Moral judges, grand moral judges and jurors
Cases before the International Moral Court are tried and decided independently by a moral tribunal of moral judges, a jury, or grand moral judges. Anyone may supervise; no one may interfere.
The three tiers of the Court
Court of First Instance
Composed of moral judges and jurors. Its president is elected by all moral judges for a renewable two-year term.
Court of Second Instance
Composed of moral judges and jurors, hearing appeals from first-instance rulings. Its president is likewise elected by all moral judges.
Supreme International Moral Court
Composed of grand moral judges. Its president is elected by all grand moral judges for a renewable four-year term.
Honorary presidents are appointed by the president from among persons of high standing, and advisers from among persons of relevant expertise and good character, for terms of no more than three years.
Moral judges (also called trial commissioners)
Moral judges are nominated by the WCO President, confirmed by the Council and appointed for one-year terms that renew automatically without limit — in effect, near-life tenure.
One-year term, renewing automatically without limit
- Jia ShuyanSinceJune 2010Serving
- Li ZonghengSinceAugust 2012Serving
- Wei DongjueSinceApril 2018Serving
- Liu QianwenSinceApril 2018Serving
- Philip WeirSinceSeptember 2023Serving
- Sun GuangzhiSinceAugust 2012Suspended
- Sun GuanghuiSinceApril 2018Suspended
- Wang XinlinTermJanuary 2009 – August 2012Former
- Zhou HaiTermAugust 2010 – July 2024Former
- Xu JingTermApril 2018 – July 2023Former
- Yang LeiTermApril 2018 – July 2023Former
- Lu ChengchengTermApril 2018 – July 2024Former
- Chen ZhiTermApril 2018 – July 2023Former
- Yang GuangTermApril 2018 – July 2024Former
Grand moral judges (also called supervisors)
Grand moral judges are nominated by the WCO President, confirmed by the Council and appointed for life. Together they form the tribunal of the Supreme International Moral Court.
Gao Chuanxiang
International Certified Integrity Practitioner (ICIP); member since 2004.
Wang Xinjie
International Certified Integrity Practitioner (ICIP); member since 2004.
Jurors are drawn by lot from the membership
Jurors are drawn by lot from among individual members, including credit-profession members and individual integrity members. A jury is a temporary body; its verdict has the same standing as a ruling by a moral judge.
- Aged 21 or over
- Personal integrity grade B or above
- No ethnic, racial or religious prejudice or other circumstance unsuited to jury service
In first- and second-instance cases either party may opt for a jury trial, but must pay the jury costs in advance. Where the plaintiff opts for a jury and pays, and the defendant asks for a single judge, the case is tried by a jury.
Never removable for holding to fairness
Moral judges
Nominated by the President and appointed after confirmation by the Council, for one-year terms that renew automatically without limit. Removal requires a membership referendum; short of proven misconduct or incapacity a judge cannot be removed — and can never be removed for holding to the principles of fairness and justice.
Grand moral judges
Nominated by the President and appointed after confirmation by the Council, for life. Removal requires a membership referendum under the same rules as for moral judges.