一次修法能有多少进步——2014年《中华人民共和国行政诉讼法》修改回顾

How Much Progress Can Legislation Bring?——The 2014 Amendment of the Administrative Litigation Law of PRC

中国的《行政诉讼法》颁行25年后,在2014年做了重大的修改。这次修改对行政诉讼立案难、判决难和执行难做了比较有力的回应。新《行政诉讼法》实施后,一审行政诉讼案件出现了受案数大幅上升、原告胜诉率同时上升的局面。行政诉讼解决纠纷的功能有明显改进,对于行政复议和信访机制的改革也有所推动。总体来说,《行政诉讼法》的修改取得了立法者所预期的效果,中国行政诉讼迎来了历史上最好的一个时期。另外,这次修法所设定的目标是相当低微的。它重在化解纠纷、救济权利,而非拓展法院监督行政、维护法治的功能。对规范性文件的起诉、对公益诉讼的吸纳、对法规的审查都回避了。而制约行政诉讼的最大问题,即充分保障行政审判的独立性和权威性,这次《行政诉讼法》修改也未能解决,而有待于司法改革和政治改革的推进。因此,困扰行政诉讼的深层次问题依然存在,行政审判将依然步履艰难。《行政诉讼法》的修改反映出这个时代推进法治的努力,但也折射了中国法治进程的阶段性和局限性。

The Administrative Litigation Law of the PRC underwent major amendments in 2014,the background,courses,main contents and the preliminary effects of which have been examined in this article.Generally speaking,the amendments have made a powerful response to issues besetting judicial review,especially the difficulties in getting an administrative lawsuit registered,adjudicating administrative cases and executing court decisions.After the amended Administrative Litigation Law came into effect,the acceptance of the first instance administrative lawsuits increased sharply,the plaintiff win rate rose slightly and the reform of the administrative reconsideration and petition mechanisms has also been promoted.The amendments have achieved the desired results of the legislators and administrative litigation in China is embracing the best ever period in its history.However,the deepseated problems that have troubled administrative litigation for years still exist.The court review of normative documents,collateral review of local regulations and acceptance of public interest litigation have all been evaded.Full guarantee of the independence and authority of administrative trials has to wait for an overall judicial and political reform.Administrative trial still faces a difficult future.The amendments of the Administrative Litigation Law show the efforts to promote the rule of law in this era,but also reflect the limitations of the process of the rule of law in China at this stage.