MACAU SAR, CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: João Nuno Riquito, Bruno Almeida, Bernice Kwok and Daniel de Senna Fernandes, Riquito Advogados
1.2 Court System The Macau SAR has an independent judicial system, extending to final adjudication. The structure of the court system is regulated by Law No 9/1999, amended by Law No 4/2019. There are three instances in the Macau SAR, hierarchi- cally organised, which have jurisdiction over its entire territory: • the Courts of First Instance, which include the Judicial Base Court and the Administrative Court; • the Court of Second Instance; and • the Court of Final Appeal. The Judicial Base Court is organised into dif- ferent sections, based on the types of matters considered (two pre-trial criminal sections, five criminal sections, three civil sections, one small claims civil section, one labour section and one family section). The civil sections have general competence to try any matters that do not fall within the specific matters attributed to any oth- er sections. The Administrative Court is competent for mat- ters of administrative law, taxation and customs. The Court of Second Instance and the Court of Final Appeal are, as a matter of principle, courts of appeal. The Court of Second Instance is pri- marily a court of appeal and reviews the deci- sions from the Courts of First Instance (both the Judicial Base Court and the Administrative Court). It encompasses two sections: • a criminal section, which reviews criminal matters; and • a general section, which reviews all other matters.
the parties’ submissions and documentary evi- dence and, if further evidence is required, the matter will be submitted to trial. The trial hear- ing is fundamentally of an oral nature, where witnesses, experts and the parties’ depositions are produced before the court. The court and the parties are admitted, with certain limitations, to interrogate and counter-interrogate the wit- nesses and seek further clarifications through the judge. Written statements can only excep- tionally be admitted and final arguments on mat- ters of fact are produced orally before the court. Closing legal arguments may be produced orally if the parties so agree, otherwise they are to be produced in writing before the final decision is issued. Each court decision should provide the reason- ing that led to it, whilst observing a certain struc- ture to ensure that they are clear and objective, thus allowing it to be reviewed by the parties and by superior courts in case of appeal. Criminal Proceedings Criminal proceedings also follow an adversar- ial principle but with a different structure. The investigation is conducted by the public pros- ecutor’s office, which is an independent judicial body. After the investigation is completed, the public prosecutor’s office will determine whether an indictment is made based on the evidence collected and will submit the matter to trial. Dur- ing the investigation, the proceeding is mainly inquisitory. However, after the investigation is completed, the defendant will have the ability to contradict and dispute any indictment made by the public prosecutor. For that purpose, the defendant may request the indictment be reviewed by a pre-trial judge before the matter goes to trial, or simply submit its defence to the trial court.
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