Electronic litigation has experienced two stages of development:internal e-court and external e-court. Although the instrumental function of electronic litigation has met the demand of judicial pragmatism and is conducive to solving the problems of formalization and non-popularization resulting from traditional judicial professionalization, it is not the reason to fundamentally change the value and structure of litigation. The scope of its application is also determined the degree of importance of litigation rights, the nature of a case, as well as the choice made by the parties to the case. From the legislative perspective, the construction of electronic litigation system can be achieved through two approaches, i.e., legal interpretation and legislation. The former is beneficial to the development of a system that attaches equal importance to both the integrity and the openness of procedure, whereas the latter requires us to properly handle the relationship between principles of litigation and technological application, take into consideration the demand for democratization of legislation, and embody the spirit of electronic inclusiveness and electronic democracy. From the functional perspective, the application of electronic litigation depends on the principles and the structure of litigation. It is difficult to apply electronic litigation procedure to matters that require strict safeguards and those for which it is difficult to initiate error-correction procedure. Therefore appropriate ICT measures should be introduced into different stages of litigation in light of their different characteristics, so as to meet different rights protection needs. Pilot electronic litigation can be applied to the entire process of small claims procedure and payment order procedure. At the technical support level, in the construction of electronic litigation system, China should pay attention to safety and construction of friendly infrastructure, and adopt corresponding safety technological standards. |