Administrative Justice in China: Institutional Conflicts and Governance Transformation (JCL Studies in Comparative Law, Second)

This pathbreaking essay collection examines how procedural innovation works within a party-state system shaped by institutional capacity, governance priorities, and political authority. Through empirical studies and case analysis, the volume explores issues including family planning, divorce, environmental governance, judicial decision-making, public interest litigation, and bureaucratic inertia. Together, the essays show the tensions among private entitlements, institutional autonomy, collective discipline, and state control, offering a nuanced account of accountability, efficiency, and the changing role of courts in the People's Republic of China. Michael Palmer is Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of London, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and CUHK's Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, and Honorary Cheng Yu Tung Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong. A leading scholar of Chinese law, comparative law, and legal anthropology, he has advised governments and international organizations on legal reform and policy. Dr. Ling Zhou is Associate Professor in the School of Foreign Languages at Shenzhen Technology University. She holds a DPhil in Law from Oxford and an LLM with Distinction from SOAS. Her current research covers civil justice, dispute resolution, administrative governance, and digital trade regulation. She is the author of Access to Justice for the Chinese Consumer. Dr. Yang Lin is a Research Officer at the University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Law. He holds degrees from Shantou University, SOAS, and HKU. His research focuses on Chinese and comparative law, e-commerce, consumer protection, dispute resolution, internet governance, digital regulation, administrative justice, and policy development. xiv, 599 pp.