Courts of Norway
Courts of Norway
PAGE Courts of Norway
T
he ordinary courts consist of three instances:
the Supreme Court (Høyesterett1) in the third
instance, the Courts of Appeal (Lagmannsrett) in
the second instance and the District Courts (District
Court) in the first instance. The courts hear both
civil and criminal cases.
Most civil disputes are considered initially by the
Conciliation Boards (forliksråd), which are to be found
in every municipality and consists of laypeople.
The ordinary courts are supplemented by special
courts, including the Labour Court (Arbeidsrett)
and the Land Consolidation Courts (jordskifetdomstolene).
The courts do not take up cases of their own accord,
but resolve legal disputes by considering the cases
brought before them. Civil cases are brought before
the courts by the parties, whereas criminal cases
are brought by the prosecution authority. The prosecution authority consists of the Director of Public
Prosecutions (riksadvokat), the Public Prosecutors
(statsadvokat) and the Prosecuting Authority in the
police.
Read more about the norwegian courts at
www.domstol.no
1
The Norwegian names in parentheses are given in indefinite singular form.
Korridor i Høyesterett
The professional judges are always law
graduates, and are civil servants appointed by the King-in-Council. The Judicial
Appointments Board for judges, which is
an independent body, makes recommendations for judge appointments. A judge
must be a Norwegian citizen. A judge can
only be dismissed by a court judgment.
The judges are independent in their adjudication of the individual case, and cannot be instructed.
Deputy judges are legally qualified persons who are appointed to a court for a
limited period. The arrangement is used
only in the courts of first instance, and
was introduced in order to give law graduates practical experience of the courts.
The assistant judges preside over proceedings in court and decide cases just
like other judges, but there are certain
restrictions on what kind of cases they
can consider.
In order to prevent doubt about the independence of the judges the Storting,
the Norwegian Parliament, has adopted
an approval and registration scheme for
judges’ extra-judicial activities, that is to
say their membership or office in organisations, in accordance with particular
rules. The scheme applies to judges in
all instances including assistant judges,
but not to lay assessors. The register
of the judges’ extra-judicial activities is
published on www.domstol.no
Lay judges are selected by municipal
councils for four years at a time. The
precondition for being selected is that a
person can stand in municipal elections.
There are different “pools” of lay judges
for the Courts of Appeal and the District
Courts, but no lay judges participate in
the Supreme Court. In the District Courts
the lay judges sit on the bench, in the
Court of Appeal either on the bench or in
the jury-box. The lay judges participate in
both criminal and civil cases.
Anyone selected as a lay judge is obliged
to accept the office. Certain occupational
groups are exempt from selection, including judges, police officers and prosecutors, employees of the Ministry of Justice
and the National Courts Administration.
There are also certain restrictions regarding individuals with a criminal record. The
lay judges must be between 21 and 70
when their period of office begins.
Especially in civil cases, expert lay judges
can be appointed, with special expertise in
a given field.
Høyesterett
Supervisory Judicial Committee is an
independent body that hears complaints
against judges, for example for unprofessional conduct. It can also take up cases
on its own initiative.
The Supervision Committee is appointed
by the King-in-Council and the Courts Administration is its secretariat.
The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is the highest court
in Norway. The decisions of the Supreme
Court are final and cannot be appealed.
The Supreme Court sits in Oslo.
The court is chaired by the President of
the Supreme Court, and has another 18
other judges. Individual cases are normally heard by a panel of five judges, but
certain cases are considered by the Supreme Court in plenum.
Appeals to the Supreme Court are first
considered by the Supreme Court’s appeals committee, which decides whether a case shall proceed to the Supreme
Court. The Appeals Committee is constituted with three judges per case.
The Supreme Court is an appellate court
that hears appeals against decisions
made by the District Courts and the
Courts of Appeal. The Supreme Court
considers both civil and criminal cases,
and has authority in all areas of the law.
