Misplaced Pages

The judiciary of Norway is hierarchical with the Supreme Court at the apex. The conciliation boards only hear certain types of civil cases. The district courts are deemed to be the first instance of the Courts of Justice. Jury (high) courts are the second instance, and the Supreme Court is the third instance.

Courts

The structure of the courts of justice is hierarchical, with the Supreme Court at the apex. The conciliation boards only hear certain types of civil cases. The district courts are deemed to be the first instance of the Courts of Justice. Jury (high) courts are the second instance and the Supreme Court is the third instance.

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is Norway's highest court of justice and the instance of appeal for verdicts handed down by courts of a lower level. The court is situated in Oslo. The decisions made here are final and cannot be appealed or complained against. The only exception is for cases that can be brought before the Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg. The King of Norway has sole authority to appoint judges to the country’s Supreme Court and other senior courts. He does so on the advice of the country's Judicial Appointments Board, a body whose members are also appointed by the King.

Interlocutory Appeals Committee

Three of the Supreme Court judges form the Interlocutory Appeals Committee. This committee has to agree that a case is to be brought before the Supreme Court.

Courts of appeal

The country is divided into six appellate districts. Each court of appeal (Norwegian: lagmannsrett) is headed by a senior judge president and each court of appeal has several appellate judges. The courts are:

• Borgarting Court of Appeal in Oslo
• Eidsivating Court of Appeal in Hamar
• Agder Court of Appeal in Skien
• Gulating Court of Appeal in Bergen
• Frostating Court of Appeal in Trondheim
• Hålogaland Court of Appeal in Tromsø

District courts

The district courts (Norwegian: tingrett) are the first instance of the courts of justice. There are 23 district courts.

Conciliation boards

A conciliation board is allocated to each municipality. Each conciliation board consists of three lay members and an equal number of deputies elected or appointed by the municipal council for terms of four years. Conciliation boards mediate between disputing parties and are generally authorised to pronounce a verdict. Conciliation boards resolve the majority of civil disputes, but they do not hear criminal cases and participation in their hearings is voluntary.

Special courts

There are special courts that hear or process issues not covered by the District Courts:

• The Industrial Disputes Tribunal: This court deals with cases pertaining to labour legislation, for example wage disputes.
• The Land consolidation courts: Their main task is to find acceptable solutions for ownership disputes and issues concerning correct land usage.

Law

The king has the right in the Council of State to pardon criminals after sentence has been passed. This right is seldom used and always by the elected government in the name of the King.

Administration

The Ministry of Justice and Public Security is the government ministry in charge of justice, police and domestic intelligence.

The Norwegian Courts Administration is the government agency responsible for the management and operations of the courts. It is purely an administrative organisation, and does not interfere with the judicial processes nor the appointment of judges or other judicial positions in the court system.

Norwegian prisons are humane rather than tough with emphasis on rehabilitation. At 20% Norway's reconviction rate is among the lowest in the world.

Officers

Judges

The Judicial Appointments Board nominates judges for appointment, who are officially appointed by the Council of State.

Lay judges

In the district courts of Norway, lay judges sit alongside professional judges in mixed courts in most cases. In most cases, two lay judges sit alongside one professional judge. The chairperson may decree that a case have three lay judges sit alongside two professional judges if the workload on that case is high or if there are other compelling reasons. Decisions are made by simple majority.

In the courts of appeal, criminal cases where the maximum penalty is less than six years are tried by a panel consisting of three professional judges and four lay judges.

Lay judges are not considered to be representative of the population. About 75% of lay judges are nominated by the political parties in Norway.

Jurors

Juries were used from 1887 to 2019.

In the Court of Appeals (Lagmannsrett), ten jurors determined the issue of guilt where a penalty of six years or more could be imposed. In complicated and lengthy cases, the number of jurors could be increased to eleven or twelve in case a juror is unable complete the trial. If there were more than ten jurors after the closing arguments, the number was reduced to ten by dismissing jurors by lot. The jury verdict was not final, and the three professional judges could set aside both convictions and acquittals for a retrial in a court of appeal. Retrials would have three professional judges and four lay judges instead of a jury.

Jurors were selected from the lay judge roster for that court of appeal. The municipalities were responsible for assigning people to the roster.

The last case tried before a jury in Norway was the case against Eirik Jensen. The decision of the jury was set aside by the three judges.

See also

• Incarceration in Norway
• Law of Norway

Notes

1. Anders Breivik: Just how cushy are Norwegian prisons? BBC
2. ^ Malsch 2009, p. 47.
3. "Lov om rettergangsmåten i straffesaker (Straffeprosessloven). Femte del. Saksbehandlingens enkelte ledd" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 August 2014. §276
4. "Meddomsrett" (in Norwegian). domstol.no. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
5. ^ Malsch 2009, pp. 47–48.
6. "Ikraftsetting av lov 16. juni 2017 nr. 58 om endringer i straffeprosessloven mv. (oppheving av juryordningen) med overgangsbestemmelser" (in Norwegian). Justis- og beredskapsdepartementet. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
7. "Lov om rettergangsmåten i straffesaker (Straffeprosessloven)" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 August 2014.
8. "8.12.5 Tilsidesettelse av juryens kjennelse" (in Norwegian). Justis- og beredskapsdepartementet. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
9. "Domstolene i samfunnet" (in Norwegian). Justis- og beredskapsdepartementet. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
10. "Accused cop faces a brand new trial". News in English. Retrieved 29 January 2019.

