Abstract

Abstract

Legal education in China can be classified into the higher legal education for law students， the professional legal education for judges， prosecutors and lawyers， and the popularization of legal knowledge for public and officials.

Legal research according to the research's subjects can be divided into the research under the academy of social science， the one under the governmental organs， and the one under the higher education， as well as the one under the law society.

Ⅰ.Higher Legal Education

1.Development of Higher Legal Education

In term of quantity of law school in China， there were 4 law departments in the universities， namely， Peking University， Renmin University of China， Jilin University and Hubei University before the reform and opening up for a long time， and 5 political and legal colleges， namely， Beijing， Eastern China， South-West， North-West， South-Central Political and Legal College.The number of law school in China in 2012 increased to 624， growing by 68.3 times.

On quantity of law graduates， total number of law graduates before the reform and opening up （19491978） was 27，955， annually average 932.Comparatively， there was 187，570 students graduated from law schools in 2012， increasing by 200.3 times.

At the postgraduate students level， total number of postgraduate students before the reform and opening up was 468， annually average 36.Comparatively， there was 24，373 postgraduates since the reform and opening up， increasing by 676 times.

In short， there were 1，300，000 undergraduate students graduated from law schools between 1949 and 2012， in which there had been 1，280，000 undergraduates since the reform and opening up， and 95，000 postgraduates graduated from graduate schools， including 94，500 graduated since the reform and opening up.On the number of students graduated from law school per 100，000 people was 0.09 before the reform and opening up，but 3.95 after the reform and opening up， and 13.85 in 2012.

2.Issues and Rethinking of Higher Legal Education

（1） Imbalance of Development of Higher Legal Education

Imbalance of development of higher legal education exists in the distribution of regions of legal education.The higher legal education mainly concentrates in the East-China （34%）， the North-China （18%） and the South-Central （19%）.Accordingly， most students graduated from law schools concentrate in the above three regions， respectively 35%， 17% and 18%.However the percentage of law graduates in the North-East and the North-West respectively only accounts for 8%.

In term of ranking of law graduates at the provincial level province， the first 5 provinces are Guangdong， Beijing， Shandong， Henan， and Shanghai with 38，037 students graduated from law school and account for 31.3% in all law graduates in 2012.Comparatively， the last 5 provinces are Qinghai， Tibet， Ningxia， Hainan， and Xinjiang with 3，238 law graduates and only account for 2.7%.

On the employment of law graduates， most law graduates employ in the East-China （22.09%）， North-China （18.06%） and Central-South（25.41%） in 2012， however，Only 7.91% in the North-East and 9.69% in the North-West.

（2）A Shortage of Educational Resources

Along with fast development of higher legal education for recent years， a shortage of educational resources became more and more serious.Total number of law undergraduates increased by 12.8 times between 1992 and 2003， however， the number of teachers in law major only increased by 1.2 times at the same period.Accordingly teacher-student ratio grew from 1.4.61 in 1992 to 1.28.55 in 2003.Fortunately， the Ministry of Education has been tried to increase the quantity of law teachers for recent years so that the ratio is able to restore at a normal level， that is， 1.14.4 in 2012.However， the teacher-student ratio at the major law schools is still much lower than the general one， even 1.30.Not only the teacher-student ratio but also a shortage of classroom， educational equipments， books and etc， could be found everywhere in universities， especially the universities of science and technology that established the law schools too， but lack of humanities atmosphere.

（3）Employment Bottleneck

The law major has alway been one of the most popular fields of study since the reform and opening up and demand for law graduates has exceeded supply.However it has become rather difficult for the law graduates to be employed for recent years， that is， employment bottleneck.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Education， ranking of employment rate of law graduates was No.187 in 2002， and bottom in 2005.According to report on employment of graduates in different majors from the MyCOS， the law major has already been one of the most difficult to find job and one of the easiest unemployment since 2009.