In criminal cases the question of guilt
is determined by the Courts of Appeal,
whereas the Supreme Court may decide
PAGE Courts of Norway
All cases before the courts are presided
over by a professional judge. The layjudge system, however, ensures that citizens who do not have a law qualification
also play a key role in Norwegian jurisprudence.
A judgment may be changed by a superior court after appeal consideration. A
higher court cannot, of its own accord,
instruct a lower court in how it should
handle individual cases. If, on the other
hand, one party takes a decision further,
instead of entering a new judgment the
higher court can decide that the lower
court must hear the case again.
Courts of Norway
PAGE The judges and the
independence of the courts
Proceedings of the Supreme Court proper are oral, and are open to the public.
There is no immediate presentation of
evidence in the form of party or witness
testimony as in the District Courts and
the Courts of Appeal.
Read more about the Supreme Court at
www.hoyesterett.no
The Courts of Appeal
There are six Courts of Appeal in Norway, each covering a certain geographical area, called a circuit. Each Court of
Appeal is chaired by a president.
The Courts of Appeal adjudicate appeals against decisions from the District
Courts in their circuits. They decide both
civil and criminal cases.
There are six Courts of Appeal:
Borgarting Court of Appeal. Sits in Oslo
and covers the following counties: Oslo,
Buskerud, Østfold and the southern part
of Akershus.
INDRE FINNMARK TINGRETT
Eidsivating Court of Appeal. Sits in
Hamar, and covers the following counties:
Hedmark, Oppland and the northern
part of Akershus.
PAGE Courts of Norway
Proceedings in the Appeals Committee
are in writing alone, the decisions are
made on the strength of the documents
in the case.
Agder Court of Appeal. Sits in Skien, and
covers the following counties: Vestfold,
Telemark, Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder.
Gulating Court of Appeal. Sits in
Bergen, and covers the following counties: Hordaland, Sogn and Fjordane and
Rogaland.
Courts of Norway
PAGE on sentencing and the quality of the procedure.
Frostating Court of Appeal. Sits in
Trondheim, and covers the following
counties: Møre and Romsdal, Sør-Trøndelag and Nord-Trøndelag.
Hålogaland Court of Appeal. Sits in
Tromsø, and covers the following counties: Nordland, Troms and Finnmark.
In the Courts of Appeal the individual
case is always heard by a panel of three
appellate judges.
In criminal cases the appeal may be
against various aspects of the District
Court’s decision. If the appeal concerns
the question of guilt, the case shall be
decided by a jury or a bench consisting
of three professional and four lay judges
(meddomsrett). The lay judges are laymen selected at random from a panel;
there shall always be two women and
two men. The professional and lay judges take all decisions collectively, and all
votes are equal.
In cases where the sentencing framework is more than six years, the question of guilt shall be decided by a jury
(lagrett). The jury consists of ten persons,
if feasible five women and five men.
Members of the jury for a particular
The District Courts
MØTELOKALE I TROMSØ
case are drawn from a panel at random,
fourteen plus two alternates. Then the
accused and the prosecution can, in accordance with specific rules, challenge
(exclude) up to two jury members each.
If this method of eliminating jury members is not used, lots are drawn to decide
who is to sit on the jury.
When the jury has decided on the question of guilt, four of the jury members
participate in the sentencing together
with the three professional judges.
If the appeal to the Court of Appeal only
concerns the sentencing for offences in
which the framework is imprisonment
for up to six years, the case shall be determined by three professional judges,
as a rule after oral proceedings. When
hearing appeals against sentencing
where the framework is more than six
years’ imprisonment, the Court of Appeal
is constituted with three professional
and four lay judges.
If the appeal concerns application of
the law or procedure, the Court of Appeal shall only decide whether the District Court has applied the law correctly
or has made procedural errors. In such
cases the court is constituted with three
professional judges.
A civil case is as a rule heard by three
professional judges. In certain types of
case there must be lay judges as well.
