MACAU SAR, CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: João Nuno Riquito, Bruno Almeida and Daniel de Senna Fernandes, Riquito Advogados
10. Appeal 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation
enforced in the Macau SAR after revision and confir- mation by its courts. Such confirmation is not necessary when the foreign judgment is used in the Macau SAR only as evidence of certain facts in court proceedings. Confirmation is subject to the following requirements: • the document is authentic and the decision is writ- ten plainly; • the judgment is res judicata in the country of issu- ance; • the matter does not fall within the exclusive com- petence of the Macau SAR courts and the issuing court’s competence was not fraudulent; • the matter has not been previously submitted to litigation, nor has it been previously decided as res judicata in the Macau SAR; • verification of the regular summoning of the defendant and that the due process principles have been observed; and • the decision will not cause a result that goes against public policy. The defendant is summoned and has 15 days to offer a defence, whereas the claimant may submit rejoinder within ten days. Besides the non-verification of any of the above requirements, the defendant may also oppose the confirmation on the following grounds: • there is a judgment decided as res judicata that the award pending confirmation was issued under prevarication or corruption of the judge; • there is a document that the defendant was not aware of or was unable to use during the initial proceedings, which would by itself be sufficient to lead to a decision more favourable to them; and • there is a previous judgment decided as res judicata which is contrary to the decision under confirmation. Before submission to trial, the proceedings are further analysed by the public prosecutor.
The Macau SAR Code of Civil Procedure provides for ordinary and extraordinary appeals. Two types of ordinary appeals exist: an appeal can be filed to the Court of Second Instance from a judgment by a Court of First Instance, and to the Court of Final Appeal from a judgment by the Court of Second Instance. Beyond these are found so-called extraordinary appeals. • In the form of a petition to review a judgment (eg, when a defendant’s confession is found to be null and void by a later judgment, although it served as justifying grounds for a previous one). • Opposition by a third party in the event of collusion between the original complainant and plaintiff with the goal of being granted a favourable judgment, under false pretexts and at the expense of some- one who was not directly involved in the proceed- ings. 10.2 Rules Concerning Appeals of Judgments An ordinary appeal can only be filed provided that: • the value of the lawsuit is superior to the value of the jurisdiction of the court ( alçada ) whose judg- ment is under appeal (at present, MOP100,000 for a Court of First Instance and MOP1 million for the Court of Second Instance); and • the value of the losses incurred by the losing party is superior to half of the value of the jurisdiction of the court whose judgment is under appeal. However, should the Court of Second Instance uphold the judgment of the Court of First Instance, irrespec- tive of the reasons, no further appeal can be filed with the Court of Final Appeal, unless that judgment is against previous mandatory jurisprudence of the Court of Final Instance. The right to appeal on certain matters, such as in respect of the court’s jurisdiction for the proceedings or on grounds of breach of mandatory precedent, is not subject to the limitations set out above.
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