Embrace judicial openness

China's top court has recently made public some verdicts on its official website, in a renewed effort to push for judicial openness and transparency.

According to the Supreme People's Court, all of its judgments will be publicized except those concerning State secrets, trade secrets or personal privacy. In so doing, the top court plays an exemplary role in guaranteeing the public's right to know and brings its work under public supervision. This marks an important step toward promoting justice with an open and transparent judicial system.

Despite great efforts in past years to press ahead with judicial reforms, inadequate transparency means the public is still in the dark on the whole about how rulings are made. It is a common practice in China for judicial verdicts to be revealed in court to just the parties concerned and then transmitted to related departments.