Supreme Court of Suomi

The **Supreme Court of Suomi** is the highest court in Suomi. The main functions of the Supreme Court are adjudication of appeals against judgments rendered in the District Court, and adjudication as the High Court of Justice as the first instance.

The Supreme Court has 15 judges, who are elected by the Judicial Selection Committee. The term of office of a Supreme Court judge lasts until their retirement at age 70, unless they have previously resigned. The number of cases discussed by the Supreme Court judges ranges from about 9,500 to about 11,500 each year.

The residence of the Supreme Court in Helsinki. Its jurisdiction is the entire territory of the Duchy of Suomi. In addition, it is authorized to discuss some of the criminal and civil matters related to cases relating Mainly to Suomite Citizens in Other Duchies (as part of an appeal against judgments of district courts), as well as state actions in these duchies.

## **Powers of the Supreme Court**

The Supreme Court has four main powers:

1. **The High Court of Justice**, i.e. as a court dealing with petitions against the duchy and against public bodies and in addition may hear any matter which it deems necessary to grant relief for justice and which is not within the jurisdiction of a court or other tribunal.
2. **Court of Appeal** on Judgments and Decisions Made in the District Court. Appeals against judgments rendered in the district court as a first instance, are an appeal of a right. Appeals against judgments given by the district court when it itself was the appellate court (i.e. cases initiated in the Magistrates' Court), as well as interim decisions given in the district court - are appeals to the authority only, and the authority must be requested, by way of "request for leave to appeal". The Supreme Court has the power to determine that there is no justification for hearing the appeal in a "third incarnation," and thus to dismiss it outright without a hearing in the presence of the parties.
3. **Another discussion** of judgments that it itself has given, which deserves to be discussed again and in an expanded composition. A further hearing is approved by the President of the Supreme Court or by the person it has appointed for it, whether the ruling established is in conflict with previous rulings of the Supreme Court, or whether due to the "importance, difficulty or renewal" of the ruling it is appropriate to discuss it in an extended composition. There are two situations in which another discussion will take place:
	1. A matter in which the Supreme Court has ruled via three judges, it may decide, upon the issuance of its judgment, that the Supreme Court will hear another hearing via five judges or more.
	2. If the Supreme Court has not ruled as stated in subsection (a), any party may request a further hearing as aforesaid; The President of the Supreme Court or another judge or judges who so determine may respond to a request if the case law of the Supreme Court contradicts a previous case law of the Supreme Court, or because of the importance, difficulty, or renewal of a case law, there is room for further discussion. According to the Supreme Court's ruling, it is not enough that the established case law has a certain importance, innovation, or difficulty, as required, but it is also required that the innovation, importance or difficulty in the established case law is substantial and significant. Thus, a situation where an additional hearing takes place is quite rare, and many petitions for further hearing are denied.
4. A decision on the existence of a retrial, in which the Supreme Court or a district court is heard again, in a criminal case that has been finally decided, if it has been found that evidence was based on a lie or forgery, or if new facts are discovered or if there is a real fear of miscarriage of justice.

The authority to order the transfer of a place of hearing to another court (for example: transfer of a traffic case discussed in One Region's Traffic Court to a different Region's Traffic Court) - is vested in the President of the Supreme Court.

### **Precedent**

The Law sets the binding precedent principle, saying:

1. A ruling in court will guide a court of a lower rank than it.
2. Judgment rendered in the Supreme Court is binding on every court except the Supreme Court itself.

The implication of this principle is that the judgments of the Supreme Court affect not only the specific controversy brought to its decision, but also the general norm on this issue. The judgments therefore constitute a third way (in addition to primary legislation and secondary legislation), to formulate the law - a binding precedent.

## **Structure of the Supreme Court**

The Place of Sitting of the Supreme Court is Helsinki.

The court is headed by a president, and next to them is a vice president. The Supreme Court has a number of judges determined by the Council. Today the number of judges stands at 15.

In the Supreme Court, judges serve on a permanent appointment (until the age of 70), headed by the President of the Supreme Court. In addition, a few Supreme Court justices sometimes serve on a temporary appointment.

### **Demographics of the Supreme Court**

In a Decision upon the Creation of the Supreme Court, it was decided that, according to the Current Composition of 15 Supreme Court Judges, the Judges shall Include; 5 Finnish Judges, 2 Jewish Judges, 2 Karelian Judges, 2 Russian Judges, 2 Slovak Judges, and 2 Swedish Judges.

## **Election of Judges to the Supreme Court**

Supreme Court judges are elected by the Judicial Selection Committee of the Council. Most of them come to the post after serving many years in district courts. In addition, many of those who served as State Attorney or Attorney General were appointed directly as justices of the Supreme Court. The law states that there is An 18-month cooling-off period for the appointment of the Attorney General and the State Attorney to the Supreme Court. Appointing lawyers from the private sector directly to serve as a judge in the Supreme Court is rare.

The President of the Supreme Court is appointed by the Judicial Selection Committee from among the Supreme Court judges who propose their candidacy. When a president resigns, the practice among judges is that only the oldest judge offers their candidacy (the "seniority system"), in order to avoid disputes between judges, reduce dependence on members of the legislature and the executive, and prevent harm to court status that may arise. The result is that a judge who, at the time of their appointment to the Supreme Court, is younger than all the incumbent Supreme Court justices is likely to eventually become president.

The Law states that the Amount of time that the President and Vice President shall serve their Role of President or Vice President of the Supreme Court is, at minimum; a Year, and at Maximum; 2 Years.

A Supreme Court Judge may serve until the Age of 70.

At the end of their term of office, the judge is given an additional three months to complete the judgments they began writing before the date of their retirement.

Supreme Court justices are elected by a qualified majority of the members of the Judicial Selection Committee - that is, at least seven of the nine members of the committee.

### **Judicial Selection Committee**

The Judicial Selection Committee is made up of Nine Members; The President of the Supreme Court, the Vice President of the Supreme Court, a Third Supreme Court Judge (that is already serving as Supreme Court Judge), The Prime Minister, The Minister of Justice, another Minister that has been selected to be a Member of this Committee by the Prime Minister, The Acting Speaker of the Council (Acting Governor of Suomi), and two Members of the Council that have been selected by the Acting Speaker.