The Frostating Court of Appeal ( no, Frostating lagmannsrett) is one of six courts of appeal 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

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. The court has jurisdiction over the counties 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 Denma ...

and Møre og Romsdal. These areas constitute the Frostating judicial district ( no, Frostating 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, w ...

. There are 19 permanent judges on this court. The chief judicial officer of the court ( no, førstelagmann) is currently Sven-Jørgen Lindsetmo. 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 interfer ...

Location

The Court has its seat in the city of

, the largest city in

Central Norway Central Norway ( nb, Midt-Norge, nn, Midt-Noreg) is an informal region of Norway that is not clearly defined. The term ''Central Norway'' may in its most limited usage refer only to Trøndelag county, but may also be understood to include all or ...

. Additionally, the Court permanently sits in the towns of

Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrativ ...

, Molde, and

Kristiansund Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of ...

. 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 Frostating court stems back to the traditional

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 ...

called the

Frostating The Frostating was an early Norwegian court. It was one of the four major Thing (assembly), Things in medieval Norway. The Frostating had its seat at Tinghaugen in what is now the municipality of Frosta in Trøndelag county, Norway. The name ...

that was created in the mid-10th century. The current court was transformed from an assembly to a court during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. These courts have changed their names and locations over time and became pawns in the

absolute monarchy Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism (European history), Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute pow ...

. The old Frostating was dissolved in 1797, and a new court of appeal in Trondheim took its place. In 1890, a new law took effect that created several new courts of appeal across Norway. On 1 January 1890 the Frostating Court of Appeal was established, hut it did not last long. In 1892, some courts were consolidated. The

area became part of the new Eidsiva- og Frostating Court of Appeal and the Møre og Romsdal area became part of the

Gulating Court of Appeal The Gulating Court of Appeal ( no, Gulating lagmannsrett) is one of six Court of appeal (Norway), courts of appeal in the Norway, Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Bergen (city), Bergen. The court has jurisdiction over the cou ...

. In 1908, the court jurisdictions were re-arranged again and

was moved to the Gulating Court of Appeal and at the same time, that court was renamed the Gula- og Frostating Court of Appeal. On 1 July 1936, that court was divided into the present

(including Rogaland,

Hordaland 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 Munici ...

, and

Sogn og Fjordane 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 cou ...

in the south) and the present Frostating Court of Appeal (including

and Møre og Romsdal in the north).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frostating Court Of Appeal Courts of appeal of Norway Organisations based in Trondheim 1890 establishments in Norway 1892 disestablishments in Norway 1936 establishments in Norway Courts and tribunals established in 1936