Legal system of Macau
Encyclopedia
Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

 law
is broadly based on Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

, and therefore part of the civil law
Civil law (legal system)
Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law and whose primary feature is that laws are codified into collections, as compared to common law systems that gives great precedential weight to common law on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different...

 tradition of continental Europe
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....

an legal systems. Portuguese law is itself highly influenced by German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 law. However, many other influences are present, including Chinese law
Chinese law
Chinese law is one of the oldest legal traditions in the world. In the 20th and 21st century, law in China has been a complex mix of traditional Chinese approaches and Western influences....

, Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 law, and some narrow aspects of common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...

.

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 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, 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.

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 consists 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 Instruçao 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
Civil code
A civil code is a systematic collection of laws designed to comprehensively deal with the core areas of private law. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure...

 and the 1999 Commercial code
Commercial code
Commercial code might refer to:*Commercial code , a set of laws designed to regulate comemrce*Commercial code , a code used in telegraph and telex messages....

. 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
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 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 University of Macau
University of Macau
The University of Macau, ;, established in 1981, was the first and currently the largest university in Macau, a former Portuguese colony. It was formerly known as University of East Asia , and was renamed the University of Macau in 1991. The university offers about 100 Doctoral, Master's and...

 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 law http://www.umac.mo/fll/ibl/. In addition, it offers PhD programs in law.

Legal Department

The Department of Public Prosecution (Ministerio Publico) is the judicial authorities of Macau. It is led by the Prosecutor General and assisted by the Assistant-Prosecutor General. Day to day legal activities are performed by general prosecutors.

See also

  • Legal systems of the world
    Legal systems of the world
    The legal systems of the world today are generally based on one of three basic systems: civil law, common law, and religious law – or combinations of these...

  • Civil law (legal system)
    Civil law (legal system)
    Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law and whose primary feature is that laws are codified into collections, as compared to common law systems that gives great precedential weight to common law on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different...

  • Civil code
    Civil code
    A civil code is a systematic collection of laws designed to comprehensively deal with the core areas of private law. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure...

  • Commercial code
    Commercial code
    Commercial code might refer to:*Commercial code , a set of laws designed to regulate comemrce*Commercial code , a code used in telegraph and telex messages....

  • Immigration to Macau
    Immigration to Macau
    With the increase in prosperity and the expansion of the economy of Macau, there is a growing demand from all over the world for residency in the Special Administrative Region....


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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