In repetitive civics classes I had learned that the Judical Yuan "shall be the highest judicial organ of the State and shall have jurisdiction in civil, criminal, and administrative cases and in cases involving disciplinary proceedings against public functionaries," as stipulated in Article 77 of the Constitution of the Republic of China.
However, as a teenager, I never had reason to actually visit this across-the-street "neighbor," whose dignified premises seemed no more to me then, than another place for bashful couples to complete their "notarial weddings." Sometimes, absent-minded from my classes, I would stare down from an upper-level classroom into the parking square in front of the Yuan to rhapsodize over the new brides and bridegrooms, in full wedding dress, as they exited and reentered decorated wedding sedans.
So, many years had passed by, and now I knocked on a door of my old neighbor, a little tremulously, nervous not over some impending legal case nor, as yet, personal wedding procedures. I was here for an interview with Grand Justice Fan Hsin-hsiang, an outstanding woman and a major judicial executive of the Republic of China.
Grand Justice Fan met us in the lobby fronting the rooms of the Council of Grand Justices. Dressed in a traditional blue chipao (the tailor-fitted Chinese sheath with high neck and slit skirt) and wearing a topcoat of the same material, she looked distinguished and younger than her age. Her warm greeting immediately relaxed the tension.
We asked the exact mission of her particular judicial entity.
"The ROC's Council of Grand Justices" she said, "is similar to the constitutional courts of West Germany and Italy. It has the responsibility of interpreting stipulations of the ROC Constitution and assuring that the Constitution is not infringed via unconstitutional laws or official actions. The object of interpretation is the law or action itself, rather than an approach via concrete lawsuits. The Council of Grand Justices functions via reviews of the substance and effects of the Constitution, and of laws and official actions, rather than by resolving the struggles among the parties involved."
Grand Justices are chosen from among experts in law, political science, or other relevant disciplines and are nominated and appointed by the President with the consent of the Control Yuan. Fan Hsin-hsiang was nominated in this connection on the basis of "having fulfilled the mission of a justice of the Supreme Court for more than 10 years, demonstrating outstanding achievement."
She served in judicial positions for eighteen years before her twelve-year tenure as a Grand Justice of the Judicial Yuan. Fan Hsin-hsiang has established a reputation in judicial circles over those decades as a diligent and scrupulous public servant, dedicated to her work and morally unimpeachable.
Justice Fan was born in Yingcheng County, Hupeh Province, in 1921. She received a Bachelor of Laws degree at National Central University in 1943. Immediately after, she passed the Higher Civil Service Examination qualification tests for judges. From then on, she has pursued her judicial career without interruption.
She served successively as a district court judge of Changshou County, Szechwan Province, and a high court judge for Kwangsi Province. In 1949, she became a judge of the Taiwan high court, then served as presiding judge of the court's civil section. In 1956, she was named to the ROC Supreme Court, and was named presiding judge of the Supreme Court in 1970.
While presiding in the Taiwan high court and, later, at the Supreme Court, she was the youngest among those who previously filled those posts. Moreover, she was the first woman judge and the first woman to preside over the Supreme Court of the Republic of China.
In 1972, she was named to her present position as Grand Justice of the Judicial Yuan.
Although born to a family long engaged in the judiciary, Fan Hsin-hsiang's own entry into the legal field was by happenstance. Her father, Fan Yun-heng, was a senior judge, and, like all successful fathers, hoped that his children would choose his career. The elder Fan had no son to carry out his aspiration, and Fan Hsin-hsiang, although not the first-born child of the family, was the eldest surviving.
But as late as high school, Fan's interest was in the sciences. Her choice for college study was electrical engineering. "At that time, a rigid course in the law did not appeal to me at all. After all, I saw my father worry over complicated cases every day, always fearing a judgement might be unjust.
"Also, I loved to see my efforts produce immediate results—as in factories, where new products come out every day."—She is now pleased that her sons have inherited her love for science; one is studying electronic engineering and the other, mathematics.
Fan's career was thrust upon her in a period of turmoil, during the War of Resistance against Japan. When Fan graduated from Hupeh Province's First Girls' High School, in the Wuhan metropolitan area, enemy bombers attacked this important heavy industrial region, and the students were forced to disperse back to their hometowns.
