Abstract:

When the trial procedures develop from roughness towards sophistication，the litigate system has become increasingly civilized. However，the inherent drawbacks of this system are also arising. Law justice and social justice are becoming more and more difficult to be represented by judicial justice，and people feel that justice seems to be increasingly out of reach. In this case，the mediation system naturally becomes a rational choice to remedy the shortcomings of the litigate system. The important ways and steps to realize the harmonious society and to satisfy the citizens’ requirement for “access to justice” in China include efforts to build an extensive system of social mediation，prelitigation mediation and pretrial mediation，which operates with the separation of mediation and trial.

Key words: extensive mediation pattern, access to justice, judicial socialization, social mediation, prelitigation mediation, pretrial mediation