Submitted manuscript, 618 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Rights statement: This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Environmental Law following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Lei Xie, Lu Xu, Environmental Public Interest Litigation in China: Findings from 570 Court Cases Brought by NGOs, Public Prosecutors and Local Government, Journal of Environmental Law, Volume 34, Issue 1, March 2022, Pages 53–81, https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqab029 is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/jel/article/34/1/53/6382283
Accepted author manuscript, 515 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental Public Interest Litigation in China
T2 - Findings from 570 Court Cases Brought by NGOs, Public Prosecutors and Local Government
AU - Xie, Lei
AU - Xu, Lu
N1 - This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Environmental Law following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Lei Xie, Lu Xu, Environmental Public Interest Litigation in China: Findings from 570 Court Cases Brought by NGOs, Public Prosecutors and Local Government, Journal of Environmental Law, Volume 34, Issue 1, March 2022, Pages 53–81, https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqab029 is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/jel/article/34/1/53/6382283
PY - 2022/3/31
Y1 - 2022/3/31
N2 - Environmental public interest litigation (EPIL) is an important development in the evolving framework of environmental governance in China. Through quantitative and qualitative analyses of decided cases brought by local government, public prosecutors and environmental NGOs, this study critically examines the features, strengths, difficulties and obstacles in the EPIL practice of China. While there is remarkable success overall for all three groups in terms of outcome, they each display different approaches and focuses. The prosecutors have established themselves as the cornerstone of the system by being the most efficient in winning the greatest number of cases. NGOs moved away from collaboration with the prosecutors in low-value cases, effectively into a competition with the government in a smaller number of high-value cases, though they are willing to venture into areas where others hesitate over. The findings offer valuable insights into current EPIL practice and inform future policy adjustment and legislation.
AB - Environmental public interest litigation (EPIL) is an important development in the evolving framework of environmental governance in China. Through quantitative and qualitative analyses of decided cases brought by local government, public prosecutors and environmental NGOs, this study critically examines the features, strengths, difficulties and obstacles in the EPIL practice of China. While there is remarkable success overall for all three groups in terms of outcome, they each display different approaches and focuses. The prosecutors have established themselves as the cornerstone of the system by being the most efficient in winning the greatest number of cases. NGOs moved away from collaboration with the prosecutors in low-value cases, effectively into a competition with the government in a smaller number of high-value cases, though they are willing to venture into areas where others hesitate over. The findings offer valuable insights into current EPIL practice and inform future policy adjustment and legislation.
KW - Chinese law
KW - public interest litigation
KW - environmental litigation
KW - environmental NGOs
KW - public prosecutor
KW - local government
KW - private enforcement
KW - qualitative and quantitative analyses
KW - case law
U2 - 10.1093/jel/eqab029
DO - 10.1093/jel/eqab029
M3 - Journal article
VL - 34
SP - 53
EP - 81
JO - Journal of Environmental Law
JF - Journal of Environmental Law
SN - 0952-8873
IS - 1
ER -