On October 14th, Professor Liu Xing of China University of Political Science and Law addressed a lecture at the moot court of Southeast University Law School. The lecture was entitled “How to Shape the Grass-roots Court Space”, hosted by Professor Zhang Hongtao. And teachers and students attended the lecture.

    Professor Liu Xing first pointed out that the court space had important significance and that the grass-roots court space was more complicated. He mentioned what the film “The Court on Horseback” showed modern courts were not universal in marginal areas and complex social conditions. Professor Liu Xing added that China was in a period of transition resulting in complex interests to the grass-roots court space. Therefore, although the modernization of the rule of law was an inevitable trend, the efforts of grass-roots courts in space should be deeply considered.

    Secondly, Professor Liu Xing introduced that perspective of parties for his research. The physical space and human space, even the judge's image, words and deeds would become part of the party's perception. In fact, these court practices included a mutual consideration. The formal court institutions and the affinity court space worked together to change the feelings of the parties. Professor Liu Xing believed that the establishment of a formal space was largely for the correctness of the referee. From the perspective of law and literature, there was a reasonable space for the shaping of the court space and the introduction of literary language. There was a theoretical space for how language was expressed and rhetoric, and how the court space was shaped and operated according to social concepts.

    Professor Liu Xing concluded that the court space should be limited to grass-roots courts, and specific disputes such as family neighborhood disputes. He emphasized that, in addition, it was necessary to pay attention to the perspective of the parties, which may be different to look at the court space from the perspective of ordinary people.

    Finally, the lecture ended in the hot applause. Professor Liu Xing’s lecture was praised by the teachers and students for thought-provoking.