On 23 Dec. 2021, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate issued the 31st batch of guiding cases, providing support for vulnerable groups in bringing civil lawsuits.

China’s Civil Procedure Law, Marriage Law, Anti-domestic Violence Law, and Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests all provide legal basis for procuratorates to support civil lawsuits brought by certain groups.

According to the relevant laws, where an act has infringed upon the civil rights and interests of a collective organization or an individual, any State organ, public organization, enterprise or institution may support the injured unit or individual to defend their rights.

However, if they still fail to achieve their minimum goals and wish to take it to the court, but are unable to follow through due to their weak litigation capacity or the fear of doing so, the procuratorate can support them to file a lawsuit in court.

In the newly-released five guiding cases, the parties involved are vulnerable groups, including the mentally disabled, the elderly, migrant workers, and women subject to domestic violence.

In supporting vulnerable groups, the procuratorate can provide the following assistance:

offering legal consultation; assisting in the collection of evidence; filing supportive documentsto the plaintiff’s complaint; coordinatingthe legal aidservices; and, reading supportive documentsto the plaintiff’s complaint; From January to September 2021, Chinese procuratorates had received 41,966 supportive civil prosecution cases, up by 87.9% year-on-year; and validated 29,303 of them, up 70.1% year-on-year.