Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

law is broadly based on Portuguese law, and therefore part of the civil law tradition of

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

an legal systems. Portuguese law is itself highly influenced by German law. However, many other influences are present, including

Chinese law Chinese law is one of the oldest legal traditions in the world. The core of modern Chinese law is based on Germanic-style civil law, socialist law, and traditional Chinese approaches. For most of the history of China, its legal syste ...

, Italian law, and some narrow aspects of

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...

. Macau's legal code is written in Portuguese; therefore law students at

University of Macau The University of Macau (UM; Portuguese: ''Universidade de Macau'', Chinese: 澳門大學) is an internationalised public comprehensive university in Macau. The UM campus is located in the east of Hengqin Island, Guangdong province in Mainland ...

take their classes in Portuguese.

Constitutional law

The apex of the legal system is the Basic Law of the Macau SAR, a Chinese law approved in accordance with and due to the

Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration The Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau, or Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration, was a treaty between Portugal and the People's Republic of China over the status of Macau. The full name of the treaty is Joint Declaration of the Government of ...

on the Question of Macau (an international treaty that is officially deposited at the UN) and with article 31 of the Constitution of the PRC. Within Macau, the Basic Law has constitutional rank. The Basic Law of Macau is modelled upon the

Basic Law of Hong Kong The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Comprising nine chapters, 160 ar ...

, although it is not totally equal, as it namely is influenced by the Portuguese Constitution in some points as, for example, in some norms concerning fundamental rights. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights applies in Macau.

The transfer of power

The legal system of Macau was not substantially modified in 1999, as a result of the transfer of power from Portugal to the PRC, given that there is a principle of continuity of the pre-existing legal system, according to which all sources in force prior to the transfer of sovereignty continued to apply, with some minor exceptions that were specified in December 1999.

Judicial system

The courts of the Macau SAR are structured in three levels and have final power of adjudication, except in very narrow areas. The Court of Final Appeal has three judges, and the Court of Second Instance has five judges. Trial by jury is foreseen in the law, but is not used. Prior to 1991, Macau judicial system was a sub-judiciary district of the judicial framework of the Portuguese legal system and was affiliated to the Judiciary District of Lisbon (Judicial da Comarca de Lisboa). By 2018 none of the criminal court judges were Portuguese. In 2018

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...

stated: "Courts have largely stopped providing Portuguese translations."

High Court

The Higher Court of Justice (Superior Court of Justice) of Macau replaced the role of Court of Appeal of the Judiciary District of Lisbon. This highest court would be replaced by the current Court of Appeal in 1999. The courts prior to the handover in 1999: * Superior Council of Magistrates * Superior Council of Public Prosecutors * Court of Justice of Macau * Criminal Preliminary Hearing Court of Macau * Administrative Court of Macau * Constitutional Court of the Republic of Portugal * Supreme Administrative Court of the Republic of Portugal * Supreme Court of Justice of the Republic of Portugal * Audit Court of the Republic of Portugal The courts of Macau consist of: * Court of Final Appeal – 終審法院/Tribunal de Ultima Instância * Court of General Competence * Administrative Court (Tribunal Administrativo) * Criminal Preliminary Hearing Court – (Juizos de Instrução Criminal) * Audit Court * Higher Court of Justice * Judiciary Council of Macau (Tribunal Judicial de Base) * Court of Second Instance or Court of Appeal (Tribunal de Segunda Instância) * Court of First Instance (Tribunais de Primeira Instância) * Primary Court of Macau – 初級法院/(Tribunal Judícial de Base) * Judiciary Council of Macau (Conselho dos Magistrados Judíciais)

Macau as a civil law legal system

Macau is typically a civil law legal system, in that legislation is the main source of law and case law, while clearly relevant, is not a major source of law. Macau has the five 'classic' codifications: the Civil Code, the Commercial Code, the Civil Procedure Code, the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code. In addition, there are a number of other smaller codifications (e.g., in the field of administrative law).

Private law

Private law in Macau is basically codified in two separate codes: the 1999

Civil Code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property, family, and obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdictions with a civil code, a number of the core ar ...

and the 1999 Commercial code. A number of other pieces of legislation, such as the law on standard contract terms, are also of importance. The Commercial Code has been translated into English and is freely available in the website of the Macau Official Printing House (see link below). For a partial translation of the Civil Code, see the bibliography below.

Legal education

The Faculty of Law of the

was created in the late 1980s and currently offers law degrees and master programmes conducted in Chinese and Portuguese languages. It also offers two master and postgraduate programmes in English, one in EU, international and comparative law, and the other in international business la

In addition, it offers PhD programs in law.

Legal Department

The Public Prosecutions Office (檢察院; Ministério Público) is the judicial authority of Macau. It is led by a prosecutor general and assisted by an assistant-prosecutor general. Day to day legal activities are performed by general prosecutors.

Gaming law

Macau gaming law Gambling in Macau has been legal since the 1850s when the Portuguese government legalised the activity in the autonomous colony. Since then, Macau has become known worldwide as the "Gambling capital of the world" or " Monte Carlo of the East" ...

is discussed in a separate entry.

Law field employees

In 2018 Macau had 49 jurists, with ten being Portuguese.

stated in 2018 that according to "experts", "the government was increasingly hiring only Chinese for jobs as lawyers, advisers and jurists."

References

External links

* Macau Law Directory (Government Printing Bureau) *
Traditional Chinese version
**
Portuguese version
** (No longer live as of 7 September 2018) **
Macau Courts
**
Faculty of Law, University of Macau
**
Personal page of Prof. Jorge Godinho, University of Macau
**
Links to sites of legal interest

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legal System Of Macau Macau law