In the chaos of war, most of Fan's schoolmates, and even several relatives, did not bother to participate in the university entrance exams. But Fan's mother encouraged her to take them.
A classmate filed Fan's application for the exam and, unaccountably unaware of Fan's intention, filed Fan's name for the department of law, supposing this choice obvious because Fan's father was a judge. A surprised but trapped Fan went on now to take the test, scoring 99 of a possible 100, to become the only girl in her law class at National Central University.
Although studying law was not her actual wish, Fan says that owing to her studious disposition, she was confident she would not be inferior to her classmates just because she was a girl. She told us of her blooming affair with the law: "Reading the law was a gradual effort, like making friends. The unfamiliarity at the first meeting was gradually dispelled after further encounters, and finally we became good friends. And I established a profound love for legal research, little by little."
We remarked to Fan that, in contrast to the practice during her college days, many girls now see the law as their best choice in college. We probed her feelings about this trend.
"I really think women are specially suitable for judicial work," she asserted.
"It is true that judgement-making requires clear logic and that the law is unfeelingly cold, but the coldness of judicial procedures specifically demands human warmth to avoid possible extremes. Women can help remedy the law's defects.
"Besides, there is a female trait of carefulness. The possibilities for female judges to discover truth are, accordingly, probably higher.
"Most of my colleagues are and have been male. And, in my opinion, there is no difference in suitability. Actually, no one looks down on you or distrusts your work in important cases just because you are a woman. As long as you work hard, there is no discrimination in the judicial field. But, of course, because you are given equal pay and conditions, you should also perform every measure of the duties required.
"The presiding justices will certainly not welcome judges of any gender demonstrating poor ability, because they will thus be unable to coordinate with the full procedures of the court. After your abilities are affirmed, again regardless of gender, not only will you get along well with your colleagues, but other courts will try to recruit you," Fan said.
Asked if there is any discernible difference in the way male and female judges hear cases, Fan recalled an illustration:
"In my first years as a judge, owing to my youth, many appearing in court thought I was a judge's daughter, employed by her father to sit in and hear the case—like the stories from Chinese ancient legends. Another special phenomenon of which I became aware as I heard various cases, was that many accused men were ashamed to lie to me. It was easier for me to discover the truth.
"I remember one man—his features are still in my memory—who was accused of forgery. He answered 'yes' to every question I asked, his head lowered. His self-hurtful honesty seemed so strange that I asked him the reasons for his actions. And he told me—in detail—the entire story. He added that he couldn't bring himself to tell lies in front of a young woman," Fan said. Then she joined our giggles.
"Another case was more terrible. It concerns a man involved in incest, who was discovered by his wife. This was in the 1940's, when families of the same surname lived in the same villages. Fearing the scandal would be spread by his wife and he would become an outcast, despised by his relatives, he killed his wife, suffocating her with lime so there would be no external injuries. The wife's family accused the man, and the case was given to me.
"I was still very green on the bench, and the murderous case, to be honest, scared me. I read the file over and over.
"I was single then and lived in a court dormitory—as did many other judges during the War of Resistance. Every few days, I summoned the accused, who was in custody. And after each court session, I read the court records word by word. Subjected to such frequent hearings, he gradually exposed contradictions in his testimony.
"One day, the accused appeared in court and addressed me: 'Judge, I almost dare not come to speak to you now. All my lies have been used over and over. If you sentence me more leniently, I'll tell you the truth.'
"I said I couldn't promise. That it all depended on his sincere repentance. He knew he had no way to escape and admitted his guilt.
"That early case taught me an important lesson: that diligence is essential to a conscientious judge. Green as I was, the truth finally saw light as a result of my perseverance in the hearings."
Fan's criminal court experience was cut short. After transferring to Taiwan, she presided over civil cases.
We asked if any of her past cases involved a judgement she later regretted.
"I dare not claim that every case I handled was absolutely correct; but I am sure that I have always done my best," she answered. "If there were faults, I think my wisdom, not my efforts, should be blamed. In cases involving professional fields outside my knowledge area, I carefully consulted experts in the field for information important to the decision.
