The Supreme Tribunal of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Vyriausiasis Tribunolas) was the highest court in

interwar Lithuania The history of Lithuania dates back to settlements founded many thousands of years ago, but the first written record of the name for the country dates back to 1009 AD. Lithuanians, one of the Balts, Baltic peoples, later conquered neighboring la ...

. Officially established in December 1918, the court held its first proceedings in August 1919. Initially, it served as an appeals court for cases first decided by the district courts. Its competency was steadily expanded to encompass cases referred from the Army Court in July 1919,

cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...

cases from the

justices of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

in June 1921, cases from the

Klaipėda Region The Klaipėda Region ( lt, Klaipėdos kraštas) or Memel Territory (german: Memelland or ''Memelgebiet'') was defined by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in 1920 and refers to the northernmost part of the German province of East Prussia, when as ...

(Memelland) in 1923, and certain functions of an

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 ...

. The judicial reform in 1933 created a new

appeals court 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 t ...

leaving the Supreme Tribunal with functions of a court of cassation and an administrative court. Its main task was to interpret and consistently apply the laws. The tribunal handled some controversial high-profile cases, including the case of Prime Minister

Augustinas Voldemaras Augustinas Voldemaras (16 April 1883 – 16 May 1942) was a Lithuanian nationalist political figure. He briefly served as the country's first prime minister in 1918 and continued serving as the minister of foreign affairs until 1920, representing ...

and corruption cases of Prime Minister

Vytautas Petrulis Vytautas Petrulis (born February 3, 1890 in Katelišės, near Vabalninkas; executed in 1942, near Uchta, RSFSR) was a Lithuanian politician, one of the main figures in the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party, and an accountant. He is often n ...

and Minister of Foreign Affairs

Juozas Purickis Juozas Purickis (sometimes Juozas Puryckis; often used pen name Vygandas; 1883–1934) was a prominent diplomat and journalist in interwar Lithuania and served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from June 1920 to December 1921, as well as the ac ...

. The court was abolished and replaced by the Supreme Court of the

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; lt, Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika; russian: Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialistiche ...

in September 1940. The tribunal was briefly resurrected during the

German occupation of Lithuania The military occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany lasted from the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 to the end of the Battle of Memel on January 28, 1945. At first the Germans were widely welcomed as liberators from the re ...

. Generally, the court proceedings were presided by a panel of three judges. The judges were nominated by the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

and confirmed by the

President of Lithuania The President of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Prezidentas) is the head of state of Lithuania. The officeholder has been Gitanas Nausėda since 12 July 2019. Powers The president has somewhat more executive authority tha ...

. As the membership of the court grew very slowly (a third judge was added only in June 1921 and the fourth in July 1923) while the number of cases grew significantly, the court frequently invited district judges and even sworn attorneys to the bench. The practice was abolished by the reform in 1933 which set the number of tribunal judges at 15. The court was chaired by Antanas Kriščiukaitis (1918–1933) and Liudas Ciplijauskas (1934–1940). Other notable members included

Michał Pius Römer Michał Pius Römer (later using the Lithuanian form Mykolas Römeris) (1880 in :lt:Bagdoniškis, Bagdoniškis – 1945 in Vilnius) was a Polish-Lithuanian identity, Lithuanian-Polish Law of Lithuania, lawyer, scientist and politician. Biograp ...

and

Silvestras Leonas Silvestras Leonas (1894–1959) was a Lithuanian military officer. After serving in the Russian Imperial Army during World War I, Leonas joined the Lithuanian Army and fought in the Lithuanian Wars of Independence. He completed law studies at t ...

