THE

APPOINTMENT
AND TRAINING
OF TUNISIAN
JUDGES
 COURT OF CASSATION
 It is the highest instance of the Tunisian judicial system.The Court of Cassation took its appointment,
as supreme institution, by the decree of August 3, 1956, originally it was a simple chamber of the court
of the ouzara, since 1910 it took the name of commission of requests.

 In civil matters: appeal in cassation is only open against decisions rendered as a last resort in seven
cases determined by article 175 of the code of civil and commercial procedure, including in particular
the violation of the law, it is competent in matters of regulation of judges and taking part.

 In criminal matters: according to article 258 of the code of criminal procedure; the Court has
jurisdiction to hear appeals in cassation against decisions rendered on the merits and as a last resort,
even executed, for incompetence, excess of power; violation or misapplication of the law.

 It also has jurisdiction over the settlement of judges and referral from one court to another.
 It decides, all chambers together, each time it is a question of ensuring the unity of case law between
the different chambers or in the event of serious misconduct, in which case it is composed of the first
president, the presidents of the chambers and the senior councilor of each chamber and sits in the
presence of the attorney and a clerk.
 SECOND INSTANCE COURTS :
COURT OF APPEAL
Ten appeal courts currently exist in Tunisia.They currently have their headquarters in Tunis – Nabeul – Bizerte –
Kef – Sousse – Monastir – Sfax – Gafsa – Gabès – Médenine. Each is made up of several chambers:
civil, commercial, correctional, criminal and indictment.The Court of Appeal always sits in collegial
formation to look in appeals lodged against judgments rendered at first instance by the court of first
instance by the court of first instance. Its decisions are called "judgments" and are always rendered
as a last resort.

In civil matters:The Court of Appeal has jurisdiction to look in appeals against judgments rendered
at first instance by the courts of first instance in its district as well as appeals against interim orders
and orders to pay issued by presidents of the courts of first instance.

In criminal matters: It looks, as a last resort on appeal, misdemeanors tried by the court of first
instance and crimes tried by the court of first instance at the seat of a court of appeal (article 126 of
the code of criminal procedure amended by law no. 2000-43 of April 17, 2000 and article 103 of the
child protection code amended on May 22, 2000).

In administrative matters: the Court of Appeal, as a court of second degree, is competent to look in
appeals against the decisions of professional law fellows such as the Bar Association, as well as
appeals against constraints and certain tax matters. as a court of first instance.
 FIRST INSTANCE COURTS :
TRIAL COURT
 The court of first instance comprises several chambers: personal
status chamber, commercial chamber, criminal chamber, correctional
chamber and one or more civil chambers. There are 27 courts of first
instance spread over the states or by a set of delegations when there
is more than one court in the same governorate.
 In civil matters: The court of first instance looks in in all actions
unless expressly provided otherwise by law.
 In criminal matters: The court of first instance has first instance
jurisdiction over all offenses with the exception of those which fall
within the jurisdiction of the cantonal judge.
 As a court of appeal, it looks in the the judgments of the cantonal
courts within its jurisdiction.
 DISTRICT COURT (USA)
SMALL CLAIMS COURT(UK)

In civil matters: The cantonal judge endeavors to reconcile the parties; he looks
in cases that are up to up to seven thousand dinars, in civil matters, personal or
movable actions, actions for payment as well as cases concerning work accidents
and occupational diseases.
He also looks within the limits of his competence, orders for payment and
orders on request.

In different matters: He issues death certificates and nationality certificates, he

receives the oath of customs officers, competent in matters of garnishment and
assignment of wages, opposition of surety contracts, signing of books civil status,
ordering the execution of arbitration decisions within its jurisdiction.
The appointment and training of judges may differ
from one country to another , and that is due to the
differences between legal systems and the authorities
given to the judges within these legal systems .
We will take as an example the Tunisian legal system .
How does the Tunisian judges get appointed and
trained ?
Tunisian judges get appointed through a national
exam that is composed of written and oral examination THE
and depending on the capacity determined by the
Ministry of Justice the candidates that will be APPOINTMENT
accepted to pass to the oral examination according
to certain criteria in addition to a psychological test
AND TRAINING
before the oral examination will get accepted .
OF TUNISIAN
The candidates who pass both written and oral
examination in addition to the psychological test will JUDGES
move to the training phase which is composed of two
years , the first year is mainly for theoretical studies and
the second year starts by making the oath to
proceed practical studies .
To conclude , the appointment and training of judges
in Tunisia follow very strict procedures. However that
did not prevent some people from getting to this
position through illegal ways (like cheating) .
𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓪𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