The Judicial Yuan

As introduced by the Yearbook of the Republic of China:

The Judicial Yuan (Judiciary) is the highest judicial organ of the Republic. Its chief powers are to interpret the Constitution, to unify the interpretation of laws and orders, and to adjudicate civil, criminal, administrative cases, cases concerning disciplinary sanctions of public functionaries, and cases concerning the dissolution of political parties violating the Constitution.

The Council of Grand Justices is the main body of the Judicial Yuan. According to Article 3 of the Organic Act of the Judicial Yuan, there shall be 17 grand justices. However, Article 5 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China, as amended and promulgated on April 25, 2000, and taking effect from 2003, reduced the number to 15; it also stipulated that the president and vice president of the Judicial Yuan should be selected from among the members. The grand justices are now nominated and appointed by the President of the Republic, with the consent of the Legislative Yuan. The provisions of Article 79 of the Constitution will no longer apply.

The subordinate units of the Judicial Yuan are the Supreme Court, the high courts, the district courts, the Supreme Administrative Court, the high administrative courts, and the Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries. The grand justices exercise administrative supervision of the ROC court system, while enforcing compliance by ROC court personnel with constitutionally mandated judicial independence.

The Council of Grand Justices

Among the grand justices nominated by the President in 2003, eight members, including the president and the vice president of the Judicial Yuan, will serve for four years, and the remaining grand justices for eight years.

The Council of Grand Justices interprets the Constitution and unifies the interpretation of laws and ordinances. The Council meets three times a week and holds additional meetings as necessary. Oral proceedings may be held whenever the need arises. After an interpretation of the Constitution or unified interpretation of a law is made, the Judiciary publishes the text of the interpretation, the reasons supporting it, and any dissenting opinions.

Interpretation of the Constitution

From 1948 to July 9, 2004, the Council of Grand Justices rendered 580 interpretations of the Constitution at the request of government agencies, individuals, juridical persons, and political parties. Constitutional interpretations are made when there are doubts or disputes concerning:

• the application of the Constitution;
• the constitutionality of laws, regulations, or decrees;
• the constitutionality of local self-government laws, regulations, and matters.

Unified Interpretation of Laws and Ordinances

A petition for a unified interpretation of a law or ordinance may be filed with the Council of Grand Justices if:

• a government agency, when applying a law or order, has an interpretation, which is different from one already expressed by itself or another government organ, unless it is legally bound to obey the expressed opinion or has the authority to revise it;
• an individual, juridical person, or political party whose rights have been infringed and believes that the final decision of the court of last resort was based on an interpretation of the applicable law or regulation that is different from precedents by other courts. (Such requests will not be accepted if the petitioner has not yet exhausted all judicial remedies or the opinion adopted in an earlier decision has been altered by a later one.)

The Constitutional Court

In December 1993, the Judiciary formally established a Constitutional Court, in accordance with Article 13 of the previous version of the Additional Articles of the Constitution and the revised Organic Act of the Judicial Yuan, to adjudicate cases concerning the dissolution of political parties that have violated the Constitution. The Constitutional Court is composed of the grand justices and presided over by its most senior member.

The Ministry of the Interior may, as the agency overseeing political parties, petition the Constitutional Court for the dissolution of a political party whose objectives and activities are found to endanger the existence of the ROC or its free and democratic constitutional order.

Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries

The Control Yuan may impeach a public official for malfeasance, dereliction of duty, other neglect of duty, or if the head of any of the various branches, ministries or commissions or the highest local administrative head requests a disciplinary measure against a public official for these reasons. The Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries, under the Judicial Yuan, exercises jurisdiction over such cases.

The Commission consists of nine to 15 senior members, one of whom serves as the Chief Commissioner. Cases are decided without outside interference. The Commission orders the impeached public official to submit a written reply within a prescribed period of time and, when it deems necessary, may summon the person to appear before the Commission to defend himself. The conference is not open to the public and its proceedings are strictly confidential.

There are six disciplinary measures which the Commission may order: dismissal, suspension from office, demotion, reduction of salary, demerit, and reprimand. Only dismissal and reprimand are applicable to political appointees.

The ROC Court System

The judiciary of the Republic of China has three levels: district courts and their branches that hear civil and criminal cases in the first instance; high courts and their branches at the intermediate level that hear appeals against judgments of district courts or their branches; and the Supreme Court at the highest appellate level, which reviews judgments by lower courts for compliance with pertinent laws or regulations. Issues of fact are decided in the first and second levels, while only issues of law are considered by the Supreme Court.

However, there are exceptions to this system. Criminal cases relating to rebellion, treason, and offenses against friendly relations with foreign states are handled by high courts, as the court of first instance; and appeals may be filed with the Supreme Court.

