(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-25 06:52

BEIJING -- China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) qualified 26 Justices here on Monday, only the second group since the first 41 were named in 2002.

The list included two justices of the first rank and 24 of the second rank, according to the SPC.

"In any country and society, the constitution and laws will not realize justice and fairness by themselves without judges who have a strong sense of justice," said Xiao Yang, China's first Chief Justice, also president of the SPC.

A justice will have more responsibility now when China is working to realize the rule of law and build a socialist legal system, he said.

Becoming a justice represents a promotion in terms of professional stature within the judiciary, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the person is given a new assignment or takes charge of a new court.

The justices are either senior staff of the SPC or provincial courts. Their conduct will affect the work of the courts in their charge, he said.

Xiao said he hoped that the justices would always remain aware of the principle that the law and the people's interest come first and that they would reject corruption.

"The term of a justice has an end, but our pursuit of legal justice is endless," he said.