Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, proposed three main objectives for judicial reform during a meeting with lawyers of his campaign support group. Other presidential candidates will have to deal with this issue as well. As early as the administration of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), judicial reform has always been a key issue.
There is no panacea for all judicial problems. When settling a legal dispute or a lawsuit, it is impossible to satisfy everyone. There would always be a winner and a loser. Society has become even more complex, giving rise to all types of disputes. If a pedestrian is injured by a robot, who should be held responsible? The manufacturer? The user? Or the robot’s owner?
Universities have started to offer courses on these issues. The judiciary should not wait until an incident occurs. This is why judicial reform has to be a constant process. It needs to keep up with the times and move forward.
Today, the public finds fault with the judiciary for these reasons: incorrect rulings that have led to a lack of public trust; investigations and trials that are slow and prolonged; the involvement of external factors or interests that influence the courts’ stance.
Victims understandably lose patience, with many realizing the truth of the saying that one should avoid going to court because it could all be for nought.
However, people are sometimes left with no choice but to take a dispute to court, be it a neighbors’ feud, a car accident or other unpredictable altercations. As in the case of medicine, laws should be understood as a preventive solution. Laws are for everyone, as all of us might one day be involved in a dispute in our daily lives. It is hence significantly important to educate the public on legal matters, and legal services should be offered extensively for all.
Like medicine, people take preventive measures to stay healthy and avoid exorbitant medical expenses. Similarly, if ordinary people have some basic understanding of how the legal system works, they would know that there is a six-month limit on filing a complaint or to avoid vaguely worded contracts. Many people know hardly a thing about the law, and when they lose a lawsuit, they often blame prosecutors or judges.
In addition, institutionalizing a system for appointing expert witnesses could better address social changes and reduce the time needed to resolve a case. Delays in judgements and investigations could be avoided, and prevent external forces or money from influencing and abusing the system.
Rome was not built in a day. The law must be amended so that experts can enter the courts and help judges discover the truth. In doing so, judgements can be accurately made without delay, and people’s trust in the judicial system would be restored.
Chuang Sheng-rong is a lawyer.
Translated by Emma Liu
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