Civil litigation refers to the hearing and settlement of civil dispute by the people’s court according to law with the participation of the parties involved and all the participants in proceedings. Civil litigation is one of the important methods of settling disputes. Conflicts and disputes of all kinds are unavoidable in people’s production, living and work, such as disputes over real estate, contract, inheritance, tort and reputation. The role of civil litigation is to settle the dispute over rights and obligations among the parties involved and guarantee the realization of the rights and obligations that should be enjoyed and assumed by the civil subjects through the civil litigation system and procedures. Compared with other ways (such as reconciliation, mediation and arbitration) of settling civil disputes in social life, civil litigation has the following characters: it is directed by the state judicial organ, it shall be conducted according to the strict litigation procedures and systems and it is mandatory.
Civil procedure law is a body of laws and rules formulated by the state to standardize the litigation activities and to adjust the legal relationship between the court and the participants in civil proceedings. Civil procedure law in a narrow sense is the code of civil procedures formulated by the state, namely the “Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China”. Civil procedure law in a broad sense includes not only the code of civil procedures but also the regulations on civil litigation in the Constitution and other laws and rules as well as the regulatory documents of civil litigation made by the Supreme People's Court, namely, the judicial interpretations.
