Preamble:

Iran is a country located in Western Asia. Iran is the second largest country in the middle east and the 18th largest county in the world by area, with many investment opportunities and economic advantages.

According to Principle 44 of Iran’s Constitution, the economy of Iran consists of three sectors: Public, Private, and Cooperative. Under this Principle, the government owns all the major industries, however, the limitation of the private sector is redefined and accordingly, keeping the core management in main industries by the government, the private sector is allowed to participate in such industries through Privatization.

Iran’s legal system is based on Romeo-Germanic Legal System (Civil Law or Civilian Law) or simply known as “Written Law” accompanied by Islamic legal theories.

Iran’s Court System:

Different types of courts and tribunals with different jurisdictions over the cases exist in Iran. Any party to a dispute may also appoint an attorney at law by their choice to represent him/her at any stage of the court’s proceedings. Such lawyers shall be certified to practice law by Iran’s Bar Association.

Iran’s Judiciary has an Online Notification System named “SANA”. In other words, SANA is an online web-based platform where all the legal notifications are served through an Electronic Notification System of the Judiciary. This system facilitates and expedites the legal proceedings for courts and enables the litigants and their lawyers to instantly have access to the courts’ decisions and orders. To put it another way, all the courts’ communications will be done through this system and no physical notification will be served to parties’ legal addresses.

Iran’s Courts presently consist of General and Specific Courts which are briefly defined as bellow:

  1. General Courts:
  2. General Courts of the First Instance:

The General Courts of the First Instance have jurisdiction over all cases except for the cases which will be heard in Specific Courts considering their jurisdiction. Unlike Common Law System, in Iran, the courts’ decisions do not have precedential values. Therefore, they are not invoked by the courts for future references. The General Courts are divided into Civil Courts and Criminal courts which are elucidated in a nutshell as follows:

1.1 Civil Courts:

The disputes referred to Civil Courts encompass most cases regarding civil matters such as contracts, corporate issues, bankruptcy and real estate. In order to professionally deal with some issues, some specialized branches of Civil Courts are allocated in this regard as well, such as insurance issues, intellectual property and banking. The financial disputes which are within the Civil Court’s jurisdiction shall be appraised more than 500.000.000 Rials.

The vast majority of the orders and judgements of the Courts of First Instance may be appealed in the Appeal Court.

1.2 Criminal Courts:

According to the latest changes of Islamic Criminal Court and Criminal Procedural Code, the Criminal Courts are divided as follows:

1.2.1 First Class Criminal Court:

This court consists of three judges; a chairman and two advisors. As per Article 302 of Iran’s Criminal Procedure Code, the First Class Court is competent to hear the below cases:

  1. The crimes for which the legal punishment is execution
  2. The crimes for which the legal punishment is life imprisonment
  3. The crimes for which the legal punishment is limb amputation and body injuries
  4. The crimes of which the punishment is Degree three and higher felonies
  5. Political and press crimes

1.2.2 Second Class Criminal Court:

According to Article 295 of Iran’s Criminal Procedure Code, only one judge sits in the Second Class Criminal Court. Under Article 301, the Second Class Criminal Court has jurisdiction to hear all the criminal cases except for the cases which are within the jurisdiction of specific courts or the First Class Courts.

  1. The Appeal Courts:

The Judgements and ordered issued by the Civil and Criminal Courts may be appealed in the Appeal Court. Two authorities deal with reviewing the judicial decisions of the courts: The Appeal Court and the Supreme Court.

2.1. The Appeal Court:

The Appeal Court in Iran substantially reviews the orders and decisions rendered by the Court. The decision of the Appeal Court is final and binding upon the parties to the dispute. The Appeal Court consists of different branches. Each court’s branch has 3 experienced judges. The decisions regarding the cases will be made by the vote of the simple majority of the judges.

2.2. The Supreme Court:

The Supreme Court is located in Tehran and is the highest court of appeal. The Supreme Court has three judges. This court does not review the cases substantially. This court has the authority to send the case to the lower courts in order to review the facts and the law for the second time and consequently issue a new decision. It is worth-mentioning that the lower courts are not obliged to comply with the Supreme Court’s decisions.

The Supreme Court is legally authorized to reopen the closed criminal cases as well.

The Supreme Court also has a General Council which settle the conflicts between the interpretation of civil or criminal laws about the same subject by different lower courts. The interpretation issues by the Supreme Court’s General Council has precedential values and cannot be derogated. Only another interpretation by its General Council or subsequent legislation may set aside its early interpretation.

  1. Dispute Settlement Councils:

The other authority to settle disputes between the parties of some special cases in Iran’s Legal System is “Iran’s Dispute Settlement Councils”. The dispute Settlement Councils are a part of Iran’s Judiciary System. They were initially established in accordance with Article 189 of Iran’s Third Economic, Social, and Cultural Development Plan (2001). In 2009, Iran’s Parliament adopted the Dispute Settlement Councils Act which is still in force. Such Councils are designed for resolving the small claims.

Pursuant to Article 8 of the Dispute Settlement Councils’ Act, parties to a dispute may agree to bring up their case in Dispute Settlement Councils, except for cases such as marriage, bankruptcy and public and government owned properties.

In addition, in the absence of such agreements, the Dispute Settlement Councils have jurisdiction to hear and settle all the financial disputes which their claims are appraised less than 500.000.000 Rials.

  1. Specific Courts:

There are some categories of cases defined by the legislator to be resolved within the jurisdiction of some especial courts. Therefore, the General Courts are not competent to hear and resolve such cases. Iran’s Specific Courts are as follows:

  1. Family Courts:

In accordance with Article 4 of Family Protection Law (2013), Family Courts have jurisdiction over the cases such as: marriage Contract Clauses, dowry, Refusal to perform the conjugal duty by wife, divorce, marriage nullification, and termination of temporary marriage, custody and parentage, parental visitation right.

  1. Revolution Court:

As per Article 297 of Iran’s Criminal Procedure Code, the Revolution Court has one chairman and two advisors. The Revolution Court has jurisdiction to hear the cases listed as below:

  1. All crimes against national and international security of Iran
  2. Insulting the Supreme Leader of Iran
  3. Smuggling and drugs crime
  4. Other related crimes within the jurisdiction of the Revolutionary Court according to special laws.                                                                                                                             3.Juvenile Court:

According to Article 298 of Iran’s Criminal Procedure Code, the Juvenile Court consists of one judge and a consultant. The opinion given by the consultant is advisory.  Under Article 298 of the above-mentioned Code, the Juvenile Courts have jurisdiction over all the crimes committed by children under age of 18. In case the defendant reaches the age of 18 during the course of the trial, the trial will be continued by the Juvenile Court itself.

  1. Military Courts:

Under Article 307 (2) of Iran’s Criminal Procedure Code, the Military Courts have jurisdiction to hear all the cases against Military and Police Forces in case the crimes are related to their duties or happened during the hours they have been on duty.

  1. The Administrative Court of Justice

Pursuant to Administrative Court Act (2013), this court is competent to hear all the administrative disputes. This court usually consists of two stages. The preliminary stage with one judge and the appeal stage in which 3 judges deal with the matter.

  1. The Enforcement of the Judgements and Arbitral Awards

For enforcing the Courts’ judgements and arbitral awards, the Judiciary has an enforcement department. More specifically, each branch of the court has its own enforcement office in order to enforce the final judgement issued by that branch.

When the judgement of the court is final, the enforcement process will initiate by plaintiff’s request for enforcing the judgment.

By: Dr. Parastou Esmailzadeh

Attorney at Law, Head of International Trade Law Department