Bill 229.

Summary.

The bill proposes to update the judicial organization of Arraiján, La Chorrera, Capíra, Chame and San Carlos, the districts comprising Panamá Oeste Province (Provincia de Panamá Oeste). Its stated purpose is to guide judicial services for their residents across civil, criminal, labor, family, and children and adolescents’ proceedings. It would amend the territorial organization under the Judicial Code (Código Judicial) while retaining four judicial districts, divided into judicial circuits and then municipal districts. The amendment to Article 65 would replace the term “judicial municipalities” with “municipal districts.”

The proposed wording of Article 66 would place Panamá Oeste and the Guna Yala Comarca (Comarca de Guna Yala) in the First Judicial District alongside Panamá, Colón and Darién. Coclé and Veraguas would remain in the Second Judicial District; Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro in the Third; and Herrera and Los Santos in the Fourth. Any newly created territorial subdivisions under special regimes would belong to the corresponding judicial district. The Higher Courts of the Judicial Districts (Tribunales Superiores de Distrito Judicial) and the Public Prosecutor’s Office agencies appearing before them (Agencias del Ministerio Público) would have their seats in Panamá, Penonomé, David and Las Tablas, respectively. The amendment to Article 67 would align municipal districts with the political division set out in Article 253 of the Political Constitution (Constitución Política).

As to higher court jurisdiction, the bill provides for five courts. The two courts of the First Judicial District would hear civil and criminal matters, respectively, in Panamá, Panamá Oeste, Colón, Darién and the Guna Yala Comarca. The higher courts of the remaining judicial districts would hear civil and criminal cases in their respective provinces. For circuit judges, the bill retains two circuits in Panamá Province: one comprising Panamá, Chepo, Chimán, Taboga and Balboa, and the other comprising the San Miguelito district. It assigns them twenty-three and three circuit judges, respectively, divided between civil and criminal matters as specified in Article 148.

The bill would establish a Panamá Oeste Judicial Circuit comprising Arraiján, La Chorrera, Capíra, Chame and San Carlos, with two civil circuit judges and thirteen criminal circuit judges. The same article specifies civil and criminal judge allocations for the circuits of Colón, Chiriquí, Veraguas, Coclé, Herrera, Los Santos, Bocas del Toro and Darién. The courts of Panamá’s two circuits would sit in Panamá and San Miguelito, respectively. The civil courts and Accusatorial Criminal Justice System courts of the Panamá Oeste Judicial Circuit would sit in La Chorrera.

The amended Article 167 sets minimum numbers of municipal judges and allocates civil and criminal cases among them in Panamá, Colón, La Chorrera, David, San Miguelito, Penonomé, Aguadulce, Chitré, Santiago and Barú. For Arraiján, it provides for at least three courts: the First Municipal Family Court (Juzgado Primero Municipal de Familia), the Second Municipal Family Court (Juzgado Segundo Municipal de Familia), and the Civil and Criminal Cases Court (Juzgado Civil y de Causas Penales). Other districts would each have a municipal judge hearing both civil and criminal cases. An amendment to Law 119 of December 30, 2013 would name the circuit comprising the five districts the Panamá Oeste Judicial Circuit. Once the bill enters into force, earlier judicial documents referring to the “Third Judicial Circuit of Panamá” or “Third Circuit” would be read as referring to this circuit. The bill sets its commencement at six (6) months after promulgation in the Official Gazette.

The proposal concerns the Judicial Branch (Órgano Judicial), the Higher Courts of the Judicial Districts, the Public Prosecutor’s Office agencies and courts covered by the reorganization. It would also affect legal practitioners and people using civil, criminal, labor, family, and children and adolescents’ judicial services in the named provinces and districts.