Local people's court

{{Short description|Local court in People's Republic of China}}

{{Unreferenced|date=December 2009}}

A local people's court is a court at local level of the People's Republic of China. According to the Organic Law of the People's Courts, the local people's courts includes:

• High people's courts
• Intermediate people's courts
• Primary people's courts

During the 1940s and 1950s, people's courts were village meetings in which peasants would engage in airing grievances about their landlords. These were known as 诉苦会 sùkǔhuì “speak bitterness meetings” and were often organized by Communist militants for the denunciation of landlords. They have been described as a form of kangaroo court.

The Organic Law of the People's Courts of the People's Republic of China ({{lang|zh|中华人民共和国人民法院组织法}}) was passed in 1954 for the first time. After the Cultural Revolution, this law was re-passed by the Fifth National People's Congress on July 1, 1979, and amended by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on September 2, 1983.

This law has three chapters and 41 articles. It prescribes that the Chinese courts include the Supreme People's Court, local people's courts, and other special courts.