Judicial System In South Korea

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The modern judicial system was first introduced to Korea in July 1894. However, Koreans had a well-defined legal system even before that time, although the functions of the judiciary were not separate from the executive branch before modernization, which meant the latter played the role of the former as well ("Supreme Court of Korea," 2012). The first period was the Three Kingdoms Period where all judicial operations were held to the tribal councils or the head of the clan. One of the kingdoms was Goguryeo which was the top of the judicial organization. In Baekje, one of the royal ministers held judicial authority. Next, was the Goryeo Dynasty, who had the first king to establish a central government that took care of legal issues and trials. …show more content…

According to Article 101 of the Constitution of Korea, courts are endowed with power to adjudicate all legal disputes, and the court operates in a three-tier system (Cho 6-7). At the bottom of the tier is the district court. There are currently 18 district courts in South Korea. These district courts are separated based on their geographic location within South Korea. Branch courts, family branch courts, family courts, administrative courts, and municipal courts are all taken care of under the district court. District courts present the original jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases. In general, a single judge presides over a case. However, a panel of three judges are in charge of cases when the sums in dispute exceed 100 million Korean won or if the money involved is incalculable in civil cases (Cho 7). In criminal cases if the sentence is death penalty, life imprisonment, or imprisonment of one year then a panel of three judges are in charge. As of August 2015, the district court has 39 Branch Court Chief Judges, 534 Presiding Judges, and 1,763 Judges. District courts also have jurisdiction over appeals against judgments made by a single judge of the district, branch or municipal court. This action is performed by three judges called appellate …show more content…

This part of the tier is called the appellate level. There are five high courts located in South Korea. They are all located in the major cities, such as Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, and Daejon. High courts are not the only appellate courts in the Korean system. High courts hear appeals from judgements, rulings or orders rendered either by a panel of three judges of district courts or the family courts, or by the Administrative Court ("Supreme Court of Korea," 2012). They hear appeals from cases when the amount in dispute go over fifty million Korean won. Appellate jurisdiction in civil cases is divided among high courts and district courts. High court judges are appointed by legal profession who apply for the position with a large amount of legal experience, and the appointee would not be moved to district courts unless there are special

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