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Dominican Republic The Judiciary
Judicial power is exercised by the Supreme Court of
Justice
and by other courts created by the Constitution and by
law. The
Constitution establishes courts of first instance in each
province as well as a land tribunal and courts of appeal.
Justices of the peace exist in each municipality and in
the
National District. The Constitution also mandates a court
of
accounts, which examines the country's finances and
reports to
the Congress.
Centralized and hierarchical, the Dominican legal
system was
patterned after the French system. It employed a code-law
legal
system rather than a common law system, such as the one
used in
the United States. Detailed and comprehensive, the codes
left
little room for United States-style judicial activism or
citation
of precedent. Legal reasoning was deductive (from the
codes),
rather than inductive, or based on past cases.
The Constitution calls for a Supreme Court consisting
of nine
judges. Judges are chosen by the Senate, not by the
president,
ostensibly to limit executive power. The Senate also
selects the
judges for the lower courts. Supreme Court justices must
be
Dominican citizens by birth or parentage, at least
thirty-five
years old, with full political and civil rights. They are
required to have law degrees and to have practiced law, or
held
judicial office, for at least twelve years. These
requirements
become progressively less strict for lower-court justices.
The Supreme Court has the exclusive power to assume
jurisdiction in matters affecting the president and other
high
officials, to act as a court of cassation, to serve as a
court of
last instance in matters forwarded from appellate courts,
to
exercise final disciplinary action over other members of
the
judiciary, and to transfer justices from one jurisdiction
to
another. The Supreme Court does not have the formal power
to
review the constitutionality of laws, decrees, or
resolutions put
into effect by the president or the Congress, although a
movement
began in the late 1970stoward limited judicial oversight
of
government acts.
The courts in the Dominican Republic historically have
been
subservient to the government in power. Moreover, politics
have
frequently dominated court proceedings, and the entire
judicial
system may be subject to outside pressures and, at times,
even
intimidation. Nevertheless, since the early 1960s the
court
system has become stronger, and the judiciary has become a
more
independent, if not a coequal, branch of government.
Data as of December 1989
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