Judges take sliding cable to open a court session in Fengjie county, Chongqing municipality. (Photo/Wu Hui, Rao Guojun)

China’s juridical system has been committed to serving the people since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The slogan is that where there are people, there are legal services.

Even until today, Chinese judges at the grassroots level, who are capable of riding horses, camels, yaks, sliding cables, and rowing boats, are often seen travelling distances and braving bad weather to deliver legal services to people in remote areas.

A special form of court which features on-the-spot services, is vividly described as “courthouse on the horseback”. Under this scheme, people’s courts, especially those at the grassroots level, place a case on file, open a court session, mediate disputes and bring the case to a closure, in rural areas where people need such services very much but happen to be geographically disadvantaged.

Judges ride horses to open a court session in Urumqi county in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (People's Daily Online/Xiao Jinbo)

Circuit courts had started to serve the people in need in revolutionary base areas and liberated areas before the founding of the PRC. In 1932, the Central Executive Committee of the then Chinese Soviet Republic issued a provisional regulation that allowed adjudicators the power to open a court session on the site where disputes took place.

After the founding of the PRC, while building a judicial system, the Communist Party of China (CPC) devoted great efforts to make sure that the judicial services could cover more people.

Circuit courts were lauded as an efficient way to improve trial quality and efficiency in the first national judicial work conference held in July 1950. The second judicial work conference ordered people’s courts at the grassroots level to establish their circuit courts step by step, in order to facilitate judicial efficiency.

A judge from the people's court of Urumqi county successfully mediates a dispute. (People's Daily Online/Xiao Jinbo)

In the 1970s and 1980s, circuit courts became an important way to solve disputes between herders in ethnic minority areas in China.

In 1991, The Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China was adopted. It stipulates that in trying civil cases, the people's courts shall conduct circuit trials to handle cases on the spot when necessary. The law serves as a strong legal support for circuit courts in the handling of cases.

Between 2005 and 2011, the country introduced a slew of documents to guide judicial work nationwide, vigorously encouraging courts to establish circuit courts.

Wang Jun, a judge from the Supreme People’s Court of China, said circuit courts satisfy China’s need to build itself into a rule-of-law country. Especially in remote areas, the great role played by the rule of law in promoting national unity and progress and maintaining regional harmony and stable development cannot be ignored.

A judge from the people's court of Tashikuergan county rides a yak to open a court session. (Photo via Xinjiang High People’s Court)

Circuit courts play an irreplaceable role in the efficient handling of cases in rural areas where it is difficult for judges to investigate and collect evidence, and for farmers and herdsmen to be present.

In addition, circuit courts are of unique significance in terms of providing convenient judicial services and responding to people’s diversified judicial needs.

A judge from the people's court of Bayar tuhushuo in Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, rides a horse to open a court session. (Photo via people's court of Bayar tuhushuo)

In Tongliao city in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, a judge of a circuit court had handled 3,500 cases in the past 27 years and formed a mediation system with local characteristics. The overall success rate of mediations he handled stood at 95 percent on average per year. Over 60 percent of cases were handled through the circuit, and the satisfaction rate reached 99 percent.

Since 2015, the Supreme People’s Court of China has established six circuit courts. By the end of 2018, they handled 33,335 cases, or half of the total number of cases the court handled, and provide judicial services to 117,000 people.

Judges from the people's court of Xiangyun county, Yunnan province, on the way to open a court session. (Photo via people's court of Xiangyun county)

Judges from the people's court of Xiangyun county, Yunnan province, open a court session. (Photo via people's court of Xiangyun county)

No. 3 circuit court of the Supreme People's Court in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. (Photo via No. 3 circuit court of the Supreme People's Court)