This brand of judicial action by priority, that is, criminal over civil, is very much at
odds with the comprehensive and consistent application of law required if a vibrant
economic sector is to be supported. The most fundamental of these interrelated
problems affecting the court system and enforcement of judgments include the lack of
financial resources, local protectionism, the limited educational qualifications of
judges, and the network of personal connections characterising the official sphere
(Guanxi). These factors limit the reach of the domestic legal system. Little reverence
is paid to a legal system which is both a functionary of the Party, and intermittent in
its dispensation of justice.