The superior court issued a guideline this week establishing a final procedure on how to put an end to long-running petition cases. Its contents are not accessible to the public with only glimpses available through reports by Xinhua. The guideline supposedly sets down a procedure for the courts to declare that a repeatedly petitioned case has been conclusively dealt with and is not to be reopened. Whether this procedure includes a public hearing is unknown. However, we think a procedural end would mean little if the problems faced by the petitioner still exist, such as loss of land without compensation.