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 th ...

, the district court ( no, tingrett, literally "

thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuse ...

court") is the first court instance, and handles both

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

and civil cases. The chief judge of a district court is the chief district judge ( no, sorenskriver). The ruling of the district court may be

appeal 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 ...

ed to the next level of court, the

court 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 ...

, and the court of appeal's ruling may in turn be appealed to 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 ...

, but only in select cases of precedential relevance admitted by the supreme court. Thus the vast majority of court cases are decided on by the district court or the court of appeal. The term ''tingrett'' for the district courts was introduced in 2002, replacing the previous terms city court (''byrett'') and district court (''herredsrett''). Historically the district courts outside the cities were known as ''sorenskriveri'' (office of a ''sorenskriver''), and consisted of a single (chief) district judge and often one or two assistant judges. The district usually included multiple parishes/municipalities, and the district judge was typically the highest state official within his jurisdiction, with an almost all-encompassing area of jurisdiction and an important role in the regional state administration.

Criminal cases

Since August 1995, all criminal cases which go to court are tried at the district court first. Prior to this, the most serious cases were tried in the

Court 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 ...

(''lagmannsrett''). Regular trials are usually held before a panel of three judges, one professional and two

lay Lay may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada *Lay, Loire, a French commune * Lay (river), France *Lay, Iran, a village * Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community People * Lay (surname) ...

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility ...

s. In particularly difficult cases the bench may consist of five judges (two professional and three lay judges). Verdicts and sentences are determined by a majority vote, with the lay judges' votes counting the same as the professional judge. If there is a full confession, and the defendant agrees to it, the trial may be held before a single professional judge who hears the case and determines sentencing.

Civil cases

The district court is the second tier in most civil cases, the first tier being the conciliation board (''forliksråd''). Certain cases cannot be held at the conciliation board, including family law, patent and trademark issues, cases against the authorities, and cases where an independent complaints committee has issued an opinion. In addition, larger cases where both sides are representad by attorneys, and other cases where extrajudicial mediation have taken place, may bypass the conciliation board and go straight to the district court. The district court also hears appeals from the conciliation board. Civil cases are normally held before a single professional judge, but either side can demand two lay judges be seated as well. In some cases the law demands that there be two lay judges with competence in the subject matter. In 2021, there are 23 district courts in Norway.

References

{{Courts of Norway Law of Norway Courts in Norway