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 The most direct and fundamental reason for initiating this change was the implementation of the new Civil Procedure Law which had amended relevant procedures for retrialing a case. According to the previous Civil Procedure Law, the parties to a case were entitled to apply for a retrial in either the original court or the court at the next higher level. Nonetheless, it is stipulated in article 178 of the new Civil Procedure Law that, "If a party considers that a legally effective judgment or ruling has some errors, he may petition the people’s court only at the next higher level for retrial." That means there will be a large amount of retrial petitions flooding into the higher level courts. The new standard may reduce the amount of first instance cases being filed to the higher people’s courts and the Supreme People’s Court, which reduces the workload of the courts and enhances the trial supervision abilities of the higher courts. The new standard came into force on the same day as the new Civil Procedure Law and will have a positive influence on the implementation of the new Civil Procedure Law. Ideally, it will improve the functionality of the judical system.

However, some issues still remain. For the time being, many local judges are already over burdened.  Yet, the new standard will cause a dramatic increase of work load in the basic people’s courts.  The amount of cases will increase, the legal issues will be more complex and the trials will be more difficult.

Therefore, the quality of judgments is still expected to be an issue.. As such, further regulation is still expected regarding the standard of judges and the construction of the court system to further improve the situation.

关于最高法院调整一审民商事案件级别管辖标准的一点看法

作者：刘军  金杜律师事务所 广州分所 国内诉讼部

2008年3月30日，最高法院公布调整各高级法院和中级法院管辖第一审民商事案件标准，主要从案件标的额方面大幅提高了高级法院和中级法院受理一审民商事案件的门槛，新标准自2008年4月1日起施行。

        此次调整将大大减少各高级法院受理一审案件以及最高法院受理二审案件的数量，但同时会导致基层法院受理一审案件数量的激增，相应地中级法院二审案件的办案压力也会一定程度的增大。可以说，新标准的实施后，绝大部分民商事案件的一审、二审工作将由基层法院和中级法院承担。

促发这次改革的最直接、最根本原因是新民诉法关于再审程序的修订。修订前的民诉法中规定，当事人申请再审的，可以向原审法院或上一级法院提出。而依据新民诉法第178条的规定，当事人对已经发生法律效力的判决、裁定，认为有错误的，只可以向上一级人民法院申请再审。这就意味着大量的再审案件将涌入上一级法院，并直接导致各高级法院和最高法院工作量的增大。新标准的实施可以减少高级法院和最高法院受理一、二审案件的数量，一定程度上缓解了其办案压力，这样才能够更好地发挥上级法院的审判监督职能。该标准将与新民诉法同日配套实施。

这次新标准的出台虽然对保障新民诉法的顺利实施，完善我国各级法院的功能分工有着积极意义，但同时也存在一些令人担忧的地方。目前很多地方的基层法院的法官已是超负荷工作，新标准的出台必将导致基层法院的工作量继续显著增加，且基层法院受理的案件也将涉及标的额更大、法律关系更复杂、审理难度更大，如何保证基层法院的审判质量？可以说，这些问题对基层法院法官的素质和基层法院的建设都提出了更高的要求，亟待于最高法院出台进一步的措施来规范。