Circuit Courts On Top Of Mountains

Circuit Courts on Top of Mountains

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Young judges from the Second Tribunal of the People's Court in Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County set out to open a circuit court in a rural area on March 4 (VCG.COM)
Liang Rong (left), the tribunal's chief judge, marches through a difficult path along with her colleagues in order to settle cases in villages deep within mountainous areas (VCG.COM)
Judges climb up a cliff to settle a case in Qinghe Village on top of a mountain (VCG.COM)
Judges look at a map of a field that caused a dispute in Shiling Village (VCG.COM)
Judges offer free consultation services regarding the law to villagers in Qinghe Village (VCG.COM)

Edited by Li Nan

Four young female judges must go through difficult terrain in order to settle cases and make litigation more accessible to people from the village of Qinghe, which is on top of a mountain. The judges are from the Second Tribunal of the People's Court in Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County--west of the Municipality of Chongqing.

It usually takes one and a half hour to reach Qinghe Village via the winding mountain road. In order to save time, they take the 137-step wooden ladder built by villagers on a steep cliff, which can shorten the route and cut the travel time by an hour.

The tribunal, located in the town of Huangshui, which has an average altitude of 1,551 meters, is dubbed as "the highest court in Chongqing." Besides a male bailiff, it is staffed with four female judges with an average age of 28. The young judges handle more than 500 cases every year, providing the locals with justice.

Copyedited by Bryan Michael Galvan

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