（4）Connection of Legal Education and Legal Profession

Along with development of legal education since the reform and opening up， a shortage of legal profession has taken place a great change and the educational quality of legal profession has increased.Most judges， prosecutors and lawyers have gotten the law degree.On the other hand， to a certain extent， increasing legal profession does not change a shortage of legal profession， especially in the western area of China because the legal education does not connect with legal profession.

It is no doubt that the legal education should be oriented to the legal worker.However， the legal workers in China are stratified.The higher legal education should not only focus on judge， prosecutor and lawyer in the city and the rich area， but also should notice training legal workers such as the LSWGR who works at the grass root and countryside in order to meet poor and peasants' needs that are different from the rich and the citizens' needs in the cities.

Ⅱ.Professional Legal Education

1.Development of Professional Legal Education

The number of personnel in the people's courts at all levels were about 150，000， in which personnel who graduated form universities or colleges only accounted for 6.8% in 1984.The Supreme People's Court established the spare-time legal university in 1985 and branch schools at the provincial level， which trained 100，888 graduates with law degree and 88，274 law students with professional certificate between 1985 and 1997.The percentage of personnel in the courts who graduated form university and college increased to 80% in 1997.The National Judge College was established in 1997， and trained 92，869 judges between 1998 and 2012.

The prosecutors and the lawyers' training went similar path as judges' from law degree education to the professional training.

2.Issues and Rethinking of Professional Legal Education

（1）Imbalance of Professional Legal Training

Imbalance of professional legal training still highlight.Right now China has more than 190，000 judges， more than 150，000 prosecutors and more than 220，000 lawyers.And training of legal profession is a obligation of courts， procuratorates and lawyer society at various level according to law.It is impossible to only depend on the National Judge College， the National Prosecutor College and Lawyer College established in Beijing to train so large amount of legal professionals.However， in term of ability and qualification of training many local institutions are not yet suitable.Except development of local professional training， to fulfill so huge mission of professional training the various ways of professional training， including network education， should be played.

（2）Quality of Trainees

Because contradiction between quantity of cases and lack of professionals to handle cases highlight，it is very hard to ensure every professionals be trained in some places.As a matter of fact， some trainees are not the professionals who did not do any professional business before.How to resolve the issue does not only depend on the professional training organs but also should ensure professionals' sufficiency so that every professional's right to be trained can be realized.

（3）Contents of Professional Training

The contents of professional training should be different from academic education as higher legal education but stress on practical education， especially focus on connecting with trial， prosecution and lawyering.The professional training should not only stress on the professional ability and business skill， but also on the professional morality， especially connecting to judicial corruption， reconstructing education on the professional morality.

Ⅲ.Popularization of Legal Knowledge

1.Development of Popularization of Legal Knowledge

The popularization of legal knowledge began in 1986 in which the NPC's Standing Committee issued a project to popularize the legal knowledge （19861991）.Since then on NPC issued a new project per 5 year， up to now there are total 6 projects for the 30 years.The main points in every project to popularize legal knowledge are different， from constitution， national autonomous area law， criminal law， civil law， marriage law， inheritance law， to the legal system with Chinese characteristics， and etc.

The lecture of legal knowledge for top leaders began in 1986 too.Since then on there are 26 lectures for top leaders， among which there are 4 lectures during the term of the 13th National Congress， 5 lectures during the 14th National Congress， 7 lectures during the 15th National Congress， 7 lectures during the 16th National Congress， 2 lectures in 17th National Congress and 1 lecture during the 18th National Congress.

A new type of popularization of legal knowledge is an activity to invite the legal scholars to report for the public and officials.

2.Issues and Rethinking of Popularization of Legal Knowledge

（1） Focus of Popularization of Legal Knowledge

In term of total target of construction of the rule-of-law state， the purpose of popularization of legal knowledge is to lay a foundation of legal consciousness for all people's law-abiding.Generally speaking the legal consciousness can be divided into legal knowledge and legal belief.Education of popularization of legal knowledge should correctly handle the relation between the legal knowledge and belief in which the legal belief should become the focus of education to enhance the legal consciousness of all people.The people can find legal specialists fo help if they lack the legal knowledge.However， if the people loss the legal belief it will disrupt the foundation of a rule of law state.

