The

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

ese Royal Court of Justice (

Dzongkha Dzongkha (; ) is a Sino-Tibetan language that is the official and national language of Bhutan. It is written using the Tibetan script. The word means "the language of the fortress", from ' "fortress" and ' "language". , Dzongkha had 171,080 n ...

: དཔལ་ལྡན་འབྲུག་པའི་དྲང་ཁྲིམས་ལྷན་སྡེ་; Wylie ''Dpal-ldan 'Brug-pai Drang-khrims Lhan-sde''; Palden Drukpa Drangkhrim Lhende) is the government body which oversees the

judicial system of Bhutan The judicial system of Bhutan is the purview of the Royal Court of Justice, the judicial branch of the government of Bhutan under the Constitution of 2008. The judicial system comprises the Judicial Commission, the courts, the police, the penal c ...

. Senior Judges of the courts are appointed by the

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

. Bhutan's legal system is influenced by English common law. The Royal Court of Justice is based in the capital

Thimphu Thimphu (; dz, ཐིམ་ཕུག ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's ''dzongkhags'', the Thimphu District. The ancient ...

Background

The Bhutanese justice system has always suffered from a lack of qualified officers with most of the office-holders being civil servants. Until the passing of the National Judicial Service Act of 2007, Judges were still a part of the Bhutanese civil service.

Codification in 2008 constitution

In 2008, the Constitution of Bhutan codified the substantive and procedural framework of the Royal Court of Justice. Article 21 of the Constitution establishes a system of royal appointments for the High Court and

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, and sets forth the role of each level of administration. The Chief Justice, an appointee of the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

, sits for a five-year term and chairs the National Judicial Commission, a royal agency. (Art. 21, §§ 4, 6, 17) The Chief Justice is to participate in several extrajudicial functions, including the Recency Council; presiding over joint sessions of the

Parliament of Bhutan The Parliament of Bhutan ( dz, རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་ཚོགས་ཁང་ ''gyelyong tshokhang'') consists of the King of Bhutan together with a bicameral parliament.Constitution: Art. 1, § 3; Art. 10 This bicameral parliament is ...

for abdication procedures; and presiding over political impeachment proceedings. (Art. 2, §§ 8, 23; Art. 32, § 3) All Constitutionally appointed judges other than the Chief Justice serve ten-year terms. (Art. 21, §§ 6, 13) There is, however, a mandatory retirement at age 65 for all Judges of the Supreme Court. (Art. 21, § 6) The Chief Justice and the Drangpons of the High Court serve ten-year terms, or until mandatory retirement at age 60. (Art. 21, § 13) No Constitutionally appointed judge may be re-appointed. (Art. 31, § 4)

Structure

* The

Supreme Court of Bhutan The Supreme Court of Bhutan is the Kingdom of Bhutan's highest court of review and interpreter of the Constitution. The Supreme Court consists of one Chief Justice and four Drangpons (Associate Justices). Its appellate jurisdiction is accompanie ...

- highest appellate court in Bhutan, authority on interpretation of laws * The

High Court of Bhutan The High Court of Bhutan derives its authority from the 2008 Constitution of Bhutan. It consists of the Chief Justice and eight Drangpons (Associate Justices). The Chief Justice and Drangpons of the High Court are appointed from among juniors, pee ...

- appellate and extraterritorial jurisdiction * Administrative Tribunals established by

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

* The Dzongkhag Court -

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

courts (20) * The

Dungkhag Court The Dungkhag Court (sub-district court) is the court of first instance of the Royal Court of Justice in 6 of the 20 Dzongkhags of Bhutan which have Dungkhag administrative divisions; in the remaining 14 Dzongkhags, the Dzongkhag Court is the court ...

- Sub-District courts (13 total in 6

Districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

)

Notes

References

External links

* * * Judiciary of Bhutan