Oslo District Court ( no, Oslo tingrett) is a district court located in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population 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 t ...

. This court is based at the

Oslo Courthouse Oslo Courthouse (''Oslo tinghus'') is located at C.J. Hambros plass 4 in downtown Oslo, Norway. The courthouse houses the two Oslo District Courts; the ''tingrett'' which handles civil and criminal cases, and the ''byfogdembete'' which considers ...

in the city of

. The court serves the entire city of Oslo and the court is subordinate to the

Borgarting Court of Appeal The Borgarting Court of Appeal ( no, Borgarting lagmannsrett) is one of six intermediate courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Oslo. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Oslo and western Viken. ...

. As the largest district court in Norway, it handles about 20% of all cases in the country. The court handled 3,000 criminal and 2,200 civil cases, as well as 7,200 summary proceedings in 2007. It is led by a chief justice (), and has 100 appointed professional and deputy judges. These are divided into eight sections. In addition, the court has 105 administrative employees, of which 30 are in central administration, 59 in judicial-related jobs and 16 in security. These are led by a managing director. The court is a

court of first instance A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accorda ...

. Its judicial duties are mainly to settle criminal cases and to resolve civil litigation as well as

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

. The administration and registration tasks of the court include death registration, issuing certain certificates, performing duties of a notary public, and officiating civil wedding ceremonies. Cases from this court are heard by a combination of professional judges and

lay judges A lay judge, sometimes called a lay assessor, is a person assisting a judge in a trial. Lay judges are used in some civil law jurisdictions. Lay judges are appointed volunteers and often require some legal instruction. However, they are not permane ...

. Oslo is the most frequent user of

interpreters Interpreting is a translational activity in which one produces a first and final target-language output on the basis of a one-time exposure to an expression in a source language. The most common two modes of interpreting are simultaneous interp ...

of all the courts in the country, accounting for about half the use of interpreters. The most frequent languages are

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, Somali and

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

. In 2007, 23% of all cases used interpreters. The court also has a witness support program in cooperation with Oslo Red Cross. Starting in 1999, the court initiated a court conciliation program to encourage

negotiation Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties to reach the desired outcome regarding one or more issues of conflict. It is an interaction between entities who aspire to agree on matters of mutual interest. The agreement c ...

s in civil cases. This allows the parties to find a middle ground they are both satisfied with, without creating winners and losers. At the same time, time and costs are reduced. In 2007, 18% of civil cases participated in the program, and of these 74% settled through the program.

History

This court was established on 1 January 1867 as the "Christiania byrett" (Christiania City Court). It was the first city court in the nation. When it was established, the old police court, fire court, and prison court for Christiania were abolished and merged into this new court, but the Christiania

Bailiff A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offi ...

's court remained in operation. The town bailiff was a judge that was appointed for certain towns to oversee certain matters. The district court covered all civil and criminal cases that were not covered by the town bailiff's court. The bailiff's court had jurisdiction over probate, bankruptcy, notary public, missing persons, some taxes, marriage, families, and other topics. In 1925, the city name was changed to Oslo, so both court names were adjusted accordingly. On 1 January 2002, the name was changed from Oslo City Court ( no, Oslo byrett) to Oslo District Court ( no, Oslo tingrett) as part of a national change in court names. On 26 April 2021, the sheriff's court (the last remaining of its kind in Norway) was merged with the Oslo district court, so that there was now only one

for the city/county of Oslo.

Courthouse

The court is located in

, located in the city center. The building opened in 1994, and also houses the urban district court judge. The

shared the building from 1994-2005 when moved to its own courthouse.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=February 2022 District courts of Norway Organisations based in Oslo 1867 establishments in Norway