What are duties and powers of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court in Vietnam?

What are duties and powers of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court in Vietnam? (Internet image)

The court is one of the agencies within the state apparatus system that is responsible for adjudicating criminal, civil, administrative cases and resolving other matters as prescribed by law in Vietnam. Currently, Vietnam's organizational structure system is prescribed in Article 3 of the Law on organization of People’s Courts 2014, including:

- 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.

In particular, the Supreme People's Court is the highest judicial body of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Duties and powers of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court in Vietnam

In terms of position, the head of the Supreme People's Court is the Chief Justice. Currently the person holding this position is Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh.

According to Article 26 of the Law on organization of People’s Courts 2014, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court shall be elected, relieved from duty or dismissed by the National Assembly at the proposal of the President; The term of office of the Chief Justice must follow the term of the National Assembly.

However, Upon the expiration of the term of the National Assembly, the incumbent Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court may still continue to perform his/her duties until the National Assembly of the new legislature elects a new Chief Justice.

As the head of the Supreme People's Court, the Chief Justice will have very important duties and powers. Specifically, Article 27 of the Law on organization of People’s Courts 2014 stipulates as follows:

- To organize the adjudicating work of the Supreme People’s Court; to organize the implementation of the principle that judges and assessors shall conduct trials in an independent manner and obey only the law.

- To chair meetings of the Judicial Council of the Supreme People’s Court.

- To protest according to cassation or reopening procedure against legally effective judgments and decisions of people’s courts in accordance with the procedural law.

- To submit to the President his/her opinions on cases in which convicts apply for commutation of capital punishment.

- To direct the overall assessment of adjudicating practices; drafting and issuance of resolutions of the Judicial Council of the Supreme People’s Court to ensure the uniform application of law in trial; summarization, development and publicization of court precedents.

- To direct the drafting of laws, ordinances and resolutions to be submitted by the Supreme People’s Court to the National Assembly and National Assembly Standing Committee; to issue or jointly issue legal documents according to his/her competence in accordance with the Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents.

- To submit to the National Assembly for approval the appointment, relief from duty and dismissal of judges of the Supreme People’s Court; to propose the President to appoint, relieve from duty or dismiss Deputy Chief Justices of the Supreme People’s Court and judges of other courts.

- To appoint, relieve from duty or dismiss other staffs under Clause 1, Article 35; Clause 1, Article 36; Clause 1, Article 42; Clause 1, Article 43; Clause 1, Article 47; Clause 1, Article 48; Clause 1, Article 60; Clause 1, Article 61; Clause 1, Article 62; Clause 1, Article 63; and Clause 1, Article 64 of the Law on organization of People’s Courts 2014 and other posts in the Supreme People’s Courts, except those under the competence of the President to appoint, relieve from duty or dismiss.

- To decide on rotation, transfer or secondment of judges under Clause 2, Article 78; Clause 2, Article 79; and Clause 2, Article 80 of the Law on organization of People’s Courts 2014, except judges of the Supreme People’s Court.

- To submit to the National Assembly Standing Committee for decision the establishment or dissolution of superior people’s courts; people’s courts of provinces and centrally run cities; people’s courts of rural districts, urban districts, towns, provincial cities and the equivalent; military courts of military zones and the equivalent; regional military courts; territorial jurisdiction of superior people’s courts and establishment of other specialized tribunals of people’s courts when finding it necessary.

To submit to the National Assembly Standing Committee for approval the organizational structure, duties and powers of the assisting apparatus of the Supreme People’s Court.

- To decide on organization of specialized tribunals under Point b, Clause 1, Article 38 and Clause 1, Article 45; to stipulate the organizational structure, duties and powers of units of the assisting apparatus of people’s courts under Article 24; Clause 2, Article 34; Clause 2, Article 42; Article 46; Clause 4, Article 51; Clause 3, Article 55; and Clause 3, Article 58 of the Law on organization of People’s Courts 2014.

- To perform the duties and exercise the powers prescribed in Clause 6, Article 66; Clauses 3 and 4, Article 70; Clause 7, Article 75; Clause 4, Article 88; Clause 3, Article 92; and Clause 3, Article 93 of the Law on organization of People’s Courts 2014.

- To decide on allocation of payrolls, number of judges and budget funds for operation of people’s courts; to set payrolls of military courts after reaching agreement with the Minister of National Defense.

- To inspect the implementation of payrolls, management of staffs, management and use of budget funds and physical facilities of people’s courts.

- To organize the training and retraining of judges and assessors and other staffs of people’s courts.

- To be answerable and report his/her work to the National Assembly; when the National Assembly is in recess, to be answerable and report his/her work to the National Assembly Standing Committee and President; to answer questions and respond to recommendations of National Assembly deputies.

- To perform the duties and exercise the powers prescribed in the procedural law; to settle other matters in accordance with law.

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