A Pingdingshan social courts on-site meeting kicked off in the city of Ruzhou, Henan province, on October 11.

Li Quansheng, Party chief of Ruzhou; Guo Baozhen, president of Pingdingshan Intermediate People’s Court; and officials from related departments in Pingdingshan attended the meeting.

In the meeting, Li Quansheng pointed out that, nowadays, citizens should attempt to first settle new problems and disputes out of court. Ruzhou has been working on establishing a social court system, the kind that will play a unique role in building a harmonious society.

 He also stressed that Ruzhou should take this meeting as an opportunity to further strengthen the social court system.

A social court is a kind of nonprofit organization to provide dispute resolutions through mediation. The judges for the social court are respected individuals who are voted in by the public. It provides alternative dispute resolutions (ADR) apart from the normal judicial practice.

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) includes dispute resolution processes and techniques that act as a means for disagreeing parties to come to an agreement short of litigation. It is a collective term for the ways that parties can settle disputes, with (or without) the help of a third party. Despite historic resistance to ADR by many popular parties and their advocates, ADR has gained widespread acceptance among both the general public and the legal profession in recent years.

Guo Zhenbao said that all courts in the city should realize the important role that alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in the social court has played. All courts should learn and publicize the social court model in Ruzhou and take an innovative approach to promote the development of judicial practices.

Before the meeting, attendees visited the social court in the village of Xiaodian, the social court in the town of Lingtou and the social court in Fengxue.

By Huang Pei

Edited by Michael Thai