A Brief Analysis of the Ma Xiwu Trial Mode: Formation of a Civil Trial Mode and Its Historic Destiny

Abstract

In Chinese law circles, the “Ma Xiwu trial mode” is virtually a historic concept. In law schools, it is only mentioned in contemporary and modern history of law. It has all but disappeared from civil procedure law, which is the science of legal interpretation. Generally speaking, in previous research the following notions exist on the historic status and significance of the Ma Xiwu trial mode in China’s judicial system, particularly civil trials: First, the Ma Xiwu trial mode was a temporary wartime trial mode or system adopted in revolutionary basic regions under specific historic conditions. Despite being of particular significance at the time and having witnessed a certain course of development, it was by no means a prototype for China’s civil trial mode following the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, and therefore provides no substantive basis of reference for the current civil trial mode. The current civil trial mode in China was developed on the basis of the civil action system of the then Soviet Union, which was imitated in China after the foundation of the People’s Republic. It is characterized by a “doctrine of strong officialism.” Another notion is that the Ma Xiwu trial mode cannot be considered as a model of civil action, but was a tool used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to motivate and educate the masses, a product of the CCP’s judicial