There are various differences between the examined countries in the area of the court system. The first most visible derives from the sole political system of the country and the division of power. The structural independence of courts and judiciary exists in both countries. The differences in the two countries court system can be found in the fact that the United States Supreme Court does and Iran’s Supreme Court does not “make” a law. Iran operates under the Code without an accepted principle of judicial review with the procedures set by the law. The Supreme Court decisions in Iran can therefore be changed by the changed law, which is the opposite as in the United States where the Supreme court does “make” a law with the interpretations. The Supreme Court in Iran does not interpret the Constitution or Supplementary laws since is bound by the laws of the legislative branch (Inlow, 1970: 554- 557). Further on, the greatest difference is seen from the different legal systems, on one side the United States with the common law and on the other Iran with the religious legal system based on the Islamic and secular law. The judicial branch in Iran must follow the ideological line of Sharia law and Islamic justice (Hootan, 2004: 253-260). From the different law applied, where one country follows the Islamic and other the common law also different offence categorization and labels of criminal acts exists. The court systems are based on the different classification of offences based on their traditions and different crimes punishments. In the United States the imprisonment and capital punishment are the most severe and on the other hand in Iran the punishment includes also the corporal punishment and retaliation. From the most serious crimes in Iran it is seemed that the moral and religious crimes carry heavy penalties and can be even harsher than compared to the penalties of other crimes. In both countries the judges must impose the predetermined punishments for specific crimes. The punishment in the comparison to the United States in Iran includes the corporal, but in both can be found the capital punishment (Poorbafrani & Zamani, 2015: 118-133).
In both court systems there can be found some similarities, but the systems differ in almost all aspects when examined in more detail. One of the similarity are the ethical codes accepted in the countries by which judges and the judiciary must apply. Those kind of rules are based on their culture and on the specific law the country apply. The ethical standards apply to the whole court systems. However, the Supreme Court of the United States does not have Code of Ethics that would apply to all judges in the country since the highest personnel in the nation’s highest court is not obliged to follow it. On the other side the Iran has a very simple code with eight punishments under the code for judges. There are disciplinary actions, middle-level suspensions and demotions and dismissal level for public scandals (Inlow, 1979: 234-235). The limited similarity can also be seen from the courtroom proceedings about the specific cases in their jurisdiction. In Iran and in the United States the defendants and plaintiff are equal. However, the proceedings differ a lot. In both countries, there is a need of the proof. In the United States can be seen from the DNA and others in comparison to the Iran’s testimonies of the witnesses (Poorbafrani & Zamani, 2015). The proceedings in the courts are in both countries dividend in the different layers of courts, where different courts are making decisions about different offences.
References
Hootan, Shambayati. (2004). A Tale of Two Mayors: Court and Politics in Iran and Turkey.
International Journal of Middle East Studies. Vol. 36(2): 235-275.
Inlow, E. Burke. (1970). The Supreme Court of Iran. Osgoode Hall Law Journal. Vol. 8 (3):
549-557. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2333&context=ohlj
Inlow, E. Burke. (1979). Shahanshah The Study of Monarchy of Iran. India: Motilal
Banarshidass.
Poorbarfrani, Hassan & Masoud Zamani. (2015). A Comparative Critique of Regulating the
Personal and the Passive Personality Principles in the Iranian Penal System. Electronic Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law. Vol. 3: 117-133.
