Main tasks and practical skills:
- The socialist rule of law (Article 12 of the 1992 Constitution which was amended and supplemented by Resolution No. 51/2001/QH10 dated 25 December 2001 of the 10th session of the X National Assembly).
- This principle provides guidelines for all activities of State bodies in general and the People’s Courts in particular. In judicial activities, in order to guarantee that this principle is not breached, Judges and Assessors of the People’s Courts have to seriously obey legal provisions in conducting their powers and duties, both from a procedural and substantive point of view.
- Trials conducted at the People's Courts or Military Tribunals with the participatation of People's Assessors or Military Assessors respectively shall be conducted in conformity with legal procedures. During a trial, the Assessors shall be on an equal footing with the Judges (Article 129 of the 1992 Constitution; Article 4 of the Law on the Organization of the People’s Courts). Depending on each particular type of case, this principle is stipulated in provisions of the CrPC, CPC, Ordinance on Organization of the Military Tribunals, and Ordinance on Procedure for Resolving administrative cases.
- During a trial, the Assessors shall be on an equal footing with the Judges . This means that when a case is heard by a Court with the participation of Assessors, the Assessors shall have the same right as the Judges in determining all the aspects of the case, including both procedural and substantive matters.
- During a trial, the Judges and Assessors are independent and shall only obey the law (Article 130 of the 1992 Constitution; Article 5 of the Law on Organization of the People’s Courts). This principle can be construed as follows:
- First, in hearings, the Assessors and the Judges are neither bound by the Procuracy’s conclusion nor affected by each other’s opinions. The Judges and Assessors shall be responsible for their own opinions in relation to each aspect of the case.
- Second, the Assessors and Judges are independent i.e. any individuals or organizations shall in no way interfere with the judicial activities of the Judges and Assessors.
- Noting that the judicial independence of the Judges and Assessors must be in line with legal compliance.
- The Courts shall hold their hearings in public, except in cases determined by law (in order to maintain State secrets, to preserve the nation’s fine traditions and customs or to preserve confidential information of the involved parties upon their legitimate request) (Article 131 of the 1992 Constitution; Article 7 of the Law on Organization of the People’s Courts).
- The Courts shall try their cases collegially and their decisions shall be in conformity with the will of the majority (Article 131 of the 1992 Constitution; Article 6 of the Law on Organization of the People’s Courts).
- “The Courts shall try their cases collegially” means that the hearing of a case under any procedures is conducted by a Trial Panel. Composition of a Trial Panel is stipulated in procedural laws, depending on its court level and its type of case, as follows:
- Criminal cases:
+ Composition of Trial Panel of First Instance (Article 185 of the CrPC).
+ Composition of Trial Panel of Appeal (Article 244 of the CrPC).
+ Composition of Trial Panel of Review/Cassation (Article 281 of the CrPC).
- Civil cases (regarding civil disputes, family and marriage disputes, commercial and trade disputes, labor disputes):
+ Composition of Trial Panel of First Instance (Article 52 of the CPC).
+ Composition of Trial Panel of Appeal (Article 53 of the CPC).
+ Composition of Trial Panel of Review/Cassation (Article 54 of the CPC).
- Administrative cases: Composition of Trial Panel of First-Instance, Appeal and Review/Cassation (Article 15 of the Ordinance on Settlement of Administrative Cases).
- The courts conduct trials on the principle that all citizens are equal before the law, regardless of their sex, nationality, belief, religion, social class, social position; individuals, agencies, organizations, people’s armed forces units as well as business establishments of all economic sectors are all equal before the law (Article 8 of the Law on the Organization of the People’s Courts).
- The People's Courts shall guarantee that citizens of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam who are members of various nationalities can use their own respective languages and systems of writing in court (Article 133 of the 1992 Constitution; Article 10 of the Law on Organization of the People’s Courts).
The language and writing system used at courts shall be the Vietnamese language. Therefore, in the case of a participant in court proceedings who is a non-Vietnamese speaker, an interpreter must be employed.
- The Courts shall implement the two-level trial regime (Article 11 of the Law on Organization of the People’s Courts).
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