References

• Malsch, Marijke (2009). Democracy in the Courts: Lay Participation in European Criminal Justice Systems. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-7405-4.

External links

• Official website (in English)

v t e Courts of justice of Norway
Supreme Court of Norway Appeals Selection Committee Courts of Appeal District Courts
	Borgarting Court of Appeal	Oslo District Court Buskerud District Court Ringerike, Asker og Bærum District Court Follo og Nordre Østfold District Court Søndre Østfold District Court
	Eidsivating Court of Appeal	Romerike og Glåmdal District Court Vestre Innlandet District Court Østre Innlandet District Court
	Agder Court of Appeal	Agder District Court Telemark District Court Vestfold District Court
	Gulating Court of Appeal	Hordaland District Court Haugaland og Sunnhordland District Court Sogn og Fjordane District Court Sør-Rogaland District Court
	Frostating Court of Appeal	Møre og Romsdal District Court Trøndelag District Court
	Hålogaland Court of Appeal	Helgeland District Court Indre og Østre Finnmark District Court Midtre Hålogaland District Court Nord-Troms og Senja District Court Salten og Lofoten District Court Vestre Finnmark District Court
	Special courts	Appeals Selection Committee Constitutional Court of the Realm (Impeachment) Industrial Disputes Tribunal Land consolidation Court Conciliation Board
	Former district courts in Norway (List) Agder Aust-Agder Aust-Telemark Flekkefjord Holmestrand Holt Horten Kragerø Kristiansand Larvik Lister Lyngdal Mandal Nedenes Nedre Telemark Nordre Vestfold Sand Sandefjord Skien and Porsgrunn Tinn and Heddal Tønsberg Vest-Telemark Vestfold Borgarting Asker and Bærum Drammen Eiker, Modum and Sigdal Follo Fredrikstad Halden Hallingdal Heggen and Frøland Indre Follo Kongsberg Moss Oslo Ringerike Sarpsborg Ytre Follo Eidsivating Eidsvoll Gjøvik Glåmdal Hadeland and Land Hedmarken Nedre Romerike Nord-Gudbrandsdal Nord-Østerdal Solør Sør-Gudbrandsdal Sør-Østerdal Toten Valdres Vinger and Odal Øvre Romerike Frostating Fosen Gauldal Inderøy Inntrøndelag Midt-Trøndelag Namdal Nordmøre Orkdal Romsdal Stjør- and Verdal Sunnmøre Søre Sunnmøre Sør-Trøndelag Trondheim Gulating Bergen Dalane Fjordane Hardanger Haugaland Haugesund Indre Sogn Jæren Karmsund Midthordland Nordfjord Nordhordland Ryfylke Sandnes Sogn Stavanger Sunnfjord Sunnhordland Voss Ytre Sogn Hålogaland Alstahaug Alta Brønnøy Hammerfest Indre Finnmark Lofoten Nord-Troms Ofoten Rana Salten Senja Tana and Varanger Trondenes Vardø Vesterålen Øst-Finnmark
Administration: National Courts Administration Ministry of Justice and the Police Supervisory Committee Norwegian court system law

v t e Norway articles
History	Stone Age Bronze Age Petty kingdoms Viking Age Unification High Middle Ages Kingdom of Norway (872–1397) Hereditary Kingdom of Norway Kalmar Union Denmark–Norway Kingdom of Norway (1814) Sweden–Norway End of the union World War II Reichskommissariat Quisling regime Norwegian government-in-exile 1945–2000 21st century
Geography	Climate Districts Extreme points Islands Lakes Mammals Mountains Municipalities Cities Protected areas Rivers World Heritage Sites
Politics	Administrative divisions National budget Constitution Correctional Service Courts Elections Foreign relations Governments Incarceration LGBT rights Military Monarchy Parliament Police Political parties Prime Minister Membership of International organizations
Economy	Energy Fisheries Government Pension Fund Industry Mining Natural gas Krone (currency) National bank Nordic model Norwegian paradox Oil Renewable energy Stock Exchange Taxation Telecommunications Tourism Trade unions Transport Whaling
Society	Climate change Crime Demographics Education Ethnic groups Health Immigration Incarceration Irreligion Languages language conflict Norwegians Pensions Poverty Religion Women Culture Architecture Art Bunad (clothing) Christmas (season) Cinema Cuisine Jante law Music Norwegian language Literature Media Prostitution Public holidays Sport Nationalism Romantic nationalism Symbols Anthem Coat of arms Flags national flag Mottos Name of Norway
Outline Category Portal

• Judiciary of Norway
• Law of Norway
• Government of Norway