Resolution 03/2015 guiding the application of case law in trial practices

October 28, 2015, the Judicial Council of the Supreme People’s Court promulgated Resolution 03/2015/NQ-HDTP on the procedure for selecting, publishing, and applying case law to concretize the provisions of the Law on Organization of People's Courts 2014 regarding the use of case law as a new method for courts in uniformly applying the law during adjudication. Therefore, the stages and processes for selecting and publishing case law are crucial issues that need to be given significant attention.

To ensure the adjudication is conformable, the selection of case law for application should comply with the following criteria:

1. Contains reasoning to clarify legal provisions that may have different interpretations; analyzing, explaining legal issues and events, and indicating principles, methods of handling, and legal norms required to apply in a specific case;
2. Is of standard nature;
3. Has guiding value for uniform application of the law in adjudication, ensuring that cases with similar legal events and circumstances are resolved similarly.

These criteria somewhat concretize the concept of case law mentioned in Article 1 of Resolution 03/2015.

Case law consists of reasoning that clarifies legal provisions that may be interpreted differently. This is the advantage of applying case law because, in certain cases, the provisions stated in legal normative documents may not adequately solve the case in practical adjudication (either lack of detail, specificity, or conflicting, overlapping provisions), and case law fills this gap.

Depending on the case, Judges and the Adjudication Council will choose an appropriate method to provide reasoning and explanation about the content, scope, and subject of application of a provision that may be interpreted differently or rationalize the reasons for choosing and applying one or more specific legal provisions to resolve a civil case. If the judgment or decision is selected and approved to develop into case law, the above reasoning and explanations constitute case law.

The process of adopting case law is not simply about selecting case law based on the aforementioned criteria but requires several stages from the review, detection of judgments and decisions to propose developing into case law, collecting opinions on the proposed judgment or decision, to organizing advisory council meetings to discuss; providing opinions on the contents of the proposed judgment or decision to adopt as case law, after which the case law is then approved and published. The publication of case law must ensure the following contents:

- The name of the case resolved by the Court;- The number of the judgment or decision of the Court containing the case law;- Keywords regarding the legal issues resolved in the case law;- Details of the case and the Court’s judgment related to the case law;- The legal issue with guiding value for adjudication resolved in the case law.

According to Resolution 03/2015, the application of case law in adjudication must adhere to the principles:

- Case law is studied and applied in adjudication 45 days after the publication date or as stated in the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court’s decision on case law publication.- In adjudication, Judges and jurors must study and apply case law to resolve similar cases, ensuring that cases with identical legal events and circumstances are resolved similarly. In the instance where case law is applied, the judgment or decision number containing the case law, nature, the circumstances of the similar case described in the case law, and the legal issue in the case law must be cited, analyzed, and clarified in the court’s judgment or decision. If case law is not applied, reasons must be analyzed and clearly stated in the court’s judgment or decision.- In case of a change in the Law, Resolution of the National Assembly, Ordinance, Resolution of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, or Decree of the Government where the case law is no longer suitable, Judges and jurors will not apply the case law, and the case law is automatically annulled.- In cases where changes in circumstances make the case law unsuitable, Judges and jurors will not apply the case law and must immediately propose to the Judicial Council of the Supreme People's Court (through the Department of Legal Affairs and Scientific Management) to consider annulling the case law.

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