This book, written by Long Zongzhi, Professor of the Law School of Sichuan University, was awarded the Eighth Prize of the Chinese Ministry of Education for Science Research Famous Achievement Award in Higher Institution. The following is a brief introduction to the book.

1. Chapters

This book whichcontains 431 pages, 336,000 words, with thirteen chapters is divided into three parts: Pandect, Ontology and Safeguards. The pandect includes the first four chapters, which are the Introduction, a comparative study of the duty of procurators to seek objectiveness, the basic theory and the basic contradictions of the duty of procurators to seek objectiveness. Ontology includes chapter 5 to 10, which analyses the basic elements of the duty of procurators to seek objectiveness, including the duty to take evidence objectively, the responsibility to review neutrally, the pursuit of a fair judgement, the duty to remedy a conviction, the duty of care in litigation and the mission of defending procedure. The safeguards include chapter 11 to 13, which are objective obligations and the construction of prosecutors' ethics, objective obligations and the reform of the operating mechanism of prosecutorial power, and objective obligations and performance evaluation system.

2. Primary coverage

This book comprehensively sorts the academic history of the duty of procurators to seek objectiveness, and also comparatively studies the issue of objective duty in Germany, the United States and international criminal justice norms, on the basis of which it puts forward the proposition that prosecutors in China fulfil the duty of objectivity and impartiality, as well as the six main elements of the objective duty. A specific analysis is made in relation to the most prominent problems in the fulfilment of objective obligations in China's prosecution practice, including the reform of the mechanism for the operation of judicial power, the construction of judicial ethics and the improvement of judicial performance evaluation, etc.

3. Innovations

Firstly, this book enriches the comparative research, which provides the first comparative study of the issue of objective obligations of prosecutors in a worldwide context. It not only makes practical analysis with the latest literature from Germany, the country of origin of the objective obligation, but also incorporates the fair obligation and pursuit of justice of American prosecutors. It also analyses the objective obligation of prosecutors in international criminal justice activities.

Secondly, it expands and deepens the connotation of objective obligation. It extends the three requirements of the German prosecutor's objective duty to six elements, including the duty to take evidence objectively and the duty of review neutrally, covering all areas and stages of proceedings in the performance of the prosecutor's duties.

Thirdly, it closely integrates with the Chinese reality and innovates Chinese prosecution theory. The establishment and actual performance of prosecutors' objective obligations in this book, including the resolution of conflicts, are completely rooted in China's judicial practice and practical problems, which respects the legal principles of the basic judicial system and the laws of judicial construction and reflects prominent Chinese characteristics.

4. Academic impact or social benefits

This book's views on the prosecutor's responsibility system for handling cases have been reflected in China's central judicial reform programme and have been taken seriously by the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China. The entire book was translated and published by Korean scholars in January 2017. The book and several articles published by the author of this book on the objective duties of prosecutors have played an active role in promoting the objectivity and impartiality of prosecutorial activities. In April 2019, Public Procurators Law of the People's Republic of China was amended and article 5 of the law clearly stipulates for the first time that prosecutors should uphold an objective and impartial position in the performance of their duties.