Challenging Eminent Domain in Chinese Courts

Abstract

This paper reports the first cross-doctrinal investigation of eminent domain in court using newly available data from China. The investigation is also the first to examine empirically how the Chinese courts adjudicate eminent domain decisions. Our hand-coded data comprise 586 eminent domain judgements awarded by the High People’s Courts of China from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015. The investigation is one of a few pioneering studies utilizing data from the Supreme People’s Court’s China Judicial Decisions Website, which provides the best data on the Chinese judiciary ever to be made available. This paper’s contributions are as follows. First, it goes beyond single-issue empirical studies of eminent domain to present a holistic diagnosis of all three elements of eminent domain: public use, fair compensation and due process. Second, it reveals that in the comparative context of China, the High People’s Courts focus on eminent domain procedures while rarely reviewing whether a project is for public use or whether compensation is fair. Finally, it identifies three factors (information, expertise and power) explaining the key role of procedure in eminent domain, thereby building a theoretical framework for future empirical studies in this area.