The reform of the people's courts has the implied orientation of conforming to the notion of the formalistic rule-of-law, the goal of which could be summarized as “make the judiciary more like the judiciary”. This reform, guided by an inward perspective, has a positive significance to shaping the elemental form of the Chinese judiciary and to completing the essential elements of the judiciary. However, it alienates the judiciary from social needs and concerns to a certain extent due to this orientation, making it difficult to fully transform the “dividend” of judicial reform into actual gains of society. According to the fundamental judicial theory in a reductionist position, the judiciary should be understood as a product of political construction and as a sort of public goods, and “consumer experience” should be recognized and respected in the provision of judicial services. From an outward perspective, the enhancement of judicial capacities should also be made one of the orientations of the court reform. In the future reform of the judicial accountability system, China should take the essential elements affecting judicial capabilities as the key points of the reform to realize the social functions of judiciary, meet the social needs on the judiciary, and “enhance the judicial capacity of the judiciary”. |