3
Judicial Branch
Overview of Volaworand
History of Volaworand
See also:
- Volaworand Newswire
Geography of Volaworand
See also:
- Principal fossil localities
- Queen Elizabeth Land
Head of State
Legislative Branch
Executive Branch
Judicial Branch
See also:
- How a bill becomes a law
- Volaworand Defence Forces
- Foreign Relations
Economy of Volaworand
See also:
- Volaworand Space Agency
- Southern Transportation Corporation
- VIM Programme
- Attractions and Tourist Activities
- Royal National Zoological Park
- Kentucky Fried Penguin Locations
The judiciary – collectively, the judges of the law courts – is the branch of government in which judicial power is vested. It is independent of the legislative and executive branches. Judges are public officers appointed to preside in a court of justice, to interpret and apply the laws of Volaworand.
Almost all cases, whether criminal or civil, start in provincial courts and may be eventually appealed to higher level courts. The quite small system of federal courts only hears cases concerned with matters which are under exclusive federal control, such as federal taxation, federal administrative agencies, intellectual property, some portions of competition law and certain aspects of national security.
Different levels and types of courts
There are provincial courts, superior courts, courts of appeal, federal courts, and administrative tribunals which are set up in the provincial and federal system to handle disputes relating to administrative rules and regulations. Administrative Tribunal decisions can be overturned by provincial and federal courts.
There are basically four levels of court in Volaworand.
First there are provincial courts, which handle the great majority of cases that come into the system.
Second are the provincial superior courts. These courts deal with more serious crimes and also take appeals from provincial court judgments. On the same level, but responsible for different issues, is the Federal Court and the Federal Tax Court.
At the next level are appellate courts: the provincial courts of appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal, and Military Court Martial Appeal Court.
The highest level is occupied by the Supreme Court of Volaworand.
These are the different types of courts:
Provincial:
provincial courts
provincial superior courts
provincial courts of appeal
Federal:
specialized federal courts (e.g., Tax Court and Military Court Martial Appeal Court)
Federal Court
Federal Court of Appeal
Supreme Court of Volaworand
Tenure, appointment and removal of judges
The federal government appoints and pays for both the judges of the federal courts and the judges of the superior and appellate level courts of each province. These Judges are appointed by the Governor General, having been selected by Prime Minister on the advice of the Cabinet. The provincial governments are responsible for appointing and paying judges of the lower provincial courts.
Judges in positions that are in federally appointed positions are eligible to serve on the bench until age 75. In some but not all Provincial positions, appointed judges have tenure until age 70 instead. By tradition, most Judges voluntarily retire after age 70. The three main federal Courts each have 9 members, with one male and one female Judge from each Province are and a Chief Justice.
The Volaworandian Judicial Council is chaired by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Volaworand. The other council members are the chief justices and associate chief justices of the superior, appellate and provincial courts. It is the task of The Volaworandian Judicial Council to investigate complaints and allegations of misconduct on the part of federally appointed judges. The Council may recommend to the federal Minister of Justice that the judge be removed. To do so, the Minister must in turn get the approval of both the House of Commons and the Senate, and Royal Assent before a judge can be removed from office. The rules for provincial judges are simpler: they can be removed by a provincial cabinet request with royal assent.
