Chinese judicial justice on the cloud: a future call or a Pandora’s box? An analysis of the ‘intelligent court system’ of China

The incorporation of information and communication technology as part of the process of Chinese judicial reform has appeal to both legislators and policy-makers who focus on its positive features. The launch of the ‘intelligent court system’ represents part of this process to equip the judiciary with the most up-to-date modern technology that aims to reshape case resolution procedure by way of moving the legal process online. The central aspect of this is to establish an online case resolution process through an ‘e-court’ or ‘online court’, which will shift the judicial process towards working within the expectation of modern commercial practice and technological capacity. However, the realisation of the ideals underlining the project is not without problems. An examination of the two different models introduced for the pilot e-court system, indicates that insufficient consideration has been given with regards to its potential adverse effects and that more thought needs to be given to how these issues should be addressed in order to improve the role and function of online courts in China.