A judicial reform blueprint, which put forward 45 reform measures across eight areas was released on July 9 by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) particularly endowed judges with the right to make independent rulings without the approval of court heads.

In the current Chinese judiciary, rather than having judges try cases, most important court decisions are made by a "judicial council" (审判委员会)or division leaders which do not participate in the trial. The "try but not judge" practice has always been a key part of China's judical reform and has been criticized over the years for impairing court fairness. During the legal procedure, a fair judgement can be expected only from a judge who has listened to the defendants, accusers and witnesses and checked the evidence himself. The separation of trial and ruling only leads to inefficiency and unfairness.

The reform plan make it clearer that trial judges' decisions will no longer need to be signed off by court heads and that the function of the judical council is mainly to "discuss the legal measures for a case," so henceforth, judges' independence can be largely guaranteed.

The latest reform outline also considered cutting links between courts and local governments to reduce officials' judicial interference. At present, local courts are generally subjected to local governments in terms of human and finance management, thus local officials can often influence court decisions in their jurisdictions. In some incidents, big companies have avoided legal sanctions for environmental pollution as they bring revenues to local governments and offer jobs to local citizens.

The plan asked for the establishment of judicial selection committees at provincial-level courts to promote professional selection of the bench as well as reduce nepotism within local governments. Moreover, local courts' finances will be put under uniform administration by provincial authorities and the money and property they collect as litigation fees, fines and forfeitures will be rendered to the provincial treasury.

The de-localization of the court system is a big step forward. It solves the worries of judicial authorities and enables them to handle cases strictly in accordance with the law, safeguarding judical fairness.