New rules for civil cases allow you to pick your judge

The Judicial Yuan yesterday launched a one-year trial of a new procedure for civil cases in which the plaintiffs and defendants can choose their judges.

"We hope that the new procedure will help decrease the number of appeals and make people believe in justice," said Judicial Yuan President Weng Yueh-sheng (翁岳生). "To make people trust in justice is also the spirit of judicial reform, on which we have been working hard for the past four years."

Weng said that the new procedure was agreed during the 1999 national judicial reform meeting.

Plaintiffs and defendants will be able to choose up to three judges to hear their case. If they cannot agree on which or how many judges, the court will decide for them.

The new option to pick judges will be available at seven district courts in Taipei, Shihlin, Panchiao, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.

The courts yesterday published information about their judges to help people decide which ones they want.

Asked why the option to choose judges applied only to civil cases, Judicial Yuan Civil Department Director Yang Lung-shun (楊隆順) said the scheme was untested.

"We initially decided to make it a three-year trial but eventually made it a one-year program," Yang said. "We hope that it works out all right so we can use the same procedure in the long term for both civil and criminal cases."