Lai Ching-te (DPP) Hsiao Bi-khim (DPP) Cho Jung-tai (DPP) 11th Legislative Yuan Han Kuo-yu (KMT) Shieh Ming-yan acting Vacant Vacant Vacant Control Yuan Chen Chu Lee Hung-chun Local government Central Election Commission Kuomintang Democratic Progressive Party Taiwan People's Party Others New Power Party Taiwan Statebuilding Party People First Party Taiwan Solidarity Union New Party Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Newspapers United Daily News Liberty Times China Times Taipei Times Propaganda Censorship Film censorship Lin Chia-lung Cross-Strait relations Special state-to-state relations One Country on Each Side 1992 Consensus Taiwan consensus Chinese Taipei Australia–Taiwan relations Canada–Taiwan relations France–Taiwan relations Russia–Taiwan relations Taiwan–United Kingdom relations Taiwan–United States relations Republic of China (1912–1949) Chinese Civil War One-China policy China and the United Nations Chinese unification Taiwan independence movement Taiwanese nationalism Tangwai movement The Judicial Yuan (Chinese: 司法院; pinyin: Sīfǎ Yuàn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Su-hoat Īⁿ) is the judicial branch of the Republic of China.
[4] For the most part, the court served as a legal advisor to the government, rendering decisions that unified interpretations of statutes or ordinances or providing legitimacy for these politically expedient solutions as a result of extension of legislative representatives' terms.
[5] The unity of the executive and legislative branches since 2008 has seen a decline in the number of politically high-profile cases entering into the Constitutional Court's docket.
At the same time, the number of individuals' petitions challenging legislative or executive acts on grounds of violation of constitutional rights continued to rise steadily, and the Constitutional Court has responded to these rights challenges with a high number of declarations of unconstitutionality.
[5] The Constitutional Court (Chinese: 憲法法庭; pinyin: Xiànfǎ Fǎtíng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hiàn-hoat Hoat-têng), also previously known as the Council of Grand Justices (大法官會議), provides rulings on the following six categories of cases: A petition to declare regulations or laws unconstitutional (Chapter III cases) shall be filed in the following circumstances: There are in total of 15 justices (Chinese: 大法官; pinyin: Dàfǎguān; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tōa-hoat-koaⁿ) serving in the Constitutional Court, current members include:[6] Important decisions of the Constitutional Court are listed as the following.
The Council of Grand Justices ruled on the constitutionality of the continued sitting in the National Assembly of members elected on the mainland in 1948 and ordered that: "[T]hose first-term national representatives who have not been re-elected on a periodical basis to cease the exercise of their powers no later than December 31, 1991.
"[5]The court further required the government to hold a nationwide second-term election of the national representatives including a certain number of representatives-at-large for the proper functioning of the constitutional system.
The Court has eleven criminal courts, each of which has one presiding judge and two or three judges to handle criminal appeals of the second instance and counter-appeal cases under the system of collegial panels as well as litigation of the first instance concerning civil strife, foreign aggression or violation of foreign relations.
The civil summary procedure is for cases involving an amount in controversy of not more than 300,000 New Taiwan dollar and for simple legal disputes.
[19] Each of the district courts have civil, criminal and summary divisions and may establish specialized divisions to handle cases involving juveniles, family, traffic, and labor matters as well as motions to set aside rulings on violations of the Statute for the Maintenance of Social Order.
The disciplinary court (Chinese: 懲戒法院; pinyin: Chéngjiè Fǎyuàn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Têng-kài Hoat-īⁿ)[21] maintains official discipline and punishes public servants, regardless of rank or appointment, for violations of the law or negligence in his or her duty in accordance with Article 77 of the Constitution.
Article 80 of the Constitution states that Judges shall be above partisanship and shall, in accordance with law, hold trials independently, free from any interference.
[1] No judge shall be removed from office unless he has been guilty of a criminal offense or subjected to disciplinary measure, or declared to be under interdiction.