The parties can also demand that two to
four lay judges be empanelled.
The Court of Appeal’s decisions – other
than decisions on the question of guilt in
criminal cases – can be appealed to the
Supreme Court.
The country is divided into judicial districts, with one District Court per judicial
district. In Oslo there are two district
courts, one court (Oslo tingrett) considers
criminal and civil cases, the other court
(Oslo Byfogdembete) considers inter alia
enforcement cases, bankruptcy, probate,
marriages and the issue of official certification. A judicial district may consist of
one or more municipalities. Structural
reorganisation of the courts has been
in progress since 2002, and when this is
completed in 2010 there will be 66 courts
of first instance.
The court structure is decided by the
Storting.
Criminal cases in the District Court are
decided either by a guilty plea or by
the mixed panel of professional and lay
judges. In addition, the District Court can
take certain decisions during the investigation of criminal cases.
The criteria for entering judgment on a
guilty plea is that the accused makes an
unreserved confession supported by the
evidence in the case. In such cases the
sentencing framework cannot exceed ten
years, and the accused must concur with
the procedure. These cases are heard by
a single professional judge.
In ordinary criminal cases the District
Court sits as a mixed panel of one professional and two lay judges. In lengthy
and other special cases, the court may
be constituted as an “extended court”
with two professional and three lay judges. The professional judges and the lay
judges participate on an equal basis as
regards both the question of guilt and
the sentencing. The lay judges are drawn
for the individual case from a pool of persons appointed by the municipal council
for four years at a time.
Judgments of the District Court may be
appealed to the Court of Appeal. This
means that for reasons of due process,
the question of guilt is tested in two instances. With the exception of the most
serious cases, the Court of Appeal’s appeals committee can refuse to let the
Court of Appeal hear a case.
The civil disputes in the District Courts
include a number of different case types,
such as family cases, neighbours’ quarrels, compensation suits, quashing of
administrative decisions and disputes in
employment and business relationships.
One party may file a writ of summons
with the District Court, but a judgment
in the conciliation council can also be
brought before the District Court.
PAGE The decisions of the District Court regarding imprisonment or other coercive
sanctions during the investigation, and
any ban on visits to remand prisoners
are also taken by a professional judge.
Courts of Norway
Courts of Norway
PAGE All the Courts of Appeal have their own
homepages that can be reached via
www.domstol.no.
The District Courts also consider cases
on enforcement, bankruptcy, debt settlement (composition), division of joint
property and decedent estates. These
cases are heard by a judge alone. Court
hearings or creditors’ meetings can be
held, and the judge decides questions
that arise during this procedure or adjudicates the case.
Any party that is unhappy with the result of a civil case can bring it before the
Court of Appeal.
All courts of first instance have their
own homepages that can be reached via
www.domstol.no
Conciliation Boards
Most civil cases are handled by the Conciliation Boards, which are mediation
bodies that have a certain power to enter
judgment as well. They deal with more
than 250,000 cases per year.
The two-instance system
In 1995 Norway introduced a new system
whereby all cases can be considered in
two instances. This means that all cases
start in the District Courts. Previously,
serious criminal cases began in the
Court of Appeal, which means that in
such cases the question of guilt in could
PAGE 11
be tested only once. Having the question
of guilt tested by two instances improves
the rights of the accused. The Court of
Appeal’s appeals committee determines
whether the case can be brought before
the Court of Appeal, but in the most serious criminal cases the convicted person
is entitled to a new hearing in the Court
of Appeal if he contests the judgment.
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PAGE 10
Courts of Norway
Instead of a normal main hearing, the
court can call the parties in for court
conciliation.
The question of guilt in criminal cases
cannot be appealed to the Supreme
Court.
The Land
Consolidation Courts
The Land Consolidation Courts are special courts that work with cases falling under the Land Consolidation Act.
Their duties are mainly demarcation of
properties, facilitation of collaboration
across property boundaries, clarification
of title to real property, fixing of boundaries and various exercises of discretionary powers.
The remit of the courts has gradually
grown from only dissolution of realproperty co-tenancies and agricultural
properties to problem-solving for everyone who owns land in Norway. The Land
Consolidation Act has been amended so
that all instrumentalities are available
also in cities and urbanised areas.
There are two kinds of Land Consolidation Courts in Norway: the Land Consolidation Court as first instance and
the Land Consolidation Appeal Court as
appeal instance. Judgments and other
decisions with legal effect made by the
TROMSØ
first instance can be appealed to the
Court of Appeal, while the Land Consolidation Appeal Court has appellate jurisdiction inter alia in technical land division
questions. The right to appeal from the
Land Consolidation Appeal Court to the
Court of Appeal is restricted mainly to
procedure and application of the law.
The Land Consolidation Courts comprise 34 first-instance courts and five
appeal courts.
The administrative responsibility for the
Land Consolidation Courts is vested in
the National Courts Administration.
Read more about the Land Consolidation Courts at www.jordskifte.no
Freedom of information
in the justice system
The courts possess considerable powers
over the individual, and in a democratic
society it is important that this is combined with a high degree of openness
and freedom of information. Norwegian
law prescribes a right to know when
court hearings are to be held, to attend
them and publish what is said there. In
particular cases and under particular
conditions the courts may restrict freedom of information.
International conventions
Like other states, Norway has undertaken to respect legally binding international conventions. We are, for example,
There are several international courts
that deal with questions related to the
conventions. The European Court of Human Rights has great significance for
Norwegian citizens. The courts’ task is
to ensure that signatory states to the
European Convention on Human Rights
are fulfilling their obligations, which
means that the citizens of these countries can have their cases heard if they
consider that their country’s own courts
have made decisions that contravene the
Convention. The Court of Human Rights
can decide complaints with binding effect
on the states. Member states can also
bring other states before the court.
Read more about the Court of Human
Rights at www.echr.coe.int.
The Courts Administration
TROMSØ
In 2002 the administrative control of the
courts was moved out of the Ministry
of Justice, where it had been since the
creation of the Norwegian state in 1814.
The National Courts Administration
(Domstoladministrasjonen, DA) was established in order to safeguard the inde-
The DA is headquartered in Trondheim.
The Storting adopts general guidelines
and framework budget for the National
Courts Administration and the courts.
The DA and the Ministry of Justice are
in dialogue about the courts’ development, resource needs and regulations.
The Ministry of Justice has no power to
instruct the DA, but has the principal
responsibility for drafting legislation
concerning the courts. The DA initiates
legislative amendments and is a consultation instance for new acts and regulations.
Among other things the DA has the responsibility for the courts’ premises,
finances and ICT equipment and development. It assists the courts in most
administrative questions, such as for
example expertise development, personnel questions, media contact and
service development. The DA cannot
influence the courts’ judgments and rulings.
Read more about the Court Administration at
www.domstoladministrasjonen.no
PAGE 13
pendence of the courts in relation to the
other branches of government. The DA
is an independent administrative body
with its own board consisting of nine
members, of whom two are elected by
the Storting and the others appointed by
the King-in-Council.
Courts of Norway
Courts of Norway
PAGE 12
signatory to various UN conventions,
for example on the Rights of the Child.
Other important conventions include the
Convention for the Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (also
known as the European Convention on
Human Rights) and the EEA Agreement.
By acceding to these, the state commits
itself to fulfilling duties and respecting
rights under the conventions.
The High Middle Ages
In the course of the High Middle Ages
the king acquired more power, and
ultimately discharged all three roles
– legislative, judicial and executive. The
Church also had a role in all three areas, resulting in a constant tug-of-war
for supremacy.
The need for codification increased, and
in 1274, under king Magnus VI “Lawmender” the old regional laws were
reworked and called the National Law
(Landsloven). This was meant to be authoritative for the regional courts and
to some extent for the district courts.
