Supreme People's Court of Vietnam

The Supreme People's Court of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Tòa án nhân dân tối cao) is the highest court of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The Supreme People's Court is one of the two institutions at the apex of the judicial system of Vietnam, with the other body being the Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam. Both are accountable to the President of Vietnam, the highest institution of government power in the country. The head of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam is the Chief Justice. The current Chief Justice of Vietnam is Nguyen Hoa Binh.

Supreme People's Court of Vietnam
Established	13 September 1945
Jurisdiction	Vietnam
Location	Hanoi
Composition method	Presidential nomination with confirmation from the National Assembly
Authorised by	Constitution of Vietnam
Judge term length	Five years
Number of positions	13–17, by statute
Website	www.toaan.gov.vn
Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam
Currently	Nguyễn Hòa Bình
Since	8 April 2016

Headquarters.

Responsibility and jurisdiction

The Supreme People's Court is responsible for providing leadership to the Vietnamese court system, supervising the judicial process, and recommending bills to the National Assembly as appropriate under law. It is a court of final resort.

The Court is by statute the court of final resort for all matters arising under Vietnamese law. It hears appeals in cases where court decisions have been implemented. The Court's Council of Justices can also pass resolutions directing lower courts on the uniform enforcement of the law across the country.

Prior to June 2015, when parts of the Law on the Organisation of People's Courts (2014) and several resolutions by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly took effect, the Supreme People's Court also had some intermediate appellate jurisdiction via its three appellate benches (toà phúc thẩm). However, the 2014 law transformed those appellate benches into full courts called superior people's courts (toà án nhân dân cấp cao), and removed intermediate appellate jurisdiction from the Supreme People's Court.

Organisation

The Supreme People's Court of Vietnam is organised according to the Law on the Organisation of People's Courts (2014). Under law, the Court's organisation consists of the Council of Justices, its supporting apparatus, as well as training facilities as needed.

The Court's Council of Justices consists of the Chief Justice, the Deputy Chief Justices, and other justices of the Supreme People's Court as appointed by the National Assembly on nomination by the President. It must have at least 13 members, and at most 17 members. Appeals are heard by panels of five justices, or by the entire Council of Justices when appropriate under law.

The Supreme People's Court of Vietnam consists of:

• Council of Justices (Hội đồng Thẩm phán): 17 judges, including the Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justices
• Office of the Supreme People's Court (Văn phòng Tòa án Nhân dân Tối cao)
• Assisting apparatus
• High People's Courts (Tòa án Nhân dân Cấp cao): currently there are 3 High People's Courts (High People's Court in Northern region, High People's Court in Central region and High People's Court in Southern region). The High People's Courts consist of:
  • Committee of Judges (Ủy ban Thẩm phán)
  • Criminal Court (Tòa Hình sự)
  • Civil Court (Tòa Dân sự)
  • Administrative Court (Tòa Hành chính)
  • Economic Court (Tòa Kinh tế)
  • Labor Court (Tòa Lao động)
  • Family and Juvenile Court (Tòa Gia đình và Người chưa thành niên)

List of chief justices

Number	Name	Term	Political party
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945–1976)
-	Trần Công Tường (acting)	5/1958–5/1959	Worker's Party of Vietnam
1	Phạm Văn Bạch	5/1959–7/1976	Worker's Party of Vietnam
Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1976–present)
1	Phạm Văn Bạch	7/1976–5/1981	Communist Party of Vietnam
2	Phạm Hưng	1981–1997	Communist Party of Vietnam
3	Trịnh Hồng Dương	1997–2002	Communist Party of Vietnam
4	Nguyễn Văn Hiện	2002–2007	Communist Party of Vietnam
5	Trương Hòa Bình	2007–2016	Communist Party of Vietnam
6	Nguyễn Hòa Bình	2016–incumbent	Communist Party of Vietnam

External links

• Official website