The Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden ( sv, Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen, before 2011 ''Regeringsrätten'', acronym ''RR'' or ''RegR'') is the

supreme court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

and the third and final tier for

administrative court An administrative court is a type of court specializing in administrative law, particularly disputes concerning the exercise of public power. Their role is to ascertain that official acts are consistent with the law. Such courts are considered s ...

cases in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, and is located in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. It has a parallel status to that of the Supreme Court of Sweden (), which is the supreme court for criminal and civil law cases. It hears cases which have been decided by one of the four Administrative courts of appeal, which represent the second tier for administrative court cases in Sweden. Before a case can be decided, a leave to appeal must be obtained, which is typically only granted when the case is of interest as a

precedent A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...

. The bulk of its caseload consist of

taxation A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal person, legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regiona ...

and

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

cases. Justices of the Supreme Administrative Court ( sv, justitieråd) are appointed by

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

, but the court as an institution is independent of the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

, and the government is not able to interfere with the decisions of the court. By law, there shall be fourteen Justices of the Supreme Administrative Court or such a higher a number as may be required, at the government's discretion. As of 2009, there were eighteen Justices in the court. One of the Justices serves as president and head of the court, and is appointed by the government to this function. Since 2018, justice

Helena Jäderblom Helena Jäderblom (born 16 October 1958) is a Swedish jurist and civil servant. From 2012 to 2018, she was a judge at the European Court of Human Rights. Since 2018, Jäderblom is president of Sweden's Supreme Administrative Court. Born in Gothen ...

serves as the court's president. In total the court has approximately 100 employees.

History

The court was founded in 1909. Before that, the Supreme Court of Sweden handed administrative court matters as well. From 1972 until 2009, the Supreme Administrative Court resided in the

Stenbock Palace The Stenbock family is an old Swedish noble family, of which one younger branch established itself in Finland and another younger branch in Estonia, both of them in the mid 18th century, of which the first was entered into the rolls of the Finnis ...

on the

Riddarholmen Riddarholmen (, "The Knights' Islet") is a small islet in central Stockholm, Sweden. The island forms part of Gamla Stan, the old town, and houses a number of private palaces dating back to the 17th century. The main landmark is the church Riddarh ...

islet in central

. Since 2011 the court sits in Kammarrättens hus (the former Administrative Court of Appeal Building) and the

Sparre Palace Sparre (variously spelled ''Sperra, Sper, Spar'') is a Scandinavian surname - originally borne by a noble family - and can refer to: * Aage Jepsen Sparre, Danish priest * Arvid Gustavsson Sparre (1245 - 1317), Lord of Ekholmen, Sweden * Axel Spa ...

on Riddarholmen.

Presidents of the Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden

Originally, there were no regulations on the presidency of the Supreme Administrative Court. According to practice, the senior member of the post served as chair when the court met in

plenary session A plenary session or plenum is a session of a conference which all members of all parties are to attend. Such a session may include a broad range of content, from keynotes to panel discussions, and is not necessarily related to a specific styl ...

, and the second oldest served as department chair. In its report of 1966, the Administrative Court Committee (''Förvaltningsdomstolskommittén'') proposed a new order, in which the President of the Supreme Administrative Court (as well as the chair of a section of the Supreme Administrative Court) was appointed by the

King in Council The King-in-Council or the Queen-in-Council, depending on the gender of the reigning monarch, is a constitutional term in a number of states. In a general sense, it would mean the monarch exercising executive authority, usually in the form of ap ...

. This became a reality in the Administrative Process Reform (''Förvaltningsprocessreformen'') in 1972. In the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, the corresponding reform had been implemented in 1946.''Förvaltningsrättsskipning: betänkande av förvaltningsdomstolskommittén'', SOU 1966:70, p. 334f * 1972–1972: Nils Lorichs * 1972–1975: Olov Hegrelius * 1975–1980: Carl Åbjörnsson * 1980–1987: Bengt Wieslander * 1987–1990: Bengt Hamdahl * 1990–1994:

Magnus Sjöberg Karl Gustaf Magnus Sjöberg (born 26 September 1927) is a Swedish jurist. He served as the Prosecutor-General of Sweden from 1978 to 1989 and as President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden from 1990 to 1994. Early life Sjöberg was b ...

* 1994–1996: Göran Wahlgren * 1996–2000: Gunnar Björne * 2000–2005:

Hans Ragnemalm Hans Olof Ragnemalm (30 March 1940 – 7 August 2016) was a Swedish lawyer, judge, and professor emeritus of public law. Ragnemalm became Professor of Public Law at Lund University, and later Professor of Public Law and Dean of the Law Faculty a ...

* 2005–2007: Rune Lavin * 2007–2010:

Sten Heckscher Sten Heckscher (born 29 July 1942) is a Swedish lawyer and Social Democratic politician. He graduated with a degree in law from Uppsala University. Even though his father was leader of what later became the Moderate Party, Heckscher himself enga ...

* 2011–2018: Mats Melin * 2018–present:

References

{{Authority control Courts in Sweden

Administrative courts