Judges should be relieved of non-judicial affairs to focus on their duty, says an article in Yanzhao Metropolis News. The following is an excerpt:

Xie Yong, vice-president of the High People's Court in Hunan Province, suggested creating the position of circuit judges to ease the shortage of qualified judges in local courts.

After the country set up a judicial examination in 2002 to choose suitable candidates only about 10 percent could pass the exam. As a result, many local courts are short of qualified people.

Xie's advice is constructive. However, there is another way of looking at the issue.

There are nearly 300,000 people working in the courts at all levels around the country and 180,000 of them are judges. China has one of the highest number of judges in the world.

But the judges are overloaded with work and therefore there is now a need to boost their numbers.

The judges are responsible for too many tasks, some outside their legal responsibilities.

They are required to sit in court, give verdicts, hold mediation hearings, receive visits from parties in lawsuits and their agents, read various files, gather and check proofs and many other miscellaneous tasks.

They also might be asked to attend family planning meetings, supervise the reallocation of residents and even take part in civic campaigns.

It is necessary for the public to have a better understanding of the duties of a judge. It requires high qualifications and talented people.

To ease the workload of the judges we suggest some of their lesser administrative duties be farmed out to judicial assistants or court clerks.

More such junior positions should be established in the courts.

(China Daily August 1, 2007)