Reasons for an appeal made to a court of third instance will be reduced

On December 18, 2001, the Code of Criminal Procedure Research & Amendments Committee of the Judicial Yuan made a preliminary conclusion with regard to the legislative principle of the reasons for an appeal made to a court of third instance.  In the future, the reasons for an appeal made to a court of third instance will be reduced, and no appeal shall be made to a court of third instance unless the judgment of a lower court is in any of the following three circumstances:  

(i)     The law applied to the judgment is contradictory to the Constitution;

(ii)  The judgment is contrary to the interpretation of the Judicial Yuan; or

(iii) The judgment is contrary to the law.

In addition, the commissioners of the abovementioned Committee also passed the exceptional rules about the foregoing three principles. If the original judgment has other “major matters” involved in interpretation of the law, the parties may file a petition with a court of third instance within a prescribed period of time to request the court to decide, according to its powers, as to whether it should entertain an appeal against the original judgment.