Superintendent's interim-director appointment as a local autonomous affair

1. 01Question

   Is a superintendent's authority to appoint an interim director of a school corporation running a private elementary, middle or high school a local autonomous affair rather than a delegated office affair, so that a provincial ordinance may delegate that authority to the subordinate head of the competent district education office?

2. 02Holding

   Yes, it is a local autonomous affair. Matters that a local government may regulate by ordinance are limited to its own affairs and group-delegated affairs; matters on office-delegated affairs, where a state affair is delegated to the head of a local government, fall outside the scope of ordinance-making in principle. Whether an affair the statutes assign to the head of a local government is an autonomous or an office-delegated affair is decided primarily by the form and purpose of the statutory provisions, together with whether the affair requires nationwide uniform handling, who bears its costs and to whom final responsibility attaches. Applying those criteria, the authority to appoint interim directors of non-university school corporations belongs to the superintendent as a local autonomous affair, so the ordinance provision cannot be said to exceed the scope of ordinance-making.

   Summary of the holding, verbatim

   지방자치법 제22조, 제9조에 따르면, 지방자치단체가 조례를 제정할 수 있는 사항은 지방자치단체의 고유사무인 자치사무와 개별 법령에 따라 지방자치단체에 위임된 단체위임사무에 한정된다. 국가사무가 지방자치단체의 장에게 위임되거나 상위 지방자치단체의 사무가 하위 지방자치단체의 장에게 위임된 기관위임사무에 관한 사항은 원칙적으로 조례의 제정범위에 속하지 않는다.

   Unofficial English translation

   Under Articles 22 and 9 of the Local Autonomy Act, the matters for which a local government may enact ordinances are limited to autonomous affairs, which are the inherent affairs of the local government, and delegated affairs of a local government, which are entrusted to the local government under individual statutes and sub-decrees. Matters concerning agency-entrusted affairs, where state affairs are entrusted to the head of a local government or the affairs of a higher-level local government are entrusted to the head of a lower-level local government, do not, in principle, fall within the scope of ordinance-making.

3. 03Disposition

   Reversed and remanded Stated in the decision

   원심판결을 파기하고, 사건을 서울고등법원에 환송한다.

   Unofficial English translation

   The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Seoul High Court.

4. 04Form of the test

   Circumstances weighed Stated in the decision

   그에 관한 법령의 규정 형식과 취지를 우선 고려하여야 하지만, 그 밖에도 사무의 성질이 전국적으로 통일적인 처리가 요구되는 사무인지 여부나 그에 관한 경비부담과 최종적인 책임귀속의 주체 등도 아울러 고려하여야 한다

   Unofficial English translation

   the form and purport of the provisions of statutes and sub-decrees concerning the matter must be considered as a matter of priority, but in addition thereto, consideration must also be given to matters such as whether the nature of the affairs is such that uniform handling nationwide is required, and the subject bearing the expenses in connection therewith and the subject to whom final responsibility is attributed

5. 05Factors

   • 관련 규정들의 형식과 취지
   • 임시이사 선임제도의 내용과 성질
   • 사무의 성질이 전국적으로 통일적인 처리가 요구되는 사무인지 여부나
   • 그에 관한 경비부담과 최종적인 책임귀속의 주체

   Unofficial English translation

   • The form and purport of the relevant provisions

   • The content and nature of the temporary director appointment system

   • Whether the nature of the affairs is such that uniform handling nationwide is required, or

   • The subject bearing the expenses in connection therewith and the subject to whom final responsibility is attributed

6. 06Relation to precedent

   Follows earlier decisions Stated in the decision

   대법원 2017. 12. 5. 선고 2016추5162 판결 등 참조

   Unofficial English translation

   See, e.g., Supreme Court Decision 2016Chu5162 decided December 5, 2017, etc.

   Decisions referred to

   대법원 2013. 4. 11. 선고 2011두12153 판결, 대법원 2017. 12. 5. 선고 2016추5162 판결(공2018상, 85)

7. 07Burden of proof

   Not addressed Not in the decision

8. 08Open question and revisit condition

   Does the ordinance's delegation of the interim-director appointment power from the superintendent of Gyeonggi Province to the subordinate head of the competent district education office comply with the statutes governing the delegation of a superintendent's authority?

   An amendment to Article 25 of the Private School Act, which allocates the appointment power and requires the mediation committee's deliberation, or to Article 9 or Article 22 of the Local Autonomy Act on the scope of ordinance-making, would require this entry to be read again. A later Supreme Court decision on the lawfulness of such an ordinance delegation, or the remand judgment's treatment of the grounds the Court left undecided, would do the same.

Read 2026-10-26 · Cross-read 2026-10-26. All quotes matched against the official text. The Chinese-character placeholders the court used for anonymised parties are given in their Korean readings, and parenthetical Chinese-character glosses are omitted.

Every entry is published only after all quotes have been matched character by character against the official text, and audited by an independent second reading from a different model family across all eight axes. Both agreed axes and text-grounded interpretive divergences are recorded openly. The ledger is a research record, not an assessment of the court or advice on any matter.