Judicial Big Data and Big-Data-Based Legal Research in China

Abstract

The newly established judicial-transparency platforms, like China Judgements Online, have provided access to a new resource - judicial big data - making it possible to conduct empirical, big-data-based legal research. However, as is often the case with new products, these platforms - China Judgements Online, in particular - pose a few problems for big-data-based legal research: insufficient academic depth; immature technical methods; and lack of innovation due to flawed data, strict technical thresholds, and lack of theoretical ambition and ability. In the future, big-data-based legal research should make use of current data resources, continue to promote statistical science and computer science in research, and apply small-data research methods, and in the meanwhile pay attention to the combination of data and theory.