The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed amendments to the Court Organic Act (法院組織法) and the Administrative Court Organization Act (行政法院組織法), making way for the establishment of collegiate grand chambers to resolve a recurring issue of courts at different levels issuing conflicting rulings in a case.
The amendments stipulate that the Supreme Court is to assemble a civil grand chamber and a criminal grand chamber of 11 judges each, while the Supreme Administrative Court is to have a grand chamber comprised of nine judges, with the chief justice of each court serving as the presiding judge of their respective chambers.
To ensure fairness in judgements by the grand chambers, the number of division chief judges doubling as chamber judges must not exceed half of each chamber’s makeup, one amendment says.
Photo: CNA
Should the legal basis invoked by either court contradict that cited by a high court, resulting in contradictory rulings on a case, the superior court should address the dispute by submitting a request for the corresponding grand chamber to state its opinions, the amendments say.
That grand chamber must issue a ruling on a dispute within 30 days, the amendments say, adding that while the grand chamber’s verdict is not the final ruling in a case, it should serve as the basis on which the presiding court must base its final verdict.
Recognizing that litigants have the most crucial role in a lawsuit, the amendments afford them the right to request that the Supreme Court or the Supreme Administrative Court exercise its authority to file an arbitration motion with a grand chamber.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chou Chun-mi (周春米), cochair of the legislature’s Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, said that the amendments are expected to lower the occurrence of courts passing down conflicting rulings, which she called a much maligned issue that has plagued the nation’s judiciary.
Additional reporting by Peng Wan-hsin
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS