Development of Vietnamese
Legal System
Kobe SALAD, 21 August 2014

LL.M Bach Thi Nha Nam
1

Faculty of Law, University of Economics and Law, National University
Hochiminh City, Vietnam

2

Basic Information about Vietnam

Population: 90 million (13th)
Square: 331,210 km2 (65th)
GDP: $170.020 billion(58th)
FDI attraction: 3th in Asean

3TABLE OF CONTENTSPART I
Brief Introabout VN
legal system

PART II
Historicalsettings of VN
legal
development

PART III
Current trendsof VN legal
development

4Vietnamese Legal System
More than 12 main legal sectors:
Constitutional law, Civil Code, Criminal Code,
Civil Procedure Code, Criminal Procedure Code,Administration Law, Labour Code, Marriage &Family Law, Land Law, Banking and Finance
Law, Economics – Trade Law, Environmental
Law…

5Hierarchy of legal texts
Authority
National AssemblyStanding Committee of theNational Assembly

Text
Constitution, Law, Resolution
Ordinance, Resolution

President

Order, Decision

Government

Resolution, Decree

Prime Minister

Decision, Directive

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Hierarchy of legal texts
Authority

Text

Decision, Directive, Circular,Circular (issued collectively
Ministers and head of ministry-level Joint
bydifferent
ministries or by abodies
ministry and a political andsocial organisation)
Justice Council of theSupreme People’s Court

Resolution

Chief Justice of the Supreme
People’s Court/ Head of theSupreme People’s Prosecutor

Decision, Directive

People’s Council

Resolution

People’s Committee

Decision, Directive

7

Process of legislation work

Ministry

Draft
law

Government

President

Sign forcirculation

Government

DecreeNational
AssemblyConsent

Official
GazetteMinistry

Approve

Publishlegal texts

Implementing
circular8

Amendment of Law
Constitution
1946

Constitution
1959

Constitution
1992

Constitution
2013

Civil Code1995

Civil Code2005

Constitution
1980

Civil Codeestimated
2015

9TABLE OF CONTENTSPART I
Brief Introabout VN
legal system

PART II
Historicalsettings of VN
legal
development

PART III
Current trendsof VN legal
development

10Historical settings
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11

Development periods of legal systemØ 1986: Reform process – RenovationØ 1992: Transition to a market economy à Trends ofsigning BTA, BIT, FTAsØ 1995: Member of ASEAN, AFTAØ 1996: Establishing Member of ASEMØ 1998: Member of APECØ 2001: Bilateral Trade Agreement with USØ 2004: VN enacted many change in many laws

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Development periods of legal systemØ 2000s: Asean +1 (China/Japan/S.Korea), Asean +Australia + New ZealandØ 2008: VJEPA (Vietnam – Japan)
Ø 2007: Accession to WTOØ 2013: Revised ConstitutionØ Negotiation: TPP, Vietnam – EU, RCEP ASEAN+6,EAFTA, ASEAN+3

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TABLE OF CONTENTSPART I
Brief Introabout VN
legal system

PART II
Historicalsettings of VN
legal
development

PART III
Current trendsof VN legal
development

14

Current trends of legal systemØ New laws created to harmonize with int’lstandards/principles & accede to all necessary
int’l treaties for economic development and int’l
integration
Ø Improvements for the period up to 2020: moderntransition to the rule of law, and a market-based
economy, law implementation and enforcement
mechanism

15

Current trends of legal systemØ Applicability of typical cases in judgment process
by judges and possible precedential valuesØ Educate and train a sufficient number of judges,
prosecutors, investigators, judicial staffs withqualification, skills and ethical standardsØ Provide transparent legal environment, access tojustice, legal service & aid in the community

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THANKS FOR YOURATTENTION
Q&A
Email: nambtn@uel.edu.vn

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