A Brief History of Taiwan Miaoli District Court

The County of Miaoli consists of one city and seventeen towns, with a population of 500,000 to 600,000.  Prior to the establishment of this Court in 1997, the county fell within the jurisdiction of the Taiwan Hsinchu District Court.  For the residents of Miaoli, the trip to the Hsinchu District Court for litigation or other business purposes was a long one that caused great inconvenience.  At that time, every county (municipality) had its own district court except Miaoli.  Therefore, in order to put into effect the provision of the Court Organic Act, which provides that a court shall be established for every county (city), the Judicial Yuan and the Ministry of Justice, Executive Yuan, resolved in the year 1990 to establish the Taiwan Miaoli District Court and the Miaoli Prosecutor’s Office.  After the Judicial Yuan’s extensive coordination efforts, with consent from the owner and occupant of thirty-four lots of land situated in downtown Miaoli City, i.e., the Taiwan Sugar Company and the Combined Logistics Command under the Ministry of National Defense, respectively, and assistance from the Miaoli County Government and local individuals, the aforesaid land, measuring about five hectares, was acquired as the location for the construction of the courthouse (current address: 1149 Jung Jeng Road, Miaoli City, Taiwan 360).  In 1992, a construction committee was formed by the Hsinchu District Court and Hsinchu Prosecutor’s Office to actively plan and supervise the progress of the construction project.  In 1993, however, the Judicial Yuan instructed the Hsinchu District Court to first construct an office building for the Miaoli Summary Division of the Hsinchu District Court at the aforesaid location so as to make it more convenient for the people of Miaoli to proceed with their summary cases.  The office building was completed and opened on October 25, 1994.  In January 1997, as the construction of the courthouse for this Court and the Prosecutor’s Office was for the most part completed, the Judicial Yuan appointed the Honorable Ding-Kun Chen, then incumbent member of the Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries, as the first chief judge of this Court, with the Honorable Yao-Tang Chung, then Chief Judge of the Taiwan High Court, presiding over the inaugural ceremony for Mr. Chen on January 9, 1997, marking the official foundation of this Court.

At the time of this Court’s establishment, half of the staff was transferred from the Hsinchu District Court and the remaining staff was assigned to this Court by various other courts.  Since the construction of the principal part of the courthouse was yet to be completed, and the internal facilities were largely inadequate, the Court was unable to officially hear any case under its jurisdiction.  As a result, the Hsinchu District Court continued to hear cases for this Court, and the transferred and assigned staff remained at the Hsinchu District Court for the time being except those who worked at the summary division.  It was not until April 30, 1997, when the Honorable Chi-Yang Shih, former President of the Judicial Yuan, presided at the opening ceremony of this Court, that this Court began to hear and decide cases on its own, thus commencing its operation and performing official business.

Since the establishment of this Court, solid groundwork for its various systems has been laid and facilities are being upgraded due to the unceasing operation and management efforts by the successive chief judges, including the Honorable Ding-Kun Chen, the Honorable Zai-Sing Yuan, the Honorable Mei-Yue Huang and the Honorable Li-Sia Yeh.  The fifth-term chief judge, also the incumbent chief judge, the Honorable Jeong-Dun Tsai, took his office on December 6, 2005.  He has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors in continuing to maintain this Court as a trustworthy and respectable tribunal in the eyes of the people.