Estonian Court System

1
Estonian Court System
2
Structure

• 4 county courts 153 judges
• 2 administrative courts 27 judges
• 3 courts of appeal (2 deal with administrative
  cases) 46 judges
• 1 supreme court 19 judges
• Total 245 judges

3
Administration

• 1st and the 2nd instance are governed by the
  Ministry of Justice in co-operation with the
  Court Administration Council
• Supreme Court is totally independent of the
  executive power and governs itself

4
Court Administration Council

• 11 members 6 judges, 2 MPs, Chancellor of
  Justice, Chief Public Prosecutor, representative
  of the Bar Association
• MoJ participates in the sessions but has no right
  to vote

5
Court Administration Council

• Functions include giving consent to
• The number of judges in a court
• The working area of a court
• The location of a courthouse
• The appointment of the Chief Judge
• The determination of the internal rules of
  courts
• etc.
• MoJ prepares the drafts, records and caters the
  sessions
• NB! The council has no initiative powers

6
Ministry of Justice

• Everyday administration
• The budget
• Accounting
• IT
• Housing
• Training of court clerks

7
Bodies of self administration of judges

• Examination Board
• Disciplinary Board
• Training Council (Legal Centre training of
  judges)
• Court en banc

8
Statistics

• In 2005
• 43 000 civil cases (usually 25 000)
• 9000 criminal cases
• 3000 administrative cases
• 5000 petty crime
• 5300 cases in the courts of appeal (2500 civil,
  1600 criminal, 1000 administrative, 200 petty
  crime)

9
Main problems

• Uneven workload of courts/judges
• Salaries of court clerks
• The qualification of court clerks
• Housing
• Information systems

10
Recent reforms

• 2002 the creation of the court administration
  council
• 2002 the salaries of the judges tied to the
  average salary
• 2002 new Penal Code, new Civil Law
• 2004 new code of Criminal Procedure
• 2006 the merging of court regions
• 2006 new Code of Civil Procedure
• 2006 new Information System