It's said that in China millions of legal cases are now being decided by "internet courts" that do not require citizens to appear in court.
The "smart court" includes non-human judges powered by artificial intelligence, or AI. People seeking legal action can register their case on the internet. They can then take part in a digital court hearing. The system gives users the chance to communicate and receive court decisions by text or through major messaging services. Users completed more than 3.1 million legal activities through the court system from March to October in 2019, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.
China's first internet court was established in the eastern city of Hangzhou in 2017. Hangzhou is a center for major Chinese technology companies. Judicial officials recently invited reporters to the Hangzhou Internet Court to see how it operates. In one demonstration, citizens used video messaging to communicate with virtual, Al-powered judges.
"Does the defendant have any objection to the nature of the judicial block-chain （区块链） evidence submitted by the plaintiff 原告）?” a virtual judge asked during a pre-trial meeting. The non-human judge was represented in the system by an image of a man wearing a black robe. "No objection," the human plaintiff answered.
A Hangzhou court official told China's state-run CGTN television that the internet court system operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is designed to ease the workload of humans and improve the speed and effectiveness of the legal process. Court officials say that even though virtual judges are used, human judges observe the process and can make major rulings.
The internet court in Hangzhou only deals with cases involving legal disputes over digital matters. These include internet trade issues, copyright cases and disputes over online product sales. Digital court cases in China have seen a sharp increase in recent years, as the number of mobile payments and internet-based businesses has grown. The growth is tied to China's huge number of internet users --- about 850 million.
After establishing the court in Hangzhou, China launched similar operations in the cities of Beijing and Guangzhou.
【小题1】What can we infer about the internet court?| A．Human judges have played little role in the internet court. |
| B．Citizens can only place their cases on file on weekdays. |
| C．It will become a helper for the court system. |
| D．It has enjoyed great popularity all over China. |
| A．By Al-powered judges. | B．By receiving text messages. |
| C．By attending a court hearing. | D．By registering the cases on the internet. |
| A．Because there is a growing tendency in internet-based businesses. |
| B．Because it is efficient to deal with cases in the internet court. |
| C．Because legal disputes can only be handled in the internet court. |
| D．Because China has the perfect digital court system. |
| A．The Future of the China's Justice. | B．The Future Master of The Internet Court. |
| C．The Growth of Digital Court Cases. | D．The Rise of China's "Internet Courts5. |
