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Document clarifies procedure in civil actions

Xinhua, February 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) issued its lengthiest ever judicial explanation on Wednesday to clarify civil procedures.

The document, with 23 chapters and 552 provisions, orders excluding illegally obtained evidence and gives criteria by which judges must withdraw themselves from cases.

A whole chapter is devoted to circumstance in which judges must withdraw from a case, giving various definitions of conflict of interest.

The explanation also clarifies the definition of "illegal means" in the context of obtaining evidence, namely it must not seriously harm any other person's legal rights and must not be against the law, public order and social morals.

Online chat records, blogs, microblogs, mobile phone text messages, digital signatures and domain names may be used as legitimate evidence in civil cases, according to the explanation.

The explanation bans the recording or broadcasting of trial proceedings without permission.

The explanation also sets a deadline of seven days for courts to decide whether to hear a case or not, further clarifies simplified procedure for small claims and public interest litigation. Endi