Establishment and liquidation

The

Council of Lithuania The Council of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Taryba, german: Litauischer Staatsrat, pl, Rada Litewska), after July 11, 1918 the State Council of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Valstybės Taryba) was convened at the Vilnius Conference that took place betwe ...

declared independence of Lithuania in February 1918, but was unable to take control of the country due to the continued presence of German

Ober Ost , short for ( "Supreme Commander of All German Forces in the East"), was both a high-ranking position in the armed forces of the German Empire as well as the name given to the occupied territories on the German section of the Eastern Front of ...

officials and military. After the

Armistice of 11 November 1918 The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...

, the Council adopted a temporary law on the court system in Lithuania on 28 November. After the temporary constitution, it was the second law to be adopted and was in effect until 1933. The law established a three-tier court system with the Supreme Tribunal based in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

at the top. Antanas Kriščiukaitis was appointed as the chairman of the tribunal on 10 December and was supposed to take over the German courts on 15 December, but the plans were interrupted by the outbreak of the

Lithuanian–Soviet War The Lithuanian–Soviet War or Lithuanian–Bolshevik War ( lt, karas su bolševikais) was fought between Act of Independence of Lithuania, newly independent Lithuania and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian Socialist Feder ...

. The Lithuanian government evacuated from Vilnius to

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

. Kriščiukaitis remained in Vilnius until he was recalled to Kaunas in June 1919. The second judge, Augustinas Janulaitis, was appointed to the tribunal on 16 May. The court held its first proceeding on 2 August 1919. After the

Soviet occupation of Lithuania The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were invaded and occupied in June 1940 by the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Stalin and auspices of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that had been signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet ...

in June 1940, the tribunal was reduced to two members and officially liquidated on 26 September 1940 by a decree of the

Council of People's Commissars The Councils of People's Commissars (SNK; russian: Совет народных комиссаров (СНК), ''Sovet narodnykh kommissarov''), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (Совнарком), were the highest executive authorities of ...

. It was replaced by the Supreme Court of the Lithuanian SSR. After the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

in June 1941, the

Provisional Government of Lithuania The Provisional Government of Lithuania ( lt, Laikinoji Vyriausybė) was a temporary government aiming for independent Lithuania during the last days of the first Soviet occupation and the first months of German Nazi occupation in 1941. It w ...

ordered reestablishment of the pre-Soviet court system. Liudas Ciplijauskas, former chairman of the tribunal, was ordered to resurrect the Supreme Tribunal on 4 July 1941. The tribunal with three judges (Ciplijauskas, , and ) started its work, but it was effectively disbanded on 14 February 1942 when officials of the

Reichskommissariat Ostland The Reichskommissariat Ostland (RKO) was established by Nazi Germany in 1941 during World War II. It became the civilian occupation regime in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the western part of Byelorussian SSR. German planning documents initia ...

did not sanction its continued work (other Lithuanian courts were allowed to function).

Competency

Initially, the tribunal was limited to acting as an appeals court for cases that were first decided by the district courts (the cases decided by

and appealed to the district courts were not appealable to the tribunal). Due to difficult economic situation and lack of educated jurists, Lithuania did not have a separate

court of cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...

and it was hoped that since there is only one Supreme Tribunal for the entire country it could also handle the function of law interpretation. In July 1919, the tribunal became a court of cassation for cases referred from the Army Court (until 1928, some political cases from the Army Court could also be reviewed for the facts of the case). With the ongoing

Lithuanian Wars of Independence The Lithuanian Wars of Independence, also known as the Freedom Struggles ( lt, Laisvės kovos), refer to three wars Lithuania fought defending its independence at the end of World War I: with Bolshevik forces (December 1918 – August 1919), Berm ...

(ended in November 1920) and the continued

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

(lifted only in November 1939), the Army Court was very active. In 1920–1929, the tribunal handled 854 cases from the Army Court (152 appeals and 702 cassations). In June 1921, the competency of the tribunal was expanded to act as a court of cassation for cases decided by the justices of the peace and appealed to the district courts. After the

(Memelland) was incorporated as an autonomous region of Lithuania in 1923, the tribunal was tasked with handling the cases from the region. However, they needed to be presided by a majority of judges who were selected from the Klaipėda

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

s and who received lifetime appointments from the

. The first such members were Friedrich Plümicke and Anton Hesse. Until 1933, when they were moved to Kaunas, proceedings related to the cases from the

took place mostly in

Klaipėda Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuan ...

