Supreme Court Formalizes Frontline Judges' Participation in 'Task Allocation' Including Panel Composition

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Supreme Court has codified regulations allowing frontline judges to participate in the allocation of duties, which had previously been monopolized by the chief judge.

According to the court on the 4th, the Supreme Court has newly established and implemented from the day before a court regulation that allows for the creation of a duty allocation committee to discuss judges' tasks and the composition of trial panels.

Duty allocation involves assigning judges to various trial fields such as warrant duty, criminal division, and civil division. Until now, this was the authority of the chief judge according to the Court Trial Affairs Handling Rules. Side effects caused by this have been pointed out. In particular, appointments to warrant duty or as presiding judges of criminal panels raised concerns that the chief judge selects preferred judges, fostering politicization and bureaucratization of the judiciary.

In response, some courts, including the Seoul Central District Court, recently changed the atmosphere by holding meetings reflecting judges' opinions on duty allocation through internal regulations. The Supreme Court, after a meeting of the justices, newly established clear grounds related to the duty allocation committee.

However, the Supreme Court stipulated that specific matters such as the establishment, composition, and operation of the duty allocation committee should be determined by the internal regulations of each court. Once the personnel announcement for district court chief judges and high court judges scheduled for the 6th is made, discussions related to duty allocation are expected to proceed actively at each court level.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.