因地制宜:基层人民法院职能定位和履行的地方性问题——以法律地理学为视阈

Adaption to Local Conditions:Place-Specific Issues in the Functional Positioning and Implementation by Basic-Level People’s Courts--From the perspective of legal geography

随着2021年启动的“完善四级法院审级职能定位”改革试点工作的停止,现行各级法院职能定位从司法体制改革的重点问题似乎变成了一个没有问题、无需改变的存在。但实践中,四级法院在审判职能和其他职能定位和履行两个方面,仍然存在如何进一步明确功能定位、优化权力配置、凸显正当程序价值的现实需要。基层人民法院作为基层审判机关,在参与社会治理、纠纷解决和实现司法公正方面具有举足轻重的作用。作为一个地域广袤、人口众多的多民族国家,由于地域差异极大,发展水平极不平衡,我国不同地区的基层法院在案件构成、法官办案能力以及办案人员配置等方面往往存在明显差异。运用法律地理学侧重于人、地、法之间的影响与关系的研究方法,揭示不同地区基层人民法院职能的地方性差异、特点和优化路径,能够为完善基层人民法院的职能构建提供借鉴和参考。

With the cessation of the pilot program for the“Improvement of the Functional Positioning of the Four-Tier Court System”launched in 2021,the current functional positioning of the courts at all levels seems to have shifted from a key issue in judicial reform to an existence without problems that does not require any change.However,in reality,they still face the need to further clarify their functional positioning,optimize power configurations,and highlight the value of due process in both trial functions and other functions.As primary judicial organs at the grassroots level,the basic people’s court plays a crucial role in social governance,dispute resolution and the realization of judicial justice.At the same time,in a multi-ethnic country like ours with vast territory and large population,due to great regional differences and extremely unbalanced development level,basic courts in different regions often have obvious differences in case-handling capacity and case-handling personnel allocation.By employing legal geography,which focuses on the influence and relationships between people,places,and law,we can reveal the local variations,characteristics,and optimization paths of the functions of basic-level people's courts in different regions.This can provide insights and references for improving the functional structure of basic-level people’s courts.