1. The Portuguese Judicial High Council:
CSM
The Portuguese Judicial High Council:
Composition; Competences; Internal Structure; Internal Organization; Commissions and Running
LISBON, May 2018

2. PORTUGAL 11 million inhabitants Around 2.000 Judges
About prosecutors
More than Lawyers

3. THE PORTUGUESE JUDICIAL SYSTEM
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
SEPARATE STRUCTURES:
Constitutional Court (13 members, 10 elected by the Parliament and 3 co-opted by them, 6 are mandatory career judges).
Administrative and Tax Courts, which are responsible for deciding conflicts between citizens and the public administration (courts of 1st instance, 2nd instance and Supreme Administrative Court, with an autonomous Superior Council).
High Council of the Public Ministry, referring to prosecutors.

4. THE PORTUGUESE JUDICIAL SYSTEM
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
The judges of the 1st and 2nd instance courts are all career professionals (having to undergo a three-year course/training at the school of the judiciary).
In 2nd instance there are 5 courts that decide appeals against rulings of the 1st instance courts (located in Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, Évora and Guimarães).
At the top of the hierarchy of the judicial courts is the Supreme Court that ultimately decides appeals against 2nd instance rulings (60 judges, mostly career judges but including also career prosecutors and jurists of recognized merit).
Portugal Judicial System (common jurisdiction):

5. THE PORTUGUESE JUDICIAL SYSTEM
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
It is an organ with constitutional consecration.
Body of management and discipline of Judges.
It is not part of the Public Administration (although it has essentially administrative functions, it is not under the control of the Government) .
It has administrative and financial autonomy and has its own budget.
The Judicial High Council:

6. COMPOSITION
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION
In the regime prior to the Revolution of 25 April 1974, the predecessor of the Judicial High Council (the High Council for Judiciary) worked for the Ministry of Justice, and its members were chosen and appointed by the Minister of Justice.

7. COMPOSITION
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION
After the Revolution the Constitution established that the JHC (CSM) should be constituted by 17 members:
13 Judges: by inheritance (the President of the Supreme Court, who presided, and the 4 Presidents of the Courts of Appeal) and elected (2 judges of the Supreme Court of Justice, 2 judges of the 2nd instance and 4 judges of the 1st instance);
4 legal officers with intervention restricted to matters of direct concern to them.

8. COMPOSITION HISTORICAL EVOLUTION
There were seven (7) non-judges
It was presided over by the President of the Republic
The President of the Supreme Court was his Vice-President
The Ombudsman and the Presidents of the 2nd instance (4) were also members
In 1977 (22 members) while maintaining the majority of judges (12) a mixed formula was implemented:

9. CSM
COMPOSITION
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION
Was again chaired by the President of the Supreme Court;
9 judges (the President of the Supreme Court, 1 member elected by the President of the Republic who was obligatorily a judge and 7 judges elected by their peers) Eight non-judges;
1 non-judge member appointed by the President of the Republic and 7 elected by the Parliament.
After the constitutional revision of 1989, the Judicial High Council became constituted of 17 members:

10. CSM
COMPOSITION
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION
Chaired by the President of the Supreme Court
2 members appointed by the President of the Republic
7 members elected by the Parliament
7 judges elected by their peers
Current composition (since the constitutional revision of 1997) constituted by 17 members:

11. 7 judges elected for a 3-year term (may be re-elected once)
CSM
COMPOSITION
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION
The President (by default, he is the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, elected by the Judges Counselors of this Supreme Court)
The Vice-President (the Judge of the Supreme Court who is the first of the most voted list to appear for the suffrage of his peers)
7 judges elected for a 3-year term (may be re-elected once)

12. Members elected by the Parliament have a term of four years;
CSM
COMPOSITION
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION
Members appointed by the President of the Republic have a term of five years;
Members elected by the Parliament have a term of four years;
All members of the Judicial High Council shall have the status of guarantees and incompatibilities of the judges;
The Judicial High Council has a Judge-Secretary chosen from among 1st instance judges.

13. CSM
COMPETENCES
Appoint, place, transfer, promote, exonerate, assess professional merit, exercise disciplinary action, and, in general, perform all acts of the same nature with respect to judges;
Issue an opinion on legal instruments relating to the judicial organization and the Statute of Judges and, in general, matters relating to the administration of justice;
The competences of the CSM (defined in the Statute of Judicial Magistrates and in the new Organic Law of the Judicial System) are essentially the following:

14. CSM
COMPETENCES
Study and propose to the Minister of Justice legislative measures for the efficiency and improvement of judicial institutions;
Order inspections, inquests and inquiries into judicial services;
Coordinate and supervise the activity of the District Presiding Judges actions;

15. CSM
COMPETENCES
Establish priorities in the processing of cases that are pending in the courts for a period considered excessive, without prejudice to other urgent cases;
Propose appropriate measures to the Minister of Justice so as not to make excessive the number of cases in charge of each judge;
Establish the number and composition of the sections of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Courts of Appeal

16. COMPETENCES Appoint the Presiding Judges of the District Courts;
CSM
COMPETENCES
Appoint the Presiding Judges of the District Courts;
Carry out access competitions to the Courts of Appeal and the STJ, selecting and graduating successful candidates;
Carry out the competitions of access to the Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Justice, selecting and graduating the qualified candidates.

