News of the Judicial System

More active participation of the citizens in law-formation would serve as an essential motor that makes the judicial system more reliable. In order to regulate the case flows, application of mediation – peaceful solution of disputes – has to be applied. This was stated in the international conference “Implementation and Ensuring of the Constitutional Principle of Independence of Courts” held in Vilnius and organized by the National Courts Administration with support of the embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in Lithuania.

Five experts from Norway presented the Norwegian experience in application of mediation, the historically formed institution of lay judges and involvement of society in the work of courts to more than one hundred judges, prosecutors and representatives from other institutions. “We examine 16,5 thousand civil cases per year in Norway. The number of such cases in Lithuania is 10 times higher. According to the statistics, the judges in your country work their fingers to the bone – the society does not recognize peaceful solution of disputes and address the courts demanding for litigation regarding any minor issue,” considers the judge of Oslo District Court, Mrs. Heidi Heggdal.

“Almost 20 percent of all the civil cases in Norway are solved by mediation. In such a way the money that would be otherwise spent on litigation is saved, as well as the time of the judges and parties. The mediation process lasts for 5 hours on average, while the judicial proceedings may continue for several weeks. Of course, the conditions should be created for it – the motivation system for judges to apply mediation and the wish of parties to settle the dispute peacefully,” – said the Norwegian judge.

When the Norwegians were speaking about the society’s trust in the judicial system, they stressed the historical heritage and legal traditions. “Almost 50 thousand of representatives of society participate in the work of Norwegian courts – that is what distinguishes us not only in Europe but also from other Scandinavian countries. Our Constitution, one of the oldest in the world, inspires ordinary citizens not to stay indifferent to the processes happening in society, to participate in law-formation, and thus to cherish and strengthen the legal powers of the State. The Soviet heritage and distrust in authorities are still present in Lithuania, and this is transmitted to courts and evaluation of their work. Small changes and time are needed to change this,” – believe the Norwegian judges.

According to the experts, bigger involvement of the residents into the law-formation process, legal education, participation of society’s representatives in the judicial work and application of peaceful settlement of disputes should serve as tools to strengthen the fundamentals of legal State.

The Chairman of Juridical Board, Mr. Gintaras Kryževičius is confident that the Lithuanian and Norwegian judicial systems are similar, so the cooperation and good practice of the countries may be taken over and adjusted. “Everything depends on our wish and internal agreement. The preconditions to use the good practice are present – Lithuania and Norway have many things in common, so it should not be difficult to adapt the colleagues’ experience,” – states the chairman.

According to the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Norway in Lithuania, Mr. Leif Arne Ulland, Lithuania and Norway are cooperating in many areas, but law enforcement and improvement of courts’ work are among the most important ones.

The resources of the financial mechanism of the Norwegian government were used this year to start implementation of joint projects in Lithuania. Their purpose is to increase the effectiveness, transparency of the courts’ work and to raise the residents’ trust in the work of courts. The Lithuanian courts are creating safe environment for human, deepen the work competences of judges and court’s employees, and improve the information system of the courts.