Suing the Local State: Administrative Litigation in Rural China

The promulgation of the Administrative Litigation Law (ALL) in 1989 was hailed in China as a "milestone of democratic and legal construction". 2 Hopeful observers anticipated that the Law, by empowering citizens to dispute unlawful administrative acts, would curb official misconduct.However, more than a decade after the ALL came into force, the best evidence suggests that its deterrent effect has been modest.While the number of cases has grown (see Table 1) and about twofifths of them reportedly result in some form of relief, 3 the law's implementation has 1 This article was first presented at a conference on Law and Society in China, held at the University of California, Berkeley, in September 2002.A different version of the paper will appear in a book titled Engaging the Law in China: State, Society, and Possibilities for Justice, edited by Neil J.