Can judges Handle Cases Independently in Accordance with Law?

• Author: Zhang Jiang

On October 26^th, 2007, Ma Dongchang, a businessman from Changchun City, and Qiu Donghua, a businessman from Zhejiang Province, signed a quarry management contract. Ma contracted his quarry to Qiu for 2 years, and the annual fee was 2,200,000 yuan, paid monthly. On January 6^th, 2009, Ma sued Qiu in Yitong County court for not paying fees under the contract. The country court assigned the case to Ma’an court. The Ma’an court presiding judge Zhang Zhixin was responsible for trying the case and the county court’s vice chief Guo Xuehong managed the case.

During the proceedings , the plaintiff applied for property preservation of the quarry, which was agreed to by Guo. But Qiu claimed that the amount of sealed-off property exceeded the amount of the plaintiff’s claim. Qiu asked for withdrawal of the preservation order, which was denied by the court. After this, Qiu reported the case to the Jilin Province Remediation and Construction of Economic Development and Institutions Leadership Committee Office of the Jilin Province Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Yitong Court chief Jiang Shouchen, Guo Xuehong, and Zhang Zhixin were repeatedly called to the leadership committee office to talk about the case. The Office ordered Guo to admit...