The Gulating Court of Appeal ( no, Gulating lagmannsrett) is one of six

courts of appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

in the

Kingdom of Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. The Court is located in the city of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

and

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

plus Sirdal Municipality in

Agder Agder is a county (''fylke'') and traditional region in the southern part of Norway. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder counties were merged. Since the early 1900s, the term Sørlandet ("south ...

county. These areas constitute the Gulating judicial district ( no, Gulating lagdømme). This court can rule on both civil and criminal cases that are

appealed In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

from one of its subordinate district courts. Court decisions can be, to a limited extent, appealed to the

Supreme Court of Norway The Supreme Court of Norway (Norwegian Bokmål: ''(Norges) Høyesterett''; Norwegian Nynorsk: ''(Noregs) Høgsterett''; lit. ‘Highest Court’) was established in 1815 on the basis of section 88 in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway, whi ...

. There are 33 permanent judges seated on this court. The chief judicial officer of the court ( no, førstelagmann) is currently Magni Elsheim (as of 2016). The court is administered by the

Norwegian National Courts Administration The Norwegian Courts Administration ( no, Domstoladministrasjonen) is a Norwegian government agency responsible for the management and operations of the Courts of Justice of Norway. It is purely an administrative organisation, and does not interfere ...

Location

The Court has its seat at in the city of

, the largest city in

Western Norway Western Norway ( nb, Vestlandet, Vest-Norge; nn, Vest-Noreg) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrativ ...

. The courthouse is located next to the Bergen city hall (). Additionally, the Court permanently sits in the city of

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

at the Stavanger Court House. The Court may also sit in other places within its jurisdiction as needed.

Jurisdiction

This court accepts appeals from all of the district courts from its geographic jurisdiction. This court is divided into judicial regions ( no, lagsogn) and there is one or more district courts ( no, tingrett) that belongs to each of these regions.

History

The court has its historical roots originating with the

Gulating Gulating ( non, Gulaþing) was one of the first Norwegian legislative assemblies, or '' things,'' and also the name of a present-day law court of western Norway. The practice of periodic regional assemblies predates recorded history, and was fi ...

, one of the first Norwegian legislative assemblies or

Þing A thing, german: ding, ang, þing, enm, thing. (that is, "assembly" or folkmoot) was a governing assembly in early Germanic society, made up of the free people of the community presided over by a lawspeaker. Things took place at regular in ...

, which was established before the year 900. This old assembly remained in operation until 1797 when the courts were changed. A new court law went into effect on 1 January 1890 which re-established the Gulating Court of Appeal which included all of

Søndre Bergenhus Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Municipali ...

Nordre Bergenhus Sogn og Fjordane (; English: "Sogn and Fjordane") was, up to 1 January 2020, a county in western Norway, when it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland, the co ...

, and

Romsdalen Romsdalen is a valley in the western part of Norway. The long valley runs through Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county and Lesja Municipality in Innlandet county. It is the valley of the Rauma river, from Old Norse word ''Raumsdalr'' w ...

counties. In 1892, some courts were consolidated and this court gained all of the county of

. On 1 January 1907, all of

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...

was added to the court as well, and at that time, the name of the court was changed to Gula- og Frostating Court of Appeal. On 1 July 1936, the northern part of the jurisdiction (

and

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is the ...

) was separated to become the new

Frostating Court of Appeal The Frostating Court of Appeal ( no, Frostating lagmannsrett) is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Trondheim. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal ...

and the southern part continued as the Gulating Court of Appeal (using the old name again).

References

External links

Bergen Courthouse website

Main site for the courts of Norway
{{use dmy dates, date=February 2022 Organisations based in Bergen Courts of appeal of Norway 1890 establishments in Norway Courts and tribunals established in 1890

Location

Jurisdiction

History

See also

References

External links