It's difficult to demand quality when judges are in short supply - Estonian top court

Photo: Sille Annuk / Postimees

Even though the number of cases referred to courts in Estonia has declined over the past year, courts are plagued by a chronic shortage of judges and under these circumstances it's difficult to expect that the quality of judgments passed in the first tier will improve, chairman of the Supreme Court Märt Rask said in his end-of term speech before parliament.

In 2012, the number of cases referred to courts dropped by 10-16 percent compared with 2011 in all types of proceedings except for misdemeanor proceedings. "Since it's impossible to bring out the reasons why the number of litigations has decreased without an in-depth scientific analysis, it makes no sense making far-reaching conclusions on the basis of trends from a single year. It's still too early to declare that our legal order has stabilized, confronting of legal norms has decreased in society and abidance by law and understanding of law-abiding behavior have increased," Rask said on Thursday.

The 10 to 16 percent reduction in the number of complaints and applications however has failed to lead to a reduction in the workload of courts, because instead of the usual up to 10 vacancies in the ranks of judges there were up to 16 positions vacant on a long-term basis last year.

"What is the price paid for the greater efficiency is demonstrated by the following numbers: each of the judges handling civil cases in the Harju County Court wrote 408 judgments and rulings in 2012, which is 1.1 decisions requiring legal analysis per calendar day, not workday," Rask said, adding that how much in-depth analysis one could afford working with such intensity depended on the talent and capacity for work of each individual judge and court official.

Rask highlighted the words said by his successor, Priit Pikamae, in his speech before lawmakers to the effect that improving the quality of courts' decisions is one of the main challenges facing the Estonian court system. "With the present conveyor-line like work improving the quality of decisions of the first tier is difficult," Rask said.