District Courts

There are 20 district courts in the Taiwan area. Each has a president, appointed from among the judges, who is in charge of the administrative work of the court. Each court is divided into civil, criminal, and summary divisions. Currently there are 45 summary divisions in the Taiwan area to adjudicate cases in a prompt and expeditious manner. Summary proceedings are conducted by a single judge. In addition, there is the Kaohsiung Juvenile Court established in accordance with the Act Governing the Disposition of Juvenile Cases. Appeals may be filed with the civil or criminal division of the district court for review by a three-judge panel.

Specialized divisions may also be set up by district courts to deal with juvenile, family, traffic, financial, and labor cases, as well as motions to set aside rulings on the violations of the Act of the Maintenance of Social Order. Cases to be tried by a district court are heard before a single judge, although more important cases may be heard by three judges.

High Courts

At present there is one high court in Taipei serving all of Taiwan and Penghu, with four branch courts in Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Hualien. In the part of Fuchien Province under the control of the ROC, there is the Kinmen Branch Court of the Fuchien High Court, which exercises jurisdiction over appellate cases in Kinmen County and Lienchiang County. A senior judge of the High Court is appointed to serve concurrently as president of the court in charge of the administrative work of the court and its subordinate units.

The High Court is divided into civil and criminal, as well as specialized divisions dealing with juvenile, traffic, and labor cases. Each division has a presiding judge and associates. Cases to be tried by the High Court are heard before a three-judge panel. However, one of the judges may conduct the preliminary proceedings alone.

The High Court and its branches exercise jurisdiction over the following cases:

• civil, criminal, and election cases on appeal from judgments of district courts or their branches;
• motions to set aside rulings of district courts or their branches;
• criminal cases relating to rebellion, treason, and offenses against friendly relations with foreign states, as the court of first instance; and
• other lawsuits prescribed by law.

Supreme Court

Although it is under the administrative supervision of the Judicial Yuan, the entire ROC court system has judicial independence in criminal and civil matters of law. The Supreme Court is the court of final appeal in the ROC judicial system.

The Supreme Court has a president, who is responsible for the administrative work of the Court and is concurrently a judge. The Supreme Court is divided into eight civil divisions and 12 criminal divisions. An appeal may be made to the Supreme Court only on grounds that the lower court's decision violates a law or order. Since the Supreme Court does not decide questions of fact, documentary proceedings are the rule, while oral arguments are the exception. Cases before the Supreme Court are tried by five judges.

The Supreme Court exercises jurisdiction over the following kinds of cases:

• appeals against judgments in civil and criminal cases by high courts or their branches as court of second instance;
• appeals against judgments of high courts or their branches in criminal cases as court of first instance;
• motions to set aside rulings of high courts or their branches in civil and criminal cases;
• appeals against or motions to set aside rulings of district courts or their branches as the court of second instance in civil summary proceedings; and
• cases of extraordinary appeal.

Supreme and High Administrative Courts

On July 1, 2000, the amended Organic Act of the Administrative Court became effective. The new law adopts the "two-level and two-instance system" for administrative litigation. As a result, one Supreme Administrative Court and three high administrative Courts have been established in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung to adjudicate administrative cases.

The administrative courts have a different authority from that of the other courts in the system. Any person who claims that his rights or legal interests are violated by an unlawful administrative action rendered by a government agency may institute administrative proceedings before the high administrative court. This right is available on objection to the decision on an administrative appeal submitted in accordance with the Act of Administrative Appeal, or if no decision is rendered over three months after the submission of an administrative appeal, or over two months of extension after the prescribed period for decision has expired. An administrative action, which exceeds the legal authority of the government agency or which results from an abuse of power, is unlawful.

Cases before a high administrative court are tried by three judges. Appeals may be filed with the Supreme Administrative Courts for review by a five-judge panel. The high administrative courts decide questions of both fact and law, while the Supreme Administrative Court decides only questions of law.

Judicial Reform

Significant reforms are being carried out to reorganize the ROC judicial system and ensure fair trials. The National Conference on Judicial Reform, held in July 1999, proposed that experts be brought into Taiwan's courts to assist in the trying of cases which involve family affairs, juvenile delinquencies, labor and medical disputes, and intellectual property rights. Also, assessors may be called into court on major criminal and administrative cases to assist presiding judges who may not necessarily be equipped with a technical expertise in specialized areas.

Article 77 of the Constitution of the ROC provides that the Judicial Yuan shall have the charge of civil, criminal, administrative, and disciplinary cases. In the present system, the subordinated Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, and the Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries handle these cases respectively. One of the conclusions reached in the 1999 National Conference on Judicial Reform called for reshaping the Judiciary into a tribunal to handle those cases directly. The Judicial Yuan has since sought to carry out the conclusion by stages, expecting to establish a pyramidal court system by October 1, 2010.

A framework for transforming the role of the judicial branch was reached. The Judiciary's short-term reform plan will establish civil, criminal, constitutional, and administrative courts. The long-term reform plan will seat 13 to 15 grand justices, who will be responsible for civil, criminal, and administrative litigation, as well as cases on disciplining public functionaries, dissolving political parties, and interpreting the Constitution. Such changes are expected to increase public confidence in the independence, quality, and effectiveness of the judicial system.