E/CN.4/2002/77/Add.2 page 14 36. The Working Group welcomes the scale of the changes that have come about in the areas covered by its mandate. Descriptions of the most important of these changes may be found in the six subsections below. 1. How the administration of justice is currently organized, and the impending reforms 37. The organization of the judicial system and the status of judges are governed by Legislative Decree No. 13 of 1971. Articles 7 and 8 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as amended by Legislative Decree No. 8 of 1996, determine the hierarchy of the criminal courts and their respective jurisdictions. Pursuant to Legislative Decree No. 17 of 1976, minors aged under 15 are tried by a special body, the Juvenile Court. Military offences committed by members of the armed or security (police) forces come under the jurisdiction of the court martial established by the law of 1968 introducing the Code of Military Procedure, in the case of the former, and the Disciplinary Tribunal established by Legislative Decree No. 3 of 1982, in the case of the latter (see below, paras. 73 ff.) 2. 38. Organization of the ordinary courts Legislative Decree No. 13 states that the judiciary consists of two separate structures: (a) The civil judiciary, which applies the standards of positive law and has jurisdiction over not only criminal but also civil, commercial, social and administrative cases and cases relating to the personal status of non-Muslims; (b) The Shariah judiciary, comprising two sections – one Sunni, one Jaafari (two canons of Muslim law) – at each level of courts, with jurisdiction limited to cases relating to the personal status of Sunni and Shiite Muslims. 39. Since the abolition of the State Security Court, the hierarchy of courts with jurisdiction over criminal matters in which the defendants are civilians has been as follows: (a) The Court of Cassation, ruling only on points of law, which has jurisdiction over the cases assigned to it by virtue of the law under which it was set up; (b) The High Court of Appeal, which has jurisdiction over the decisions handed down in criminal cases by the High Court; (c) The High Court, which tries criminal cases in first instance and handles appeals against judgements handed down by the Court of ordinary jurisdiction; (d) The Court of ordinary jurisdiction, which tries minor offences and infractions in first instance.