(Memel). Until 1932, the tribunal handled about 2,000 cases related to the region. The competency of the tribunal was further expanded by assigning certain functions to an

. For example, it could hear complaints regarding the implementation of the land reform of 1922 or decrees of ministers or country governors related to municipal matters. The judicial reform adopted in July 1933 created a new appeals court leaving the tribunal as the court of cassation for cases handled by the district courts, new appeals court, Army Court, and courts of the Klaipėda Region. In addition, the tribunal was tasked with the administrative and magistrate disciplinary cases from the Klaipėda Region, criminal cases that

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendmen ...

could bring against members of the government or the President, and cases that were specifically enumerated in other laws. By 1938, the number of such laws that assigned various administrative cases to the tribunal grew to about 60. After the reform in 1933, the tribunal was divided into three sections: criminal law, civil law, and Klaipėda Region. No separate section was established for the military cases, but their proceedings had to include a tribunal member specifically selected for a three-year term from the military judges. The Klaipėda section was closed when Lithuania lost the region after the German ultimatum of March 1939. Further, the reform officially recognized the general meetings of the tribunal's members. The meeting, which needed a

quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...

of at least two-thirds of all tribunal judges, could interpret and rule on laws that were inconsistently applied by various courts. It was also the only institution for resolving jurisdictional disputes. The issues could be brought up by the Minister of Justice or by the chairman of the tribunal; the tribunal judges could also initiate a general meeting if they felt that a previous case or decision needed to be overturned. The reform also established a disciplinary court for judges and a commission for judges' examination under the jurisdiction of the tribunal.

Cases

In the first post-war years, the court managed to complete relatively few cases a year as it lacked judges. Its workload continued to grow as its competencies were expanded. The number of cases stabilized after the separate appeals court was established in 1933. In 1927, about 6.5% of cases from Kaunas district were appealed to the Supreme Tribunal. The tribunal handled some controversial high-profile cases, including corruption cases of Prime Minister

and Minister of Foreign Affairs

, case of Prime Minister

(1932), as well as the murder charges against priest Konstantinas Olšauskas and slander charges against

Jonas Šliūpas Jonas Šliūpas (6 March 1861 – 6 November 1944) was a prominent and prolific Lithuanian activist during the Lithuanian National Revival. For 35 years, he lived in the United States working to build national consciousness of Lithuanian America ...

. The tribunal had to deal with the fact that Lithuania inherited four different sets of laws that, unless replaced by a new law, continued to be in effect. For example, four different

civil code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property, family, and obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdictions with a civil code, a number of the core ar ...

s were in effect in Lithuania: Volume 10 of the

Digest of Laws of the Russian Empire The Digest of Laws of the Russian Empire (Russian: ''Свод законов Российской империи'', pre-1917 Russian: ''Сводъ законовъ Россійской имперіи'') was the code of penal and civil law in the R ...

was in effect in most of Lithuania, the

Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

and other French laws in

Suvalkija Suvalkija or Sudovia ( lt, Suvalkija or ''Sūduva'') is the smallest of the five cultural regions of Lithuania. Its unofficial capital is Marijampolė. People from Suvalkija (Suvalkijans, Suvalkians) are called (plural) or (singular) in Lithu ...

, the

German Civil Code German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

in the

, and the of the

Baltic Governorates The Baltic governorates (russian: Прибалтийские губернии), originally the Ostsee governorates (german: Ostseegouvernements, russian: Остзейские губернии), was a collective name for the administrative units ...