"I handled civil cases from 1949, and my biggest concern, in addition to the psychological burden, was the constant necessary legal research. New civil cases arise every day, and each one influences the next.
"Some people say that after long-time service in government, the public employee throws the book away. This can never happen with a competent judge, who must absorb legal knowledge continuously. As for me, I enjoy reading new academic legal papers because I learn a lot by ingesting the fruits of others' hard work."
She continued now, speaking steadily, without pause:
"One party wins and the other fails, and that's the inevitable result. If a judge errs in his decision, the rights of one or both parties in a lawsuit will be infringed.
"As for me, I never classified the cases I handled into more and less important groupings according to money values involved. For example, a broken down old house may mean nothing at all to some, but for a poor man, it can be everything. If a judge errs in his decision and wrongfully causes a poor man to lose his house, the consequences are not small. I always remind myself that each case is of the same importance—has its rights and its wrongs—and therefore, I must deal with each case with the same prudence."
At this moment, Fan paused. Then she spoke of a criminal case she had heard in Szechwan Province's Changshou District Court: "A youth, indicted by the public prosecutor for forgery, was in custody. I was the judge, and the youth had already admitted his guilt.
"But in a criminal case, the admission of the accused is not enough. We must investigate the evidence before the sentence.
"I had sent out the forgery for an expert appraisal. Then, when a court policeman reported to me that the accused was seriously ill, I did not believe his words: for two reasons—I feared the accused might be conspiring with the policeman to cheat justice; but especially, I knew it was not the duty of the court policeman, but of the custodial warden to report sickness of a detainee and request medical treatment outside. With no sickness report from the warden, it was not a judge's place to check other reports himself and release the detained. Therefore, I did not heed the policeman's words.
"A few days later, the man was dead in custody. I was stunned and deeply disturbed. Although the warden had been remiss in his duty, the court policeman had reported to me. If I had discussed it with the presiding judge, the man might have been saved. After all, he was detained under my seal."
Since 1972, Fan Hsin-hsiang has been a Grand Justice, pursuant to stipulations of the ROC Constitution, Article 78: "The Judicial Yuan shall interpret the Constitution and shall have the power to unify the interpretations of laws and decrees." This responsibility is fulfilled by the 17 Grand Justices through the procedures of the Council of Grand Justices.
Agencies which require clarifications about applications of the Constitution for purposes of exercising their duties, and individuals who see certain laws or actions or judgements as being in conflict with the Constitution, may apply to the Council for interpretation of the Constitution—clarification of the meaning of the Constitution, or determination of conflict by the Constitution with laws and official actions at national and at provincial and county self-government levels.
Two agencies applying different interpretations while implementing the same laws or regulations, may apply for a unifying interpretation. This is a distinctive characteristic of ROC legal structure as compared to practices in other countries.
"As for the effects of interpretations by the Council of Grand Justices, in principle, a law, if determined to be unconstitutional, will be ineffective from the day we proclaim such interpretation. If those involved in applying a law later have it declared unconstitutional, they can, basing on the interpretation, enter an extraordinary appeal (in a criminal case) or request retrial (in a civil case)," Fan said.
Grand Justice Fan is also a homemaker, who credits her family members for the time she has to devote to her career: "The judiciary is a very demanding field, sometimes so occupying that we forget meals and even sleep. When my children were small during the War of Resistance, my mother helped take care of them. And having no sons of her own, she deeply loved my two elder sons.
"After we moved to Taiwan, my mother-in-law began to live with us and help with the household. My only daughter was born in Taiwan and was really brought up by my mother-in-law," she confessed. Women in careers are sometimes criticized for not concentrating on their work because of family duties, Fan said, and noted that depends on circumstances.
She is specially grateful for the support of her husband, Wang Tso-jung, a well known ROC economist. He often encourages her "for fear that I might feel outshone by others."
The interview with Grand Justice Fan passed so pleasantly, that I was not ready for its end. After all, I thought to myself, it is only just that such a woman can teach such lessons about paths to success, both in law and in life.