A subcommittee of the national conference on judicial reform on Wednesday voted in favor of a motion to establish an independent evaluation mechanism with the authority to assess the performance of judges and remove unsuitable judges from courts.
Legal practitioners and members of the public have long expressed their concern over the perceived high number of so-called “dinosaur” judges in the nation’s judicial system.
Chiu Hei-yuan (瞿海源), a sociologist at Academia Sinica, presided over the subcommittee meeting, during which members deliberated on the suggestion to establish an independent mechanism to evaluate judges and to find ways to remove “dinosaur” judges.
Photo: Huang Hsin-po, Taipei Times
Yu Po-hsiang (尤伯祥), a defense lawyer for Sunflower movement activists, said that people who want to file an official complaint against a judge “have to go through the lawyers’ bar association, or through the Judicial Reform Foundation. If there are grounds for a valid case, then it is a protracted process, in which it is filed with the Judicial Evaluation Committee, which is under the Judicial Yuan.”
Kao Jung-chih (高榮志), the foundation’s representative on the subcommittee, said people have the right to a fair trial and the right to appeal perceived injustices or improper conduct by judges, but they cannot file such cases themselves, as the system deprives them of that right.
Kao had said in previous meetings that the Judicial Evaluation Committee has failed its mandate, adding that instead of serving the public, the committee serves to protect “dinosaur” judges, as most of its members have professional ties and came from the judiciary or legal practice circles.
“If someone could file for evaluation against a judge while a litigation was in progress, then the case would drag on for much longer. There is the likelihood of people abusing such a process,” Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said, voicing his opposition to the proposal.
Law professor Lin Yu-hsiung (林鈺雄) said he is also against the proposal.
“Only a few nations allow people to directly intervene in the judiciary or file complaints and request for an evaluation of judges. If we want people to trust the judicial system, then we should respect the evaluation results,” Lin said.
Chiu Hei-yuan, who is also the subcommittee convenor, called for a vote on whether to allow people to directly file for complaints against judges and whether to establish an independent evaluation committee with its own budget.
The proposal’s supporters won with 11 votes against nine.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
RSS