Workload Management in Chinese Courts

This chapter serves as the concluding part of the book. It begins by summarizing the defining features of the case-judge imbalance in contemporary Chinese courts, and then examines institutional reforms implemented by the Chinese court system to address the problem of high caseloads with insufficient personnel through management approaches, such as trial management. Based on empirical research, the chapter identifies two core institutional logics underlying China’s court management response: “deep external embeddedness” and “comprehensive internal control.” Due to these logics, court management in China exhibits a dual character—being both efficient and inefficient—and while partially alleviating the case-judgment, it has also generated new challenges. The chapter concludes that the Chinese approach to court management offers valuable insights from a comparative perspective for other jurisdictions seeking to mitigate similar tensions between caseload and judicial capacity.