Abstract: In the pilot reform of substantiation of court hearing,some courts required members of collegial panel other than the procedural judge not to preview case records before court, in order to avoid the pretrial judgment. However, the judge tended to preview records before court to get prepared for court trials. Their reasons for so doing are as follows:the reform of the court trial is focusing on the trial procedure, which requires the judge to have a full understanding of investigation results before the trail. China's current law holds a positive attitude to written testimony and evidence. The presiding judge needs information from case files to preside a trial, and laws and regulations on judicial environment, on prosecution-court relationship, and on judge's handling of cases also require case record previewing before court to guarantee justice in court trials. Previewing records before court does not necessarily lead to a disadvantaged result for the defendant, it should be conducted for "precognition" of case information but not as a "prejudgment". A well designed court trial system can contribute to a successful trial-centered reform, to distinguishing "precognition" from "prejudgment", and to promoting fair trial and discovering the truth of a case.

Key words: substantiation of court hearing, previewing records before court, prejudgment, precognition, indictment only doctrine