Freeway - The Swedish juridical system

The Swedish juridical system

Erik and Emanuel in front of the district court of Örnsköldsvik. Photo taken by Jonatan.

Are you wondering why and how the juridical system work? We know how it feels not knowing. It feels bad, does not it? First you can read generally about the Swedish juridical system. Later you can read about a interview with a clerk (the secretary for the courts). We have tried to write in an interesting way for you readers.

The Swedish courts are independent and can not be ruled by the government or anything else. They are divided in three different types of courts. The general courts, the general administrative courts and the special courts. The special courts deal with cases where specialists in different areas are needed. The general administrative courts deals with cases with disputes between private persons and public authorities for example tax cases. The general courts handle with criminal cases and disputes between individuals.

The General courts
Sweden has 95 district courts which are the first instance of the general courts. All that comes up is taken to the district courts. These courts consist of a chief judge and a number of permanent judges who are legally trained and also some lay judges who are "normal" people that is elected by the municipal council for a term of four years. In the most common trials there are one legally trained judge and three lay judges and it is them who rules the case.

If any of the involved parts are dissatisfied with the ruling from the district court they can appeal to a court of appeal. The courts of appeal makes a preliminary examination and if they find grounds to maybe change the ruling they take up the case to a trial and maybe they change it. The highest instance of the general courts is the supreme court. It only deals with cases that is important for future cases. A ruling in the supreme court is to be taken as a example for rulings in lower instances.

The adventure starts
The 29/9 did the adventure start. Me (Erik) and my friend (Jonatan) went to do an interview with a famous clerk (named Jonas) in our little town named Örnsköldsvik. Jonas explained for us about the mystery administration of justice. He was a very interesting person and our discussion became fruitful.

These were the question we asked him: how does a justice case proceed in Sweden? Do you think anything should be changed in the juridical system? What is your opinion about the juridical system in other countries? How long does it take to become a judge? How big must a society be to have a district court? What is the most ordinary crime in Örnsköldsvik? Are there many crimes committed in Örnsköldsvik? The answers
This is a summary of the answers. There are two different kind of cases in Sweden: civil cases and criminal cases. In civil cases someone hand in a plaint and there are one or three judges, depending on how serious the case is. The judge is taking evidence. In criminal cases there are one judge and three to five lay assessors. The lay assessor have no judicial education and are representative of the people. To gather they are declaring the judgement. In these cases the judge and the lay assessors are listening to witnesses. They are also getting proof from the police.

The Swedish judicial system is working good, but the lay assessor are sometimes influenced much by the judges opinion. In Great Britain it seems that the judicial system take more effects of old judge cases.

It takes about ten years to become a judge in Sweden. The Swedish government is now introducing a reform which makes some smaller district courts disappear. The reform suppose to make the government earn more money. The most ordinary crimes in our town are: assaults, larcenies, drunk driving, and disputes about money. These crimes are also common in the rest of our beautiful country.