New Judiciary Systems Are Enacted Today.　Court Costs and Cost of Compulsory Execution of Civil Actions are raised.

   The judiciary will have several new systems or measures enacted today, including the amended Code of Criminal Procedure, which has received highest attention, the amended Code of Civil Procedure with 297 articles amended, and the raised court costs and cost of compulsory execution.

Moreover, after the hearing of the court of first instance is held, the parties concerned in the litigation have the right to apply for a hearing CD, and the court must provide the applicant with the complete recording of the proceedings within half of the day.

Also, on the fifth of this month, the unprecedented system of “party chosen judge” (合意選定法官) system will be enforced. As long as the both parties reach a consensus, the judge holding the hearing can be chosen by the both parties.

Regarding the amended criminal procedure, aside from simple and simplified procedure cases, collegial panel and cross-examination in the court of first instance should be adopted in all aspects. The conscientious principle of evidence, presumption of innocence principle being put in writing, broadening of mandatory advocacy limits, and broadening the range of the use of simple and simplified procedure cases, are all major items of the new system.

As for new appellatio per saltum system in civil action, as long as both parties are in agreement with the established facts in the case, but only in dispute about the applicability of the law, they can skip the second instance and then move on directly to the third so as to finalize the case sooner.

Furthermore, the court costs and the cost of compulsory execution are raised because the expenses on postal and cable service and on business travel of court employees are no longer collected from the litigants. Therefore, the above-mentioned court costs and the cost of compulsory execution are raised to balance the national treasury. The court costs will increase by 10% of the original amount, and the cost of compulsory execution, from .7% to .8% of the value of the object of execution.

    Due to the fact that the civil litigation fee from now on will be changed according to the new system’s regressive classification recording method, if the amount or cost of the original claim is under $10,000, the collection will be $1,000. After being changed according to the 10% increase, the collection amount will rise to $1,100. Besides, abuse of litigation can also be fined up to $60,000 by the court.