The China Guiding Cases Project (CGCP) of Stanford Law School has published four new “guiding cases” released by China’s Supreme People’s Court. The new cases include two (2) administrative penalty cases, one (1) construction project contract dispute and one (1) corporate dissolution dispute. English translations are posted at the CGCP website.

While these “guiding cases” do not formally constitute binding precedents in the Western sense, they may evolve to have a similar effect.

The overarching goal of the CGCP website is to advance knowledge and understanding of Chinese law and enable judges and legal experts (inside and outside of China) to contribute to the evolution of Chinese case law through ongoing dialogue of these “guiding cases.”

The CGCP has also published two new expert commentaries:

The first is written by Judge CHEN Kui, president of the Dongguan Municipality No. 2 People’s Court of Guangdong Province:  How to Apply the Guiding Cases of the Supreme People’s Court in Judicial Practice.

The second is written by Judge OU Zelin of the Second Civil Tribunal of the Dongguan Municipality No. 2 People’s Court of Guangdong Province: Discussing the Guiding Case System with Chinese Characteristics By First Combining Guiding Case No. 1 with Adjudication Practices.

The CGCP will add more new content and features to their website later this month, including:

• China Law Summaries describing how Contract Law, Environmental and Resources Law, Intellectual Property Law and Labor Law is practiced in China, and
• Guiding Cases Quotes compiling what has been said about each of the first batch of guiding cases since their release last December.