ONE CHILLY day last winter Zhang Jie, suffering from a fever, stopped his car on the side of a busy road to let his wife run into a shop to buy a thermometer. Within seconds, a traffic cop raced over to give him a ticket—he was still behind the wheel but in a no-parking zone. Incensed, he sued the police. At a hearing this month, Mr Zhang, a trim young man, sat across the polished floor of the Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court from two uniformed police officers. Arguments proceeded for nearly an hour before the judge, perched on a high-backed wooden chair, suggested a solution: Mr Zhang should withdraw his lawsuit and the police cancel their punishment. Both sides agreed.
Although the stakes were low, it was striking to see an ordinary citizen confront agents of the government in a formal setting. Over the past two years Chinese courts have heard a growing number of such disputes, on matters ranging from insurance claims to the demolition of property to make way for...Continue reading
Source: China http://ift.tt/2xNyz57
EmoticonEmoticon