3.3 Jurisdiction of District Court

The District Court — one in every district (Art 148) — the trial court of first instance for civil and criminal cases: Original jurisdiction over cases and execution of judgments (Art 151); Habeas corpus and prohibitory-order petitions within the district (Art 151 — the district court as liberty's first guardian); Appeals from quasi-judicial bodies and local-level judicial institutions (Art 151); Contempt power. Beside it stand the specialized trial bodies — the Special Court (3.6), the Labour Court, the Debt Recovery Tribunal, the Revenue Tribunal — and the constitutional floor of Art 152: no court for a particular case (no ad hoc tribunals), and offences punishable by more than one year's imprisonment triable only by a court or judicial body.