Press Enter to Center block
:::

Supreme Administrative Court

:::

The Procedure for Case Trials

font-size:

1. Receiving Cases and Initial Review

After receiving the record of the case on appeal or interlocutory appeal from a lower court,the clerks of the Screening Section of this Court, under the rule that "procedure, not  merits,  should  first  be  considered,"  check  whether  the  case  complies  with  procedural requirements. If not, either this Court returns the appeal or interlocutory appeal to the lower court to complete it or the Presiding Justice of the Initial Review Panel orders that the appellant(s) satisfy all procedural requirements within a designated period.

2. Assignment of Cases to Panels

Regarding the cases on appeal, if filed after the statutory period or without paying the appellate filing fees after being informed, or cannot pay the filing fees due to the illegal nature of the case, then cases are assigned as cases of procedural matters. Otherwise, cases should be referred to the Presiding Justice of the Case Assignment Panel and be assigned as cases of merits matters to adjudication panels randomly by computer.

3. Adjudication

This Court is the instance of legal review. An appeal to this Court may only be filed on the ground that the judgment of lower courts is contrary to laws and ordinances. When the legal relationships are complicated, or there are conflicting legal opinions, special knowledge or knowhow is involved, affects public interest, or significantly affects the rights and obligations of the parties, and therefore, it is necessary to hold an oral argument, an oral argument shall be held to protect the right to an impartial trial and realize the due process of law. This Court will typically defer to the lower court’s findings of fact, but the materials presented in oral argument to this Court would be taken into consideration as well.

4. Making Uniform Legal Opinions                                      

When one of the panels of this Court considers it necessary to make uniform legal opinions, it may propose a case to the Grand Panel. There are two types of proposals. One type concerns the split opinions on legal issues. The other type concerns important legal principles. A litigating party may file a motion with an adjudicative panel to propose the pending case to the Grand Panel by a ruling.

When the Grand Panel adjudicates legal controversies, oral argument is necessary and parties have to represented by qualified agents ad litem in order to protect the parties’ right to participate in the procedure of the Grand Panel.

The ruling made by the Grand Panel is binding on the matter submitted by the proposing panel. In other words, the proposing panel is legally obligated to adjudicate the matter submitted to the Grand Panel on the merits on the basis of the legal opinions held by the Grand Panel.

5. Deliberation

The  adjudication  panel  of  this  Court,  consisting  of  five  Justices,  decides  cases  through deliberation. In deliberation, the Presiding Justice acts as the chairperson and the panel reaches conclusions by simple majority.

6. Issuance of Judgment

Immediately after deliberation, the Clerk’s Sections publish the conclusion of the judgments and notify all the parties. The certified copies of the judgment are sent to all the parties once completed.

 

Procedural Chart of Administrative Court

Procedural Chart of Adjudication by Grand Panel

  • Release Date:2021-04-25
  • Update:2023-11-17
Top