On Marth 13^th, the 13^th Rule of Law and Development Academic Salon of PKULS was successfully held in Room 307 of Koguan Building. The topic of this salon is Court under Legal System: Experience of America and Judicial Reform of China. The salon was hosted by Paul Gewirtz, professor of law school in Yale University and attended by Dean Zhang Shouwen, Party Secretary Pan Jianfeng, Vice Dean Xue Jun, Vice Dean Guo Li and more than forty teachers.

In the beginning, Professor Paul Gewirtz said that the development of American court and scope of authority, elaborates on operation mechanism of American judicial authority. He thought that American judicial system does have some problems, but there are three points determined that it is still an effective legal system. First of all,it’s the neutral image of judges. Secondly, it’s the balance between independence of the judiciary and system of power restriction. Thirdly, it’s the power of credibility. Besides, in the perspective of different culture between Chinese and American, he offered suggestions to our judicial independence and legal reform.

After that, conference attendees had a heated discussion over some questions about setting up the professional trial, the independence of judges and payment of legal practitioners. Many teachers, like Wang Shizhou, Gan Chaoying, He Weifang, Zhang Qianfan, raised some questions, for which professor Paul Gewirtz answered one by one.

The salon came into end in an enthusiastic academic atmosphere. The salon focused on the comparison between Chinese and US legal system, discussed the orientation of judicial independence in a legal state and provided references for the further study of rule of law.

Translated by: Li Jie

Edited by: Fang Zhou