Tribunal 396605 224872855 2008-07-10T20:02:37Z Daniel Berwick 2661460 /* Tribunals in Republic of Ireland */ {{Unreferenced|date=March 2008}} {{otheruses}} '''Tribunal''' is a generic term for any body acting judicially, whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate appearing before a [[Court]] on which a single [[Judge]] was sitting could describe that judge as 'their tribunal'. In the [[Roman Catholic Church]], a tribunal usually refers to literally one of three instances of [[ecclesiastical courts]]: (1) a diocesan tribunal (2) a provincial tribunal, that is, of more than one [[diocese]] and commonly referred to as an [[appellate court]] (3) the Sacra Rota Romana, or [[Sacred Roman Rota]], the highest court of appeals. Many bodies that are titled 'tribunals' are so described to emphasize the fact that they are not courts of normal jurisdiction. For example the [[International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda]] is a body specially constituted under international law; in [[Great Britain]], [[Employment Tribunal]]s are bodies set up to hear specific employment disputes. Private judicial bodies are also often styled 'tribunals'. The word 'tribunal' is not conclusive of a body's function. For example, in [[Great Britain]], the [[Employment Appeal Tribunal]] is a superior court of record. ==Tribunals in Republic of Ireland== In the [[Republic of Ireland]], the word tribunal is popularly used to refer to a '''[[public inquiry]]''' established under the [[Tribunals of Inquiry Act|Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921]]. The main difference between a Parliamentary Inquiry (non statutory) and a Tribunal of Inquiry in Ireland is that non-statutory inquiries are not vested with the powers, privileges and rights of the High Court; Tribunals of Inquiry are. Tribunals are established by resolution of the [[Houses of the Oireachtas]] to enquire into matters of '''urgent public importance'''. It is not a function of Tribunals to administer justice, their work is '''solely inquisitorial'''. Tribunals are obliged to '''report their findings to the [[Oireachtas]]'''. They have the power to enforce the attendance and examination of witnesses and the production of documents relevant to the work in hand. Tribunals can consist of one or more people. A layperson, or non lawyer, may be the Sole member of a Tribunal. {{seealso|Public Inquiry # List of selected Irish public inquries}} ==Tribunals in the United Kingdom== {{mainarticle|Tribunals in the United Kingdom}} The '''tribunal''' system of the [[United Kingdom]] is part the national system of [[administrative justice]]. Though it has grown up on an ''ad hoc'' basis since the beginning of the [[twentieth century]], from [[2007]] reforms were put in place to build a unified system with recognised judicial authority, routes of [[appeal]] and regulatory supervision. ==See also== *[[Public Inquiry]] *[[Revolutionary Tribunal]] *[[Revolutionary tribunal (Russia)]] *[[Waitangi Tribunal]] *[[Nuremberg Trials]] *[[International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia]] *[[Iraqi Special Tribunal]] *[[Tribune]] *[[Lindsay Tribunal]] [[Category:Court systems]] {{law-stub}} [[bg:Трибунал]] [[de:Tribunal]] [[eo:Tribunalo (historio)]] [[no:Tribunal]] [[ru:Трибунал]] [[sv:Tribunal]]