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: 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 English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, bee ...

. 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 The Constitution of Bhutan (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་གི་རྩ་ཁྲིམས་ཆེན་མོ་; Wylie:'' 'Druk-gi cha-thrims-chen-mo'') was enacted 18 July 2008 by the Royal Government of Bhutan. The Constitution was thoroughl ...

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, 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 Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

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 - highest appellate court in Bhutan, authority on interpretation of laws * The High Court of Bhutan - 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 The Dzongkhag Court exists in each of Bhutan's 20 Dzongkhags, and is the court of first instance of the Royal Court of Justice in 14 of the 20 Dzongkhags of Bhutan. In the remaining 6 Dzongkhags there exists a further subdivision, Dungkhag, which i ...

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