Palanga Palanga (; bat-smg, Palonga; pl, Połąga; german: Polangen) is a seaside resort town in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest summer resort in Lithuania and has sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long ...

and small areas near

Zarasai Zarasai () is a city in northeastern Lithuania, surrounded by many lakes and rivers: to the southwest of the city is Lake Zarasas, to the north – Lake Zarasaitis, to the southeast – Lake Baltas, and the east – Lake Griežtas. Lakes Zaras ...

. Independent Lithuania did not manage to adopt a new civil or criminal code. Since old Russians laws were still in effect in most of Lithuania, the decisions and rulings of the Russian

Governing Senate The Governing Senate (russian: Правительствующий сенат, Pravitelstvuyushchiy senat) was a legislative, judicial, and executive body of the Russian Emperors, instituted by Peter the Great to replace the Boyar Duma and last ...

were widely cited and used in practice even though the Lithuanian tribunal ruled in 1923 that such decisions were equal to a personal opinion of a jurist. In July 1920, the tribunal ruled that all legal proceedings need to be conducted in the

Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( ) is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the official language of Lithuania and one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.8 millio ...

. It elicited a number of complaints from Russian-speaking attorneys and judges. Later, an exception was made for cases from the Klaipėda Region that could also be conducted in German. There was no official publication of the court's decisions. Chairman Kriščiukaitis published summary reviews of the proceedings in journal ''Teisė'' (Law) that he edited. He edited 23 issues of ''Teisė'' and prepared 18 reviews. After his death in 1933, the reviews ceased. Several unofficial collections of tribunal's decisions were published by various authors. The judicial reform in 1933 mandated that the proceedings were published. They were published as a supplement to ''Teisė''. In total, ''Teisė'' published about half of the tribunal's decisions and rulings – approximately 5,000 documents: 1,500 criminal cases, 2,800 civil cases, and 450 resolutions of the tribunal's general meetings.

Membership

The judges were nominated by the

and confirmed by the

. The tribunal's proceedings were supposed to be presided by three judges. The first two members, chairman Antanas Kriščiukaitis and Augustinas Janulaitis, were appointed in December 1918 and May 1919. The tribunal had to invite judges from district courts to attend the proceedings until the third member,

, was appointed in June 1921. The fourth judge was added in July 1923, two special judges were added in 1924 to handle cases related to the Klaipėda Region, and three judges were added in 1926. However, the workload increased faster than the number of tribunal judges – the number of cases per judge grew tenfold from 65 in 1920 to 659 in 1925, while the number of completed cases declined from 88% to 62% in the same period. Therefore, the court continued to invite district judges and even sworn attorneys to the bench. The practice was abolished during the reforms of 1933. The tribunal valued its independence and resisted political appointments. In 1922, Minister of Justice wanted to appoint the fourth judge, but members of the tribunal protested and threatened to resign if the minister pushed his candidate through. In 1925, Minister

Antanas Tumėnas Antanas Tumėnas (13 May 1880 in Kurkliečiai, near Rokiškis – 8 February 1946 in Bachmanning, Austria) was a Lithuanian politician, teacher, professor of law, judge, Prime Minister of Lithuania in the 10th cabinet, Chairman of the Supreme Com ...

reassigned Janulaitis from the tribunal to the district count in

Panevėžys Panevėžys (; Latin: ''Panevezen''; pl, Poniewież; yi, פּאָנעװעזש, ''Ponevezh''; see also other names) is the fifth largest city in Lithuania. As of 2011, it occupied with 113,653 inhabitants. As defined by Eurostat, the population ...

