해양안전심판과 헌법 제27조의 재판청구권

Under the Korean Constitutional Law, (hereafter KCL), a citizen has the constitutional right of access to courts which are comprised of judges who are qualified and who will obtain all relevant facts and apply the laws accordingly. However, according to the Korean Act on the Investigation of and Inquiry into Marine Accidents, rulings of Korean Marine Safety Tribunal should be exclusively appealed to the Korean Supreme Court. In this regards, there is a question as to whether the previously mentioned appellate system excessively encroaches upon people's right of access to courts, which are stipulated in Article 27 of the KCL. This paper will examine whether the said appellate system infringes upon the citizen's constitutional right in Article 27, as well as, Article 101 and 102 of the KCL. In the writer's view, with the current Korean Marine Safety Tribunal system, an exclusive trial by the Korean Supreme court excessively encroaches upon a national's constitutional right of access to courts and is against Article 37(2) of KCL, which is the limitation on the legislation of restricting the fundamental rights of the people. It violates the core of Article 37(2) of the KCL because it is infringing upon the fundamental contents of the Article. The right of access to courts which are composed of the judges who were appointed and credentialed by the relevant laws is in the central factor of Article 27 of the KCL., The right of access to courts means that a citizen must be guaranteed to the right to have his/her case reviewed by the judges of the judicial power factually and legally at least over one time. In this context, Article 74(1) of the Korean Act on the Investigation of and Inquiry into Marine Accidents, which says a person who is not satisfied with the decision from the Korean Marine Safety Tribunal may exclusively file litigation at the Korean Supreme court, seems to excessively violate Article 27 of the KCL.