Establishing Judicial Review in China

This chapter analyses China’s existing mechanism of reviewing the constitutionality and legality of legislations and its deficiencies. The first part of the chapter describes the Qi Yuling case and the failure to maintain and advance a judicial review mechanism in China. The second part discusses some of the constitutional cases, mostly on equality without reference to the Constitution. The third and fourth parts explore the political and legal context for the existing review mechanism, in which the role of the judiciary is minimized and the limitations that inhere in the legislative review mechanism. The final part discusses the theoretical and practical impediments at establishing judicial review in China, and proposes several reforms aimed at evolving a suitable mechanism for ensuring conformity of state action to China’s Constitution and the laws.