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55 Law & Soc'y Rev. 104 (2021)
Unfamiliarity and Procedural Justice: Litigants' Attitudes toward Civil Justice in Southern China

handle is hein.journals/lwsocrw55 and id is 104 raw text is: 104 Unfamiliarity and Procedural Justice: Litigants' Attitudes Toward Civil Justice in Southern China Xin He Jing Feng While procedural justice has been regarded as a distinct and essential factor shaping litigants' views on civil justice, few studies have focused on China, a country with a unique legal tradition and frequent legal reforms. Drawing on surveys and interviews with litigants in a basic-level court in Southern China, this study examines attitudes toward the civil justice system. Echoing several existing studies from China, our mixed methods analysis confirms that their views are dominated by outcomes-litigants with favorable out- comes are more likely to be satisfied, while those with unfavorable outcomes are more likely to be dissatisfied. Their unfamiliarity with the operation of the system constitutes a major reason for the dominance of substantive out- comes in their evaluations of the system. Many cannot distinguish between process and outcomes, nor do they feel control over the process. Moreover, they are dissatisfied with the process because it fails to meet their often- erroneous expectations. Our results do not necessarily challenge the impor- tance of procedural justice, but they do suggest that China may be different. Litigants' perceptions of justice and fairness are situated and shaped by specific contexts. W hy do people obey laws and accept court decisions? Decades of studies have pointed to the importance of procedural justice (Easton 1965; Lind and Tyler 1988; Thibaut and Walker 1975; Tyler 1984; 1990; Walker et al. 1972). Procedural justice can promote satisfaction, belief in the legitimacy of author- ity, and willingness to comply and cooperate with the law (Creutzfeldt and Bradford 2016; Lind and Tyler 1988; Paternos- ter et al. 1997; Sunshine and Tyler 2003; Tyler 1984, 1988; 1990). Scholars generally believe that procedural justice can play the role of a cushion of support, alleviating the negative emotions elicited by unfavorable outcomes (Jonathan-Zamir et al. 2016; Lind and Tyler 1988; Tyler 1984, 1990; Tyler et al. 1997; Tyler and Allan Lind 1992). People view bad distributive outcomes more positively if they result from a fair procedure they The editor and anonymous reviewers of the review provided invaluable suggestions for improvement. We also benefited from comments from Fen Lin, Kwai Hang Ng, and Jianhua Zhu. Lastly, we are grateful for the court officials who helped arrange and the lit- igants who kindly accepted our interviews. Please direct all correspondence to Jing Feng, Department of Law, Southwestern University of Political Science and Law, Chongqing, China; e-mail: jingfeng2@swupl. edu.cn. Law & Society Review, Volume 55, Number 1 (2021): 104-138 © 2021 Law and Society Association. All rights reserved.

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