Introduction / 1
Chapter 1 Status Quo of Trial Efficiency and Quality in China’s Civil Litigation / 13
1.1 Status Quo of Trial Efficiency and Quality in China / 14
1.1.1 Evaluation of Trial Efficiency / 15
1.1.2 Evaluation Index of Trial Quality of Courts in China / 18
1.2 Weights Setting of Judges’ Performance Assessment Indicators / 25
1.3 Insufficient Trial Resources in Local Courts / 29
1.3.1 Dramatically Increased Cases but Limited Quota Judges / 30
1.3.2 Great Pressure on Judges / 33
1.3.3 AI Making Up for the Shortage of Judicial Assistants / 36
1.4 Loopholes of Internal Trial Supervision Brought by Judicial Accountability System / 38
1.4.1 Court Leading Cadres Being Hesitant or Unwilling to Supervise / 41
1.4.2 Defects of the New Case Assignment System / 43
1.4.3 Other Dilemmas / 46
1.5 Trial-quality Ignorance of the Smart Court Construction in the Early Stage / 49
1.5.1 Construction and Development History of Smart Courts / 52
1.5.2 Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Smart Courts / 56
1.5.3 The Goal Pursuit in the Early Stage of Smart Courts: Efficiency Orientation / 81
1.6 Distrust on AI Participating in Trial: Based on a Questionnaire / 85
1.6.1 Overview Information of Respondents and Investigation Methodology of the Questionnaire / 86
1.6.2 Survey Results and Data Analysis / 88
1.7 Conclusion / 96
Chapter 2 Legal Reasoning and the Development of Court Intelligent Auxiliary Case Handling System / 98
2.1 Development Goal: Promoting Trial Quality and Further Improving Trial Efficiency / 102
2.1.1 General Goal of Trial Quality: Treating Similar Cases Alike / 102
2.1.2 Sub-goal 1: to Solve the Law Application Justification Problems / 105
2.1.3 Sub-goal 2: to Solve the Problem of Unifying“ Similar Cases” Standard / 109
2.1.4 Sub-goal 3: to Solve the Problem in the Legal Reasoning Process / 115
2.1.5 Other Sub-goals / 118
2.2 Selection of Research and Development Domain / 119
2.3 Jurisprudence Basis and Model of Legal Reasoning / 126
2.3.1 Deduction: Rule-Based Reasoning / 127
2.3.2 Non-monotonic Logic and Defeasible Reasoning Model / 129
2.3.3 Analogy: Case-Based Reasoning and Knowledge-Based Reasoning / 137
2.3.4 Cooperative Paradigm Reasoning Model— Chinese Choice / 144
2.4 Building the Intelligent Auxiliary Case Handling System for Road Traffic Accident Compensation Disputes / 147
2.4.1 Building Rule-Based Reasoning System / 148
2.4.2 Building Knowledge-Based Reasoning Model / 155
2.4.3 Establishment of Defeasible Reasoning Model / 164
2.4.4 Construction of Case-Based Reasoning Model / 167
2.4.5 Establishment of Intelligent Auxiliary Case Handling System / 178
2.5 Conclusion / 183
Chapter 3 Law Expectation and Due Process: From Perspective of Civil Litigation / 188
3.1 Absence of Law Causing Legal Expectation of Intelligent Trial Failed / 189
3.2 Embedding the Intelligent Auxiliary Case Handling System in Civil Procedure / 194
3.2.1 Element-Oriented Trial Mode Applied in Road Traffic Cases / 194
3.2.2 Scope of the Element-Oriented Court Trial Expanded to Complicated Cases / 208
3.2.3 Different Judgment Reasoning Requirements in Summary and
Formal Procedures / 213
3.2.4 Embedding the Intelligent Auxiliary Case Handling System in Civil Procedures / 217
3.3 Institutional Design of Intelligent Adjudication in the Civil Procedure Law / 220
3.3.1 Substituting the Judge to Make Adjudication in Summary Procedure / 221
3.3.2 Assisting the Judge to Make Adjudication in Formal Procedure / 223
3.3.3 Compulsory Application of the IACHS in the First Instance Trial in the
Selected Domain / 227
3.3.4 Trial Responsibility Allocation / 235
3.3.5 Application of IACHS in Appeal and Retrial Procedure / 240
3.4 Dual Shaping of Due Process on the IACHS: Procedural Legitimacy and
Substantive Legitimacy / 243
3.4.1 Procedure Subjects: Role Separation / 246
3.4.2 Subject’s Behavior: Time Requirements and Communication Rules / 250
3.4.3 Procedure Result: Judgment Acceptability / 260
3.5 Conclusion / 263
Findings and Forward: the Judicial World of Human-Machine Collaboration / 267
Appendix 1 / 285
Appendix 2 / 288
Appendix 3 / 292
內容試閱:
When artificial intelligence (AI) goes deep into every corner of society, China’s judicial system has obtained some late-developing advantages. The goal of judicial reform is always to enhance trial efficiency and promote trial quality. Local courts are alleviating the backlog of cases by technology and putting forward the slogan of “increasing manpower and enhancing efficiency from informatization of courts”.
