In Vietnam, a judgment is the final product of a trial, published and archived at congbobanan.toaan.gov.vn. Understanding judgment structure is useful — not only for lawyers but for any researcher, journalist, or party tracking a case.
The six parts of a Vietnamese judgment
Part 1: header — court name, judgment number, date, parties, presiding judge, court clerk, and prosecutor (if any). Part 2: case summary — restating the complaint and any counterclaims. Part 3: party arguments at trial. Part 4: court's reasoning — the most important section; where the court explains how it applied the law. Part 5: dispositive section — ruling on each specific claim. Part 6: appeal rights and deadlines.
The 'Reasoning' section: where the substance lives
The Reasoning section sets out the court's legal analysis. This is where you find the cited statutes, the court's interpretation of how those statutes apply to the facts, and why specific evidence was accepted or rejected. It is long and sometimes verbose, but it is the only section that creates interpretive guidance for similar future cases.
The dispositive section tells you what the court decided. The reasoning tells you what the court thought.
Distinguishing precedents from ordinary judgments
Vietnam has had an Án lệ (precedent) system since 2015. A judgment becomes a precedent only when the Council of Judges of the Supreme People's Court formally adopts it and publishes it in the Precedent Volume. Precedents bind lower courts in similar cases. Ordinary judgments have no precedential force, but may be cited persuasively. The current precedent list is at anle.toaan.gov.vn.
Appeal, protest, and supervisory review: three paths
After a first-instance judgment, parties have 15 days to appeal to the appellate court. After an appellate judgment becomes final, supervisory or rehearing review may be sought within three years — but only the Chief Justice of the SPC, the Procurator-General, or the Chief Justice of a Superior People's Court has standing to initiate. Parties may petition, but cannot file directly.
When reading a judgment to prepare an appeal, focus on the Reasoning section — that is where errors of legal application live. The Disposition cannot be appealed if it follows correctly from the Reasoning.
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