Intermediate people's court

A picture of Haikou Intermediate People's Court in Haikou, Hainan Province, People's Republic of China

An intermediate people's court (Chinese: 中级人民法院) is the second-lowest local people's court in China. According to the Organic Law of the People's Courts of the People's Republic of China, the intermediate people's courts handle relevant important local cases in the first instance and hear appeal cases from the basic people's courts.

Jurisdiction

Criminal cases

According to article 21 of Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, intermediate people's courts have original jurisdiction over the following kinds of criminal cases:

  1. Cases concerning activities endangering national security and terrorism;
  2. Cases whose potential penalties include life imprisonment or death penalty.

Civil cases

According to article 19 of Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, intermediate people's courts have original jurisdiction over the following kinds of civil cases:

  1. High-impact cases involving foreign nationals;
  2. Cases with significant impact in the area of jurisdiction of the court;
  3. Cases assigned to the court by the Supreme People's Court.

Administrative cases

According to article 15 of Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, intermediate people's courts have original jurisdiction over the following kinds of administrative cases:

  1. Cases brought against official actions of the State Council or local governments on the town level or above;
  2. Cases against official actions of the customs authority;
  3. Important or complex cases in the jurisdiction of the court;
  4. Other cases assigned to intermediate people's courts by law.

List of Intermediate Courts

Intermediate people's court are found at the level of prefectures, autonomous prefectures, and municipalities across China, excluding Macau and Hong Kong:

Outside of regional level there are other intermediate courts for railways and forestry:

References

  1. ↑ "China's Judicial System".
  2. ↑ "Courts and cases China (Lexadin)".

See also