17. CSM
ACTION
The Judicial High Council functions in Plenary and in Permanent Council.
Plenary:
Composed of all members of the Council:
Meets once a month and extraordinarily whenever summoned by the President;
Quorum of 12 members, and resolutions taken by simple majority of votes (in case of a tie, the President has a casting vote),

18. ACTION The Plenary of the Judicial High Council has jurisdiction to:
CSM
ACTION
The Plenary of the Judicial High Council has jurisdiction to:
Exercise the powers of the Council in relation to Judges of the Supreme Court and of the 2nd Instance or to these courts;
Appreciate and decide the complaints against the acts practiced by the Permanent Council, by the President, Vice-President or Members;

19. CSM
ACTION
Approve the issuance of an opinion on legal diplomas relating to the judicial organization and the Statute of Judges and, in general, on matters related to the administration of justice
Approve studies and proposals to the Minister of Justice on legislative measures for the efficiency and improvement of judicial institutions
Deliberate on the proposals to assign the unsatisfactory classification of judges

20. CSM
ACTION
Appreciate and decide the matters that are called for on its initiative, on the proposal of the Permanent Council or at the reasoned request of any of its members
To uphold the proceedings and to revoke the deliberations of the Legal Officers Council concerning professional merit and disciplinary power over legal officers.
Plenary deliberations may be appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice

21. ACTION The Permanent Council is consists of 10 members:
CSM
ACTION
The Permanent Council is consists of 10 members:
The President of the JHC (CSM), who chairs;
The Vice President of JHC (CSM);
A Judge of the Court of Appeal;
Two Judges of the 1st Instance Court;
One of the Vowels appointed by the President of the Republic;
Four of the members elected by the Parliament.

22. ACTION The Permanent Council:
CSM
ACTION
The Permanent Council:
It meets ordinarily once a month and extraordinarily when convened by the President ;
Quorum vote is 5 members;
It exercises most of its powers in relation to judges and courts of 1st Instance;

23. CSM
ACTION
In the new Judicial Organization Law, the Permanent Council includes:
the Disciplinary Section
the Accompanying and Connection Section of the District Courts
the General Affairs Section

24. CSM
ACTION
Interested parties may complain to the Plenary about the decisions of the Permanent Council
All cases that are subject to appreciation in the Permanent are randomly distributed by the JHC (CSM) Members who become the rapporteurs of these cases.

25. Specific Powers of the President: JHC (CSM) External Representation
ACTION
Specific Powers of the President:
JHC (CSM) External Representation
Direction and coordination of inspection services.
The Vice-President shall replace the President in his absences and impediments and to carry out the duties delegated to him, which may be delegated to the members exercising their duties on full-time.

26. One of the Inspectors is the Inspector Coordinator
CSM
ACTION
The Judicial High Council has a panel of inspectors distributed over twenty inspection areas in charge of the merits evaluation procedures of the judges and two inspectors in charge of disciplinary procedures
One of the Inspectors is the Inspector Coordinator

27. CSM
ACTION
Inspectors are appointed for periods of three years, with the possibility of renewal, of:
Judges of the 2nd Instance Appeal Courts with classification of Very Good
Exceptionally, judges of 1st Instance Courts with classification of Very Good and a minimum of 15 years of service

28. CSM
ACTION
The choice of candidates is made by secret ballot in the Plenary of the Judicial High Council.
Candidates for Inspectors must have:       
Qualities of citizenship        
Exemption        
Intellectual training        
Technical training       
Good human relationship      
Educational guiding ability

29. CSM
ACTION
In disciplinary proceedings against Judges of the Appeal Court or the Supreme Court of Justice, an extraordinary inspector is appointed by the Judicial High Council (CSM), who must be a Judge of the Supreme Court of Justice.
The judges of the 1st Instance Courts are evaluated every four years by the inspector of the area where they serve.

30. CSM
ACTION
It’s not established the regular assessment of judges from the Appeal Courts (yet an inspection to the service of judges from such courts is possible if deemed necessary)
Every year in November, the JHC (CSM) approves the Inspection Plan for the following year (to ensure that all judges are evaluated every four years and that judges of the same seniority have the same number of ordinary inspections).

31. The Judicial High Council (CSM) also has: An Administrative Board
ACTION
The Judicial High Council (CSM) also has:
An Administrative Board
Two specialized sections, composed of Council members (one for the monitoring and liaison to judicial courts and the other for the monitoring of training and recruitment activities
A Secretariat

32. CSM
ACTION
The monitoring and liaison to the judicial courts section is responsible for handling the information provided by the inspection services and collecting information relating to the situation of each court.
The monitoring section of the training and recruitment activities is responsible for monitoring the initial training and continuing training activities carried out by the Center for Judicial Studies (CEJ).

33. ACTION The Secretariat of JHC (CSM) comprises:
the division of human resources and placement of judges (implementing actions related to the placement, movement and constant updating of the register of the judicial courts judges);
the division of administrative and financial services (performing actions relating to the development of administrative and financial powers of the Judicial High Council.

34. ACTION The division of legal documentation and information;
CSM
ACTION
The division of legal documentation and information;
The office of communication, institutional relations, studies and planning (it has competences in the scope of articulation between the JHC, the media and the citizens, and also between the JHC and national and foreign institutional entities);
The Cabinet of Support to the Vice President and Members of the JHC (CSM) - GAVPM.

35. Thank you so much for your attention