Organizational system of the People's Court in Vietnam

Since the Law on Organization of People's Courts 2014 took effect, the organizational structure of the Vietnamese Court system has undergone many changes, as well as changes in the powers and responsibilities of each Court level.

See more: Apparatus and organizational structure of the Government Office of Vietnam

Courts in our country are divided into the following levels:

-The Supreme People's Court.

-Superior people’s courts.

-Courts of provinces and centrally run cities.

-Courts of rural districts, urban districts, towns, provincial cities, and the equivalent.

-Military courts.

1. The Supreme People's Court (TSPC)

– TSPC is the highest judicial body of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, conducting cassation and retrial of effective judgments and decisions of Courts at all levels that are protested in accordance with the provisions of law.

– In the organizational structure of the TSPC, the TSPC Judges' Council is the body empowered to adjudicate and issue resolutions to guide Courts at all levels to uniformly apply the law.

– Approval mechanism of the Council of Judges: Derived from the principle of collective trial and majority decision of the People's Court, a meeting of the Council of Judges must have at least 2/3 of the total number of members participating; the decision of the Council of Judges must be approved by more than half of the total number of members.

– The decision on cassation or retrial by the Council of Judges is the highest decision and cannot be appealed.

2. Superior people's courts (SPC)

– Compared to the Court system according to the provisions of the Law on Organization of People's Courts in 2002, SPC is a new level of Court introduced into the Vietnamese Court organization system.

Superior people's courts are a new level of Court added in the Law on Organization of the People's Courts 2014, taking effect on June 1, 2015. Currently, the country has 3 Superior people's courts located in Hanoi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City. Thus, the SPC performs both cassation and retrial functions, like the TSPC.

– SPC has the function of appellate trial of first-instance judgments and decisions of Courts of provinces and centrally run cities within territorial jurisdiction that have not yet taken legal effect due to appeals or protests according to the provisions of procedural law; cassation and re-trial of legally effective judgments and decisions of Courts of provinces, centrally run cities, Courts of districts, districts, towns, provincial cities and equivalents within the scope of jurisdiction according to the protested territory according to the provisions of procedural law.

Within the structure of the SPC, the SPC Judges Committee is the body empowered to organize trials, discuss, and comment on the report of the SPC Chief Justice.

The meeting of the Judges Committee must be attended by at least 2/3 of the total number of members, and the decision of the Judges Committee must be approved by more than half of the total members.

3. Courts of provinces and centrally run cities (Courts of provinces)

– Courts of provinces perform the function of first instance trial of cases falling under their jurisdiction according to the provisions of procedural law; appeal judgments and decisions of Courts of districts that have not yet taken legal effect and are appealed or protested against according to the provisions of procedural law; Check the legally effective judgments and decisions of the Courts of districts when detecting violations of the law or new details, and propose to the SPC Judge and TSPC Chief Judge to consider the appeal.

– Courts of provinces are local courts, so the law is given great authority in adjudicating and resolving cases.

– In the Courts of provinces, there are specialized courts: criminal court, civil court, administrative court, economic court, labor court, family court, and juvenile court, established to directly resolve cases.

4. Courts of rural districts, urban districts, towns, provincial cities, and the equivalent. (Courts of districts)

– When adjudicating and resolving cases, Courts of districts only have the authority to resolve first instance cases under their jurisdiction according to the provisions of procedural law.

– At the district level, specialized Courts are only established at the request of the Chief Justice of the TSPC, according to the requirements and actual trials in each Courts of districts.

5. Military courts (MC)

MC levels include:

– Central MC;

– Military zone MC and equivalent;

– Regional MC

When determining case-based jurisdiction, the MC only participates in resolving criminal cases according to the jurisdiction delimitation of the Criminal Procedure Code.

– The regional MC has the function of first-instance trial in criminal cases according to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code;

– Military zone MCs and equivalents have the function of first-instance trials of criminal cases according to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code; appellate trials of criminal cases in which the first-instance judgment or decision of the regional MC has not yet taken legal effect and is appealed or protested against;

– The central MC has the function of appealing criminal cases where the first instance judgments and decisions of the military zone MC and the equivalent have not yet taken effect and are being appealed or protested against.

Thus, the MC only stops at the level of appellate trial in criminal cases where the first instance judgment or decision has not yet taken effect and is being appealed. Cassation and retrial still fall under the functions of the SPC and TSPC.

Through his activities, the Court contributes to educating citizens to be loyal to the Fatherland, strictly obey the law, respect the rules of social life, and be aware of the fight against crime and other violations of the law.

Legal basis: Law on Organization of the People's Court 2014.

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Key word: Military courts | in Vietnam | Vietnam | Courts | People's Courts |

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