行政机关负责人出庭应诉制度运行省思

A Reflection on the Operation of the System of the Head of Administrative Organ Appearing in Court to Respond to Lawsuits

行政机关负责人出庭应诉制度被认为是一项极具中国特色的诉讼制度,承载着优化审判环境、缓和官民矛盾、实质化解争议、推进依法行政的工具性价值。该项制度的生成和发展有其特定土壤,在司法环境不成熟时能够取得正向的改良效益,然而,该项制度面临着正当理由认定不明、委托制度运作偏误、出庭应诉性质界别不清、缺席裁判适用存疑等困惑。随着法治社会建设的日益完善,这项制度会逐渐退出历史舞台,但在目前,仍要通过正当理由压缩不能出庭的空间,配套行政系统得力的支持措施,从而实现该项制度的优化和落地。

The system of the head of administrative organ appearing in court to respond to lawsuits is regarded as a litigation system with Chinese characteristics, bearing the instrumental value of optimizing the trial environ ment, easing the conflict between officials and the public, resolving disputes essentially, and promoting law-based administration. The formation and development of this system has its own specific foundation, which can achieve positive improved efficiency when the judicial environment is not mature, but this system is faced with some perplexities, such as unascertained legitimate reason, biased error of the operation of entrustment system, unclear distinction of the nature of appearing in court to respond to lawsuits, and the questioned application of default judgment. We believe that with the improvement of the construction of a law-based society, this system will gradually step down from the stage of history. However, at present, we still need to reduce the space that one cannot appear in court through legitimate reasons with support measures of the administrative system, so as to realize the optimization and implementation of this system.