. Tumėnas was served an interpellation and was questioned why he made the appointments without Janulaitis' request or consent as dictated by the Russian laws that Lithuania inherited. By 1933, the tribunal had 16 judges appointed; during the same time, four were reassigned or resigned. The reforms of 1933 set the number of tribunal members to 15, which was increased to 17 in 1938. After the death of Kriščiukaitis in October 1933, Liudas Ciplijauskas became the new chairman. The civil section was headed by Motiejus Čepas and Simanas Petrauskas, the criminal section was headed by Juozas Brazaitis, the Klaipėda section was headed by Jonas Staškevičius, Martynas Bruzdeilinas, and Jonas Danauskas. The military judges were Vladas Mieželis and Julius Matulevičius. In early 1940, the tribunal had 16 judges: Liudas Ciplijauskas, Simanas Petrauskas, Juozas Brazaitis, Petras Adomavičius, Saliamonas Baltūsis, J. Boreika, Martynas Brazdeilinas, Česlovas Butkys, Juozas Grigaitis,

, Mykolas Mataitis, Julius Matulevičius, Napoleonas Morkvėnas, Jonas Staškevičius, Aleksas Vaitonis, A. Vilčinskas.

References

{{reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite journal , first=Voldemaras , last=Bumblys , title=Antanas Kriščiukaitis - Vyriausiojo Lietuvos tribunolo pirmininkas , url=https://www3.mruni.eu/ojs/jurisprudence/article/view/1758/1644 , journal=Jurisprudencija , issn=2029-2058 , issue=112 , volume=10 , year=2008 , pages=33–40 , language=lt {{cite thesis , first=Voldemaras , last=Bumblys , title=Lietuvos teisinė kultūra ir Antano Kriščiukaičio indėlis , type=Ph.D. thesis , publisher=Mykolas Romeris University , year=2012 , language=lt , page=139 , url=https://vb.mruni.eu/object/elaba:1887810/1887810.pdf , isbn=978-9955-19-456-9 {{cite book , first=Juozas , last=Jakštas , title= Dr. Jonas Šliūpas , year=1979 , publisher=Akademinės skautijos leidykla , location=Chicago , oclc=5223546 , language=lt , page=255 {{cite journal , first=Rytis , last=Jokubauskas , title=Teisminis precedentas Lietuvos teisinėje sistemoje 1918–1940 metais , url=https://www3.mruni.eu/ojs/jurisprudence/article/view/3079/2880 , issue=67 , volume=59 , year=2005 , language=lt , journal=Jurisprudencija , issn=2029-2058 , pages=129–131 {{cite journal , first=Martynas , last=Kavolis , title=Teismo reformos reikalingumas , url=https://www.epaveldas.lt/recordImageSmall/LNB/C1B0003846283?exId=66310&seqNr=4 , language=lt , journal=

Lietuvos aidas ''Lietuvos aidas'' (literally: ''Echo of Lithuania'') is a daily newspaper in Lithuania. It was established on September 6, 1917 by Antanas Smetona, and became the semi-official voice of the newly formed Lithuanian government. When the government ...

, date=24 July 1928 , volume=140 , issue=354 , page=4 {{cite journal , first=Mindaugas , last=Maksimaitis , issue=21 , volume=2 , year=2014 , title=Lietuvos Vyriausiasis Tribunolas XX amžiuje , url=https://www3.mruni.eu/ojs/jurisprudence/article/view/2262/2071 , language=lt , journal=Jurisprudencija, issn=2029-2058 , pages=441–456 , doi=10.13165/JUR-14-21-2-06, doi-access=free {{cite book , first=Vida , last=Pukienė , title=Prelatas Konstantinas Olšauskas: visuomenės veikėjo tragedija , url=http://gs.elaba.lt/object/elaba:4345500/4345500.pdf , isbn=978-9955-20-884-6 , year=2013 , publisher=Edukologija , page=175 {{cite journal , first1=Simona , last1=Selelionytė-Drukteinienė , first2=Vaidas , last2=Jurkevičius , first3=Thomas , last3=Kadner Graziano , url=https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:44668/ATTACHMENT01 , title=The Impact of the Comparative Method on Lithuanian Private Law , journal= European Review of Private Law , year=2013 , volume=4 , issn=0928-9801 , pages=965–966 {{cite journal , first=Alvydas , last=Umbrasas , url=http://etalