First Instance Civil Courts in Turkey – İlk Derece Hukuk Mahkemeleri

Bu yazımızda Hukuk Yargılamasında (civil law) yer alan ilk derece mahkemelerinin İngilizce karşılıkları ile kısa bir açıklamasını bulabileceksiniz. Keyifli çalışmalar…

First Instance Civil Courts in Turkey ile ilgili gÃ¶rsel sonucu — **Note: Turkey abolished military courts by amending the country’s constitution!**

Types and Structures

First Instance Courts of Ordinary Jurisdiction are split into two categories as criminal law courts and civil law courts. Some of these courts are courts of general jurisdiction and others are specialized courts.

Their jurisdictions are decided by the Council of Judges and Public Prosecutors (the CoJP) considering the borders of the city centers and districts to a large extent. However, there are not any courthouses in some small cities and courts close to that cities deal with the cases of those cities with the decree of the CoJP.

First Instance Courts of Ordinary Jurisdiction could be assigned to general jurisdiction or specialized jurisdiction.

Jurisdiction

The legal limits of the jurisdiction of first instance courts must be identified by law, while the territorial limits of their jurisdiction are identified by the decrees of the CoJP. The legal limits of the jurisdiction of first instance courts on the basis of types of courts as follows;

Civil courts (Asliye Hukuk Mahkemeleri) are the primary courts in terms of the civil law jurisdiction.

Therefore, civil courts of first instance deal with any type of cases and proceedings that remain outside the jurisdiction of civil peace courts or other specialized courts and that stem from special law relations.

Commercial courts (Asliye Ticaret Mahkemeleri): These courts deal with the commercial cases. Commercial cases are defined as cases in which one of the parties is merchant and cases related to the issues arranged in commercial law.

Specialised Courts for Maritime (Deniz İhtisas Mahkemeleri): These courts are assigned to deal with commercial cases on maritime issues.

Civil courts of enforcement (İcra Hukuk Mahkemeleri) deal with cases on issues related to the requests of the parties during the collection of debts, which are secured or not secured by a court judgment.

Land registry courts (Kadastro Mahkemeleri) deal with land cadastre disputes.

Labour courts (İş Mahkemeleri) deal with the cases stemming from the disagreements, based on the Labour Law, between the employers and the employees.

Family Courts (Aile Mahkemeleri) deal with the cases stemming from the disputes on family law.

Consumer courts (Tüketici Mahkemeleri) deal with any types of disputes that occur as a result of the implementation of the Law on the Protection of the Consumer.

Civil courts for intellectual and industrial property rights (Fikri ve Sınai Haklar Hukuk Mahkemeleri): These courts are established based on the Law on Intellectual and Industrial Works and hear the cases with regard to the pecuniary claims on intellectual and industrial property.

Civil peace courts (Sulh Hukuk Mahkemeleri) deal with the civil cases at which prescribed in law, for example; dissolution of joint ownership, issuance of certificate of inheritance and etc.

The office of enforcement judges (İnfaz Hakimlikleri); These offices are not considered as a court, rather they are institutions established to make decisions on the issues related with the rights of convicts and detainees in prisons and detention houses. However, judges serve in these offices and the decisions are taken by them

Officials

Judges, prosecutors and auxiliary personnel serve in the first instance civilian judiciary courts.

Turkish judicial system does not have non-professional judges (lay judges) or prosecutors. The CoJP appoints all judges and prosecutors and determines the courts and benches they will serve in. However, in the case of the absence of a judge because of sick leave or annual leave, the judges who serve in the same courthouse could be assigned by the president of the justice commission to serve in the other court. The chief public prosecutors have a similar authority on the prosecutors.

The auxiliary personnel are also employed in the courts and offices of prosecutors to carry out the office services and other administrative tasks. They serve as civil servants and work under the supervision of a judge or prosecutor.