1st Ld-Writethru: China inaugurates 3rd, 4th circuit courts

China opened a third and fourth Circuit Court of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) in eastern Jiangsu Province and central Henan Province on Wednesday.

The Third Circuit Court in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu, will mainly handle major administrative, civil and commercial cases that should be heard by the SPC in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian provinces, and Shanghai Municipality.

The fourth court in Henan provincial capital Zhengzhou will cover the four provinces of Henan, Shanxi, Hubei and Anhui.

According to the SPC, the two courts will help meet local demands in the two densely populated regions.

Zhou Qiang, the SPC president and the country's chief justice, said on Wednesday that the circuit courts should play a pioneering role in judicial reform.

Hailing the establishment of circuit courts as an important measure to advance rule of law and safeguard judicial fairness, Zhou urged the circuit courts to solve local disputes and facilitate litigation, so as to "let people feel fairness and justice in every case".

Circuit courts should vigorously advance judicial reform and provide courts nationwide with experience in judicial reform and contribute to exploring court management and operations suitable to China's actual conditions.

First opened in 2015, circuit court judgments, orders and decisions are equal to those of the SPC.

The first two, in southern city of Shenzhen and northeastern city of Shenyang, have helped in cases that involve more than one administrative region since January 2015, providing easier access for the general public, said the SPC.

Also on Wednesday, a revised judicial interpretation on circuit courts was published by the SPC and went into effect, setting out plans for a fifth and sixth circuit courts in Chongqing Municipality and Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province.

Cases from Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong and Inner Mongolia will be handled directly by the SPC.

The Fifth Circuit Court will cover Chongqing, Tibet Autonomous Region and provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan. The Sixth Circuit Court will handle cases in provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Endi