The county of Miaoli consists of one city and seventeen towns, with a current population of about 570,000. 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 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, Ministry of Justice, and Executive Yuan resolved in the year 1990 to establish the Taiwan Miaoli District Court and Miaoli Prosecutors 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 located at 1149 Jhong Jheng road, Miaoli City, Taiwan 360. In 1992, a construction committee was formed by the Hsinchu District Court and Hsinchu Prosecutors 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, with the construction of the courthouse and prosecutors office, for the most part, completed, the Judicial Yuan appointed the Honorable Ding-Kun Chen as the first chief judge of this court. The Honorable Yao-Tang Chung, then Chief Judge of the Taiwan High Court, presided 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 principle 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 for 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, that this court began to hear and decide cases on its own, thus commencing its operation and performance of official business.

Since the establishment of this court, solid groundwork for its various systems has been laid and facilities continue to be upgraded due to the continuing operations and management efforts by the successive chief judges, including the Honorable Ding-Kun Chen, the Honorable Zai-Sing Yuan, the Honorable Mei-Yue Huang, the Honorable Li-Sia Yeh, and the Honorable Jeong-Dun Tsai. The sixth term, and incumbent, chief judge, the Honorable Yau-Yuan Wen took office on December 30, 2009. He has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors in continuing to maintain the Miaoli District Court as a trustworthy and respectable tribunal in the eyes of the public.

• Release Date:2021-04-26
• Update:2021-04-26