China is going to reform its terms and procedures in the recruitment and promotion of judges, said the China News Service, a major news agency in China, on Monday January 1.
According to the report, job vacancies for judges will first be made open to the public before the enrollment examination and with the most understanding applicants to be sorted out.
In China, judges should meet with some basic qualifications. The Amendment to the Draft Law of Judges in China is still under discussion. It stipulates that whoever wants to serve as a judge must be a graduate from the law faculty of an institute of high learning or a graduate from other specialties but imbued with judicial knowledge, having two years of practical experience in a law organ. Postgraduates, with or without law degree, should be knowledgeable in law and have practiced law for at least two years; Master or PhD holders of law or other degrees should have one-year working experience in legal fields. In addition, judges for higher courts will be selected and promoted from among the judges in lower courts based on their merits and performances.
(People's Daily 01/03/2001)