custody Death
May 31, 2010
Another police custody death, another strange explanation, and another investigation that the public doesn’t trust.
Rule of Law: Fake Warrants Used to Extort Bail Money (Part I)
May 6, 2010
This is quite a story, and I say that having spent more than ten years reading about these kinds of incidents. The basic facts are that the documentation used to justify the arrest of a group of people in Hebei Province were forged. This might remind you of the post I wrote a while back [...]
Another Police Custody Death – The Trend Continues
May 1, 2010
Mysterious deaths of suspects in policy custody is by now unfortunately an old topic for this blog. I have covered the issue several times in the past, discussing both the facts of specific incidents as well as the broader implications to rule of law in China. Following the release of new regulations in Henan designed [...]
Rule of Law Implications of Huang Guangyu Trial?
April 23, 2010
The corruption trial of former appliance tycoon Huang Guangyu, who was once China’s richest man, has finished and a verdict is pending, a lawyer involved in the case said on Friday. [ . . . ] Huang . . . built his Hong Kong-listed GOME Group into one of China’s largest electronics and appliance chains [...]
Rule of Law in China: It’s the Little Things
April 7, 2010
Usually when I write about Rule of Law issues, the context is a murder or rape case, bribery or other form of corruption, you know, big stuff. As important as these famous cases are in shaping public opinion, though, the little incidents can be just as powerful on a cumulative basis, particularly when people can [...]
Google and ALS Conference Debrief
March 23, 2010
After four days out of Beijing, I am painfully aware that work has piled up on me, not the least of which is a lot of news to read and posts to write. I am still in catch-up mode and was planning on devoting some of my free time today to doing battle with my [...]
Off to Talk Google at CSR-Rule of Law Conference
March 18, 2010
Apologies for the light posting. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. I’ll be in the U.S. for a few days attending the following conference: 2010 Symposium Doing Business in Asia Without Selling Your Soul: Corporate Social Responsibility and Its Influence on the Rule of Law Here’s a link to the info page, [...]
Lubman on China Judicial Reform and the Problem of Public Pressure
March 9, 2010
Stanley Lubman’s latest China law article on judicial reform is as usual a must-read for the China law set, not to mention business types who need to be aware of legal trends here. The article covers not only specific influences on judicial activity (e.g. when a Party official influences a particular case because of politics [...]
China Rule of Law: the Latest From Jerome Cohen
March 5, 2010
China law guru extraordinaire Jerome Cohen’s latest on China and the Rule of Law is a slight departure from the usual. He goes off on a rather unexpected tangent to discuss the latest scandal with the Governor of New York (Paterson, not Spitzer). Cohen uses the Paterson scandal to show that even someone as powerful [...]
Rule of Law Cases: A ‘Murder’ in Hubei
May 19, 2009
I have the tendency to talk about this grand concept called Rule of Law in terms of foreign direct investment, IP enforcement, anti-trust cases, M&A — basically areas in which I have direct experience. This is not useless information of course. Rule of law issues as they relate to foreign companies and foreign investment are [...]
Perhaps My Last Post on Rule of Law
June 17, 2008
OK, I have written way too much on U.S. politics during the past couple of days, so consider this the last one for a while. I found the following in the Washington Post, a partial transcript of an interview Bush gave to Sky News during his recent European trip. It is utterly embarrassing: Here’s the [...]