tradition, socialist legality requires the uniform application of law on a national
scale, and for this aspiration the procuracy is created “to exercise unitary control
over compliance with the laws by all segments of the community, the bureaucracy
as well as the citizenry.”^31 In the case of Vietnam, this authority, namedkiem sat
chung(“general supervision”), compasses two kinds of function: ( 1 ) supervising the
legality of the activities (kiem sat hoat dong) of ministries, organs of ministerial
rank, other organs under the government, local governments, economic bodies,
social organizations, people’s armed units, and citizens; and ( 2 ) supervising the
legality of legal documents (kiem sat van ban) of ministries, organs of ministerial
rank, the People’s Supreme Court, and local governments.^32 These rather powerful
authorities of the procuracy have no direct analogy outside socialist jurisdictions.
With the 2001 constitutional amendment, the organization of the procuracy
remains intact but its jurisdiction is substantially truncated. The revised consti-
tution eliminates in significant part the authorities of the general supervision of the
procuracy. In the new constitutional framework, the procuracy is limited to super-
vising only judicial activities and practicing the power of public prosecution.
According to the revised Article 137 ,
The Supreme People’s Procuracy shall exercise the power to prosecute
and supervise judicial activities, helping to ensure the strict and uni-
form observance of the law. The local Procuracies and the Military
Procuracies shall exercise the right to prosecute and supervise judicial
activities within the scope of their responsibilities prescribed by law.^33
The revision is for several practical reasons. First, the constriction of the procu-
racy’s powers is due to the overlapping of its function of supervision of activities
(kiem sat hoat dong) with the functions of the inspectors (thanh tra) of the Govern-
ment. Second, the procuracy was ineffective in practicing its function of public
prosecution. Therefore, the reformers wished to compress the procuracy functions
to concentrate more on criminal cases by practicing the power of public prosecution.
The limitation of procuratorial jurisdiction is one of the most consequential
revisions in the 2001 constitutional reform because to cut off the general supervi-
sion authority of the procuracy would challenge itsraison d’eˆtre, thus implying a
deviation from socialist legality. In order to constitutionalize the notion of the rule-
of-law state, Vietnam introduced an institutional reform centrifugal from the Soviet
tradition. The Vietnamese reformers in the new century seemed more concerned
with the rule-of-law state than with socialist legality. The important implication of
this change is that, in response to the practical demands of social and economic
(^31) Ginsburg, “The genesis of the people’s procuracy in the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam”, 187.
(^321992) constitution, Art. 137 (unrevised). (^331992) constitution, Art. 137 (revised).