The Law was regarded as an administrative unification of Norway, the political unification being traditionally dated
to 1030. The National Law also involved
amendments to the judicial and executive aspects of the legal system, such as
royally appointed court presidents (lagmenn) to chair the proceedings between
the parties. More higher courts (lagting)
were created, and sited in towns or other
centres. Crime was no longer conceived
as an offence against the kin-group, but
as against the King. The period saw not
only the beginnings of centralisation,
but also of bureaucratising and professionalisation.
The Union period
Norway was in union with Denmark, and
intermittently with Sweden too, from
1390 to 1814, a period in which the Norwegian legal system saw further professionalisation.
Norwegian cases began in the city or
district court, proceeded to the higher
courts and finally to the Overhoffretten
in Oslo, from 1624 called Christiania.
After Denmark created a Supreme
Court in 1661, Norwegian cases could
be appealed there. The Danes had little
knowledge of Norwegian laws and legal
thinking, and therefore settled cases by
their own laws. The Supreme Court was
subject to the king, and until 1771 all
decisions made by the Supreme Court
were to be reviewed by him. In 1771 this
review power was abolished, except for
death sentences. In the course of the
Danish Union, attempts were made to
increase the distinction between the judicial and executive powers, at the same
time as the king maintained his position
as the fount of legislation.
The National Law promulgated under
Magnus “Lawmender” was still applicable law in Norway. As the 17th century
progressed a need was felt to update it,
leading to the Norwegian Law (Den norske lov) of 1687, which was to a certain
extent based on the Danish code of 1683.
The Supreme Court in Denmark could
now deal with two legal codes that were
more or less similar.
The separation of powers and
the Norwegian Constitution
PAGE 15
The Viking Age
We know that there were legislative, judicial and executive authorities as early
as the 10th century. In those days the
kinship group was the most important
executive power; crimes and conflicts
were resolved by negotiation between
the kin-groups, often involving agreement on the penalty.
In the course of the 11th century there
developed local and regional assemblies (bygdeting and lagting), which also
functioned as courts; the Norwegian
word ting still means both. Their most
important function was to reach solutions to various disputes and their formation was driven by population growth,
bigger districts and increased collaboration between districts. King Håkon I
“the Good” changed the composition of
the assemblies from universal attendance to representation by delegates.
The most famous regional assemblies
from that period are the Gulating for
Western Norway and the Frostating for
the Trøndelag. The Hålogaland, Eidsivating and Borgarting assemblies developed in the 12th and 13th centuries, but
never achieved the same influence as
Gulating and Frostating.
Legislative codes from the Gulating and
Frostating were rediscovered in modern times. The development of the assemblies and the discovery of the codes
clearly show that the rule of law was
well on the way to becoming centralised
as early as the 12th century.
The most usual legislative instance at
that time was customary law: that is to
say, there were many rules of law, but
not laid down by any public authority.
Customary or common law is still in use
today not only in international law, but
also in national areas such as constitutional and administrative law, some
parts of private law and the law of damages.
The principle of “separation of powers” – that is, between the legislative,
executive and judicial functions – was
formulated by the French philosopher
Montesquieu.
Montesquieu’s separation of powers was
central to the Norwegian constitution of
1814, adopted after that year’s separation from Denmark. The King was the
executive power, the Storting the legislative power and the courts the judicial
power. The Norwegian constitution was
more liberal than many others, inter alia
being based on the principle of popular
sovereignty.
Norway acquired its own Supreme Court
in 1815. The Norwegian constitution
remained in force after the young state
entered a union with Sweden, and so the
final Norwegian independence in 1905
did not represent any change in the Norwegian legal system.
During the German occupation of 194045 the Supreme Court resigned, and
judges were appointed who were loyal
to the occupiers. Neither the judges nor
their decisions from this period were
recognised after Liberation.
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PAGE 14
Courts of Norway
Evolution of
the Norwegian courts
Courts of Norway