（2）Imbalance of Popularization of Legal Knowledge

Popularization of legal knowledge is imbalanced between the cities and countryside， rich and poor areas， Han's and national minorities' residence.The imbalance exists not only in the scope of popularization， but also in different legal needs of the different groups and areas.Popularization of legal knowledge should notice commonality and particularity of different people and areas.

（3）Stressing on Practical Effect of Popularization of Legal Knowledge

In term of forms of popularization of legal knowledge， it should be stressed on the practical effect.Although how many persons and officials participate in the popularization of legal knowledge is important， however， more important is their practical effect.Evaluation of practical effect of popularization does not lie in the test or examination of legal knowledge， but lies in the practical action to abide law， and establishment of legal belief.Popularization of legal knowledge also should fight the formalism.

Ⅳ.Legal Research

1.Development of Legal Research

Along with the development of legal education， the legal research has developed very fast too since the reform and opening up.In term of legal research of higher education， 34，797 legal works and translations between 1992 and 2011 were published， in which 620 books in 1992 and 2，294 books in 2011， increasing by 2.7 times.In term of academic journal of law， there were only two journals before the reform and opening up， however the quantity of academic journal of law has already exceeded 200.On the article of law， 2，887 articles and translations in 1992， but 20，806 articles and translations in 2011 were published， increasing by 6 times.

2.Issues and Rethinking of Legal Research

（1）Imbalance of Development of Legal Research

In term of three kinds of institution of legal research， namely， academy of social science， state organs and higher education， most research results were achieved by the legal research institutions under the higher education.On the research of higher education， the key universities played major role， especially research results with high quality were achieved by the scholars in the key universities.On the research of key universities， most research results were achieved by a few scholars， but a lot of scholars had very few research results， and some of them even never have.So there are many research results in term of total quantity of research results， however， there are few in term of results per capita.

（2）Quantity and Quality of Legal Research

How to ensure and control the quality of legal research is a key to advance the legal research although the quantity of legal research grow very fast.In order to control the quantity of research different methods were applied， including core journal institution， research program， and academic awards mechanism.The core journals of law are not yet unified right now， for example， different law schools have confirmed the scale of core journals themselves as a standard to evaluate the research results as well as the title promotion.Nanjing University confirmed“Chinese Social Science Citation Index”（CSSCI）， and the department of legal information under China Law Society also created a standard called as “Chinese Legal Science Citation Index”（CLSCI） for law schools and research institutions' reference.All of the standards were critiqued although they were significant.These critiques include that the first， not all articles published in the core journal are good in quality， and not articles published in the non-core journals are bad in quality； the second， distinction between the core and non-core journals would lead the core journals “洛阳纸贵”（paper become expensive in Luoyang）.It also brings about corruption and unhealthy tendency in publishing circle， the authors should pay for publishing articles.

（3）Research Program of Law

In term of quantity of research programs of law， kinds of programs， funds to assist program， the research programs have increased twofold， tenfold even hundredfold since the reform.However， it is general issue for research programs of law to pay attention to applying programs but look down closing programs on time.In term of evaluation of programs， the factors do not relate to the program itself impact on the evaluation's fairness.On the orientation of programs， it is necessary to focus on the reality of Chinese construction of the rule of law， but how to balance between focus on reality and historical and foreign topics， especially topics need to research for a long time is still a problem need to seriously concern.

（4）Academic Awards of Results of Legal Research

Generally speaking， academic awards of results of legal research are able to reflect the better level the results attained and evaluating mechanism can basically ensure the fairness of academic awards.However， factors do not relate to the results themselves， such as what universities or research institutions the applicants are from， who is his or her tutor，and etc.still impact on fair evaluation.More important is that whether a article or book is good or bad usually does not depend on how many commentors favor or not.How to appraise and elect a really good research result through a fair mechanism of evaluation on academic awards still need to further explore.