最高人民法院巡回法庭实际上是最高人民法院的派出法庭。其主要功能是分流最高人民法院本部的申诉信访案件,但目前其职能定位却是审理跨行政区域重大行政和民商事案件。这种实践与表达的背离,至少会带来两方面的影响:第一,北京的信访压力略有减轻,但访民成本未见明显减少,同时还激发更多申诉信访案件涌入巡回法庭。第二,由于本部二审民商事案件数量呈现下降趋势,巡回法庭可审的案件并不多。近期内,巡回法庭可以将精力投入贯彻主审法官制等各种改革举措,从而展示法院形象。最高人民法院本部也会将大部分二审案件转交由巡回法庭审理。从长期来看,如果案件数量仍不足,巡回法庭可能会通过推动诉讼管辖标准的调整等措施,将原本由高级人民法院审理的一部分二审案件上移到巡回法庭。尽管巡回法庭仍有一定的制度创新空间,但改革不能以成本增加、权力更为集中为代价。 The Circuit Court of the Supreme People’s Court is actually the court of the Supreme People’s Court. Its main function is to divert complaints from Petitioners and Complaints from the Supreme People’s Court. However, at present, its functional orientation is to handle major administrative, civil and commercial cases across administrative regions. At first, there was a slight relief of petition pressure in Beijing, but there was no obvious reduction in the cost of petitioners. At the same time, more petition petitions and petitions were sent into the courtroom. Second, due to the downward trend in the number of civil and commercial cases involving civil and commercial affairs in this Part II, there are not many cases that the Circuit Court can hear. In the near future, Circuit Courts will be able to devote their energies to carrying out various reform measures such as presiding judge system to show the image of the court. The Supreme People’s Court Headquarters will also refer most of the cases of second instance to the Circuit Court for trial. In the long run, if the number of cases is still insufficient, Circuit Courts may move a number of second instance cases, originally tried by the High People’s Courts, to Circuit Courts by promoting such measures as the adjustment of the jurisdictional standards of litigation. Although the circuit court still has some room for institutional innovation, the reform can not be at the cost of increased costs and greater concentration of power.