The Hålogaland Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

, and

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

as well as the island territories of

Jan Mayen Jan Mayen () is a Norway, Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: la ...

and

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

. These areas constitute the judicial district of Hålogaland (), which has nearly a half a million residents. This court can rule on both civil and criminal cases that are appealed from one of its subordinate district courts. Court decisions can be, to a limited extent, appealed to the Supreme Court of Norway. The court has 16 full-time judges plus a number of other support staff members (as of 2015). The chief judicial officer of the court () is currently Monica Hansen Nylund. The court is administered by the Norwegian National Courts Administration. Because of the great distances both at land and at sea in Northern Norway, the Court deals with many cases related to fishery and land rights. Northern Norway is also where the "three peoples" meet (

Norwegians Norwegians () are an ethnic group and nation native to Norway, where they form the vast majority of the population. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegians are descended from the Norsemen, Norse of the Early ...

, Samis, and Kvens). The cultural variations demand bigger efforts of the Court's judges, among other the ability to understand different ways of living and thinking. Also lingual variations represent a challenge.

Location

The Court has its seat in

, the capital of Troms county and the largest city in

Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

( Hålogaland). Additionally, the Court permanently sits in the towns of Bodø (the capital of Nordland county and the second largest city in Northern Norway) and Mosjøen (also in Nordland county). The Court may also sit in other places within its jurisdiction as needed. Hålogaland lagmannsrett.jpg, The Courthouse in

Justisbygget Mosjoeen.jpg, The Building of Justice in Mosjøen

Jurisdiction

This court accepts appeals from all of the district courts from its geographic jurisdiction. This court is divided into judicial regions () and there is one or more district courts () that belongs to each of these regions.

History

During the Middle Ages, the old Thing of Hålogaland met at Steigen in Nordland county. This assembly was dissolved in 1797 and after that time, Hålogaland was part of the diocesan court in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

. On 1 January 1890, the Hålogaland District Court was established with its main court in the city of

References

External links

Hålogaland Court of Appeals
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haalogaland Court of Appeal Courts of appeal of Norway 1890 establishments in Norway Organisations based in Tromsø Courts and tribunals established in 1890