"Some legal officials have an incorrect understanding of legal concepts," Wang Shengjun, president of the Supreme People's Court, told the annual meeting of parliament.

"A small number do not have high morals ... Some cases drag on for a long time without resolution, and people complain a lot." In January, a Chinese court gave a life sentence to the most senior judge ever convicted for corruption.

Chinese courts come under the control of the ruling Communist Party, and critics have said that judicial corruption is undermining public confidence in the law.

The Communist Party was warned that its rule may be threatened if it does not nip public anger in the bud by stifling official graft, which has grown since China began market economy reforms in the late 1970s.

Yu Jianrong, one of China's foremost experts on social unrest, wrote in the English-language China Daily on Thursday that the law was failing to protect people's legal rights and thereby fanning public anger, especially at the grassroots level.

"Instead of directly confronting local governments, people who feel unprotected are choosing to spread rumours," Yu wrote.

"At times when an individual's complaint or issue is mishandled, the situation will turn awry and extreme actions, even violence, result." The legal system is also struggling to tackle a rising workload on the back of the country's booming economic growth.

Wang said the number of cases courts handled last year rose more than 16 percent on 2008, with more labor disputes, child kidnappings and Internet obscenity cases.

"The number of cases continues to increase, and the contradiction between having many cases and few people becomes more prominent by the day," Wang told the 3,000-odd delegates seated in the cavernous Great Hall of the People.

China's body of judicial officials has stayed steady at about 190,000 since 2005, while the number of cases per year has risen to 10.5 million from 8.3 million in that time.