It is effective in reducing the load of mechanical labor and improving the speed and quality of material and data processing through computer information retrieval systems and other auxiliary means. It can be said that the construction of “smart court” is of great value in efficiency promotion.
When the goal of efficiency is achieved, trial quality is the current direction of judicial reform. One requirement of good quality in China is up to the public’s expectation of the case trial, and the other is that the case handling fits the court’s function. Judging from the status quo in China, the problem of trial quality is relatively severe. The pressure on judges to try cases is too heavy, the judgment remanded and revised rate and the appeal rate remain high, and the phenomenon of treating similar cases differently is not a few. AI might be a way to solve these problems, which are the focus of the construction of “ smart court” at the current stage.
Scholars proposed the theory to develop an AI system to assist judges’ trial work and some Chinese courts have put it into practice. Nevertheless, the problem is that the theory is divorced from practice: (1) although the technology in China is advanced, the developer or owner is unwilling to explain it to the public, which leads to a desolation of the academic circle; (2) the theoretical research is based on logic or methodology but not the current Chinese situation. Then, how to verify the theory’s correctness if these discussions are still on paper and have not been put into practice?
Therefore, this book will use the empirical research method to make a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the judicial practice of AI in China. Based on China’s national conditions, it will study the judgment mode of Chinese judges. In addition, it will focus on a small domain—road traffic accident personal compensation cases, and design an Intelligent Auxiliary Case Handling System
(IACHS) suitable to Chinese courts. As well, it will analyze the challenges when applying this system. At the same time, it will put forward legislative suggestions on applying the intelligent system in the Civil Procedure Law.
The system is designed under the guidance of computer experts, combined with the author’s legal knowledge and the judges’ experience. This book will explain the system’s theoretical basis, internal structure, reasoning logic, and operation principle in an easy-to-understand way, which reflects the transparency of the algorithm and justice. It is the first attempt in the interdisciplinary research field of AI and the Civil Procedure Law in China and fills the relevant research gap in China.
The book is the achievement of the Doctoral Fund Project of Southwest University of Science and Technology—“Artificial Intelligence and Intellectualization of Judicial Trial in China” (22sx7117). It is based on the revision and update of the author’s doctoral thesis. It can be said that without the encouragement of my family, friends, and professors, I can’t stick to the end. Therefore, I have many gratitudes to express.
First, I want to show my infinite gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Alexandr Svetlicinii. He inspired me to write on “AI & law” issues. From the topic selection, the framework establishment to the content analysis, the writing all reflects his efforts. He has condensed his rigorous attitude on every word and punctuation of my paper.
Second, the completion of this book is inseparable from the help of my friends and colleagues. Some helped carry out the questionnaire and interview, and provided writing clues for the study. Some provided technical support for the design of IACHS and took the trouble to answer various questions about AI, so that I, a layman, could touch the edge of high technology. Special thanks to my friend Zhang Han. She not only helped me collect, organize, and analyze the survey questionnaire,
but also updated the data in Chapter 1. In addition, she gave me many critical suggestions on Chapter 3, making the content more professional and accurate.
My gratitude extends to my husband, Du Bin, and my lovely son, Du Tingyuan, for their unreserved support and understanding. I hope that AI can bring convenience to junior Du and become something he is interested in the future.
I’m greatly indebted to my beloved parents and parents-in-law for their silent dedication, meticulous care for my family and me, and helping me raise my son. Without their selfless devotion, I would not be able to graduate. Especially my father, thank you for overcoming the disease with an optimistic attitude and coming back to us. Hardly could I express my gratitade in words. Through my
father’s surgery, I truly feel the brilliant hope that technological advancement brings to humanity, and sincerely devote myself to research in AI & law domain with the greatest willingness.
More importantly, this great era and country give me a chance to explore emerging things freely. The Chinese government supports the integration of AI and law. Therefore, this topic has great theoretical, legislative, and practical significance.
This book will contribute to China’s jurisprudence development, the better settlement of disputes, the reform of civil procedure law, and the better application of AI. Of course, the finality of judicial power will decide that it should choose an appropriate final solution through the survival of the fittest mechanism of debate,
not just depending on technologies. Under such a modern legal system, big data, cloud computing, information technology, and AI are only auxiliary means to achieve
legitimacy and justice, which is a fundamental principle that this study should always
stick to.
With the development of AI technology, there must be some new understanding
on this topic. Due to the possibility for omissions of new achievements, the viewpoints
and deductions of this book might deviate from the truth. I will continue to explore
the truth. For the limitations of my ability, there might be some shortcomings in the
book. I sincerely invite experts and readers to correct them.