| Traditional legal research focuses on the “supply side of law”, and endeavors to formulate good laws and establish better legal institutions. Based on the “support theory” and the “legal consciousness theory,” this article turns to the perspective of the “demand side of law”. Through the interviews of 142 litigants of four common types of civil disputes, this article shows that litigants' confidence in the legal system consists of two dimensions, that is, specific support and diffuse support. Negative trial experience only corrodes their faith in the undertook judge and the court, which is specific support. Such negative trial experience, however, has not weaken their diffuse support, namely their faith in the court system and the judicial institution. This article further categorizes litigants into “laymen” and “adepts”, the former's distrust in the court (or the undertook judge) stems from the sharp tension between their legal consciousness and the formal legal institution. By contrast, the latter's legal consciousness is confined to the formal legal system and merely concerns the quality of the trial. Thus, with the improvement of the judicial system, the adepts' faith in the judiciary probably would be enhanced. However, the laymen should be firstly transformed into adepts through “the informed and benefited process” before their faith in the judiciary can be enhanced along with the improvement of the judicial system. |
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