1

Court Composition and Duties

Judge: Leads court proceedings, a neutral role, and makes judgments on the legal aspects of the case. During the trial process, the prosecution and the defense cannot be interrupted. Questions can be asked during the intermission.

Jury: Listen to the court hearing and make judgments on the facts of the case. Questions may be asked of both the prosecution and the defense during the intermission period with the permission of the judge.

Both the prosecution and the defense: Clarify the appeal, prepare evidence, conduct cross-examination and court defense, and strive for the maximum rights and interests of itself.

Clerk: Explain the rules.

2

Basic mode: Prosecution and the defense confront each other and the judge coordinates the proceeding.

3

Preparation of Key Issue

The prosecution and the defense prepare their own arguments closely related to the facts of the case and submit them to the judge for review. If rejected in whole or in part, the prosecution and the defense continue to prepare arguments until sufficient arguments are provided.

4

Court Proceedings

(1)

The judge determines an issue.

(2)

The prosecution and the defense each sent a representative to speak.

(3)

Representatives of the prosecution and the defense submit evidence to the court.

(4)

The judge issues a formality review opinion on the submitted evidence.

(5)

The prosecution and defense exchanged evidence and cross-examined evidence.

(6)

The judge made a ruling on the results of the cross-examination.

(7)

The prosecution and the defense debate, and each person can express their opinions for 5 minutes each time, and they can express their opinions up to 5 times.

(8)

If, after both parties have finished their presentation, the judge or jury believes that there is still a question that needs to be addressed by a certain party, the judge or jury may require that party to answer the question.

(9)

After all the speeches and defenses, the judge may request the jury to issue a conclusion on the factual issues. If there is no strong objection, the judge shall accept the jury’s conclusion and let the judge discuss and make a legal ruling. If there are strong objections, the judge should explain to the jury and ask the jury to discuss again and reach a conclusion.

(10)

Start to discuss the next key issue.

5

Other Rules

(1)

Before class every week, both the prosecution and the defense need to send their own opinions on the issue to the class.

(2)

After one round of presentation, either the prosecution or the defense can unanimously initiate to remove a specific judge. If this initiative is supported by a majority vote of the jury, a specific judge may be removed and replaced by one of the jurors at random.

(3)

The presiding judge rotates among the judges with the changes in the issues. Fairness should be considered by judges and juries.

(4)

The objecting judge may state his objection in court.

(5)

The language of the court defense is Chinese.