As the Congress party and its Left allies pick an ill-considered fight with the judiciary, Communist China’s Chief Justice, Xiao Yang was in New Delhi last week to learn the tricks of distancing the court from the executive.

Having once peddled the theory of “committed judiciary”, the Congress and the Left would love to subordinate the bench. China is moving in the other direction. As its economy grows more complex and the society more divisive, Chinese courts have acquired a new political weight.

Although severely constrained by the Party-State, the Chinese Supreme Court is finding space for itself — from implementing a range of newly approved economic laws to reforming the criminal procedure code.

Judge Xiao now has the huge task of interpreting the historic new law on property rights that was approved by the NPC last month. The law fudged a number of difficult issues to mollify the ideologues in the Chinese Communist Party.

The Chinese chief justice wants to make sure that courts across the nation clearly understand the 247 Articles in the law, which proclaims, “the property of the state, the collective, the individual is protected by law, and no unit or individuals may infringe upon it”.

Last year, Judge Xiao put an end to a 27-year-old practice in China where the lower courts decided on the death penalty. The Supreme Court has now reclaimed the authority to review and ratify all death sentences. The Supreme Court is empowered enough to crack down on judicial corruption and the failure of other state organs to implement the court’s orders.

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