the judiciary organization, sits at Port-au-Prince and consists of a President, a Vice-President, twelve Justices, one Commissary of the Government, and two Deputies (substituts). As a rule this tribunal takes no cognizance of the issues between litigants, its special mission being to prevent the other courts from violating the laws or from interpreting them wrongly; consequently, when it annuls a decision the case is referred to the nearest tribunal, the suit beginning anew. However, in order to put as speedy an end as possible to a law-suit, the Tribunal de Cassation, sitting in assembled sections (sections réunies), settles the matter by a decision which is final when the same case between the same parties has been brought before it twice.
The Tribunal de Cassation is divided into two sections: the civil section, which takes cognizance of all civil, commercial, and maritime matters; and the criminal section, which has to do with criminal, correctional, and police decisions. The quorum for each section is five justices including the president; in assembled sections (sections réunies), nine are required to make a quorum.
There are civil tribunals at Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haitien, Cayes, Gonaives, Jacmel, Jérémie, Anse-à-Veau, Aquin, Port-de-Paix, Saint-Marc, Petit-Goave and Fort-Liberté.
All civil suits on matters exceeding $150 must be submitted to these tribunals, whose quorum is limited to three justices. In places where there are no commercial tribunals they settle commercial and maritime cases as well.
Under the name of criminal or correctional tribunals they try all persons arraigned for crimes or misdemeanors. The decision of these tribunals is directly submitted to the Tribunal de Cassation.
There are commercial tribunals at Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haitien, Cayes, Gonaives, Jacmel, and Jérémie. The justices of these tribunals, who are elected for two years by a certain class of merchants, must be 25 years of age, besides being merchants paying license. These
