Shieh Ming-yan

Shieh Ming-yan (Chinese: 謝銘洋; pinyin: Xiè Míngyáng; born 1957) is a Taiwanese legal academic and jurist who has served as the acting President of the Judicial Yuan since 2024. He is a professor at National Taiwan University and was dean of its College of Law.

Shieh Ming-yan
謝銘洋
Official portrait, 2023
Acting Chief Justice of Taiwan
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 November 2024
President	Lai Ching-te
Deputy	Vacant
Preceded by	Hsu Tzong-li
Grand Justice of the Judicial Yuan
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2019
Appointed by	Tsai Ing-wen
Personal details
Born	1957 (age 67–68)
Education	National Taiwan University (LLB, LLM) University of Munich (PhD)

Education

Shieh graduated with his bachelor's degree and master's degree in law from National Taiwan University (NTU). He then completed doctoral studies in Germany and earned a Ph.D. (Dr. jur.) degree in law from the University of Munich in 1990. His doctoral dissertation was titled, "Kündigung aus wichtigem Grund und Wegfall der Geschäftsgrundlage bei Patentlizenz- und Urheberrechtsverträgen".

After receiving his doctorate, Shieh returned to teach at NTU. Hsieh later served as dean of the College of Law.^[1][2]

Career

From 1980 to 1983, Shieh worked as a lawyer. He was a visiting scholar to the University of Munich from 1996 to 1997, Columbia University in 2007, and Fordham University in 2009. He has been a law professor at National Taiwan University since 1990, and was dean of the College of Law from 2012 to 2015. He was chair of the Taiwan Law Society from 2017 to 2018.^[3]

Shortly after the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA) was signed in June 2013, Shieh signed a petition urging its renegotiation.^[4] In April 2014, Shieh lent support to another petition asking the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to look into the removal from the Legislative Yuan of students participating in the Sunflower Student Movement protests over the CSSTA.^[5] He was critical of the government's response to protesters, stating that the NTU College of Law "truly failed our students, because we have not taught [President] Ma Ying-jeou well."^[6]

In May 2019, Ma's successor Tsai Ing-wen nominated Shieh to serve on the Constitutional Court (then known as the Council of Grand Justices).^[7] The Legislative Yuan voted to approve Shieh's nomination in June 2019.^[8] Lai Ching-te named Shieh acting president of the Judicial Yuan on 1 November 2024, as confirmation hearings for Judicial Yuan positions, including replacements for president Hsu Tzong-li and vice president Tsai Jeong-duen were delayed.^[9] The ruling and opposition parties have been unable to confirm judicial nominees due to disagreements on the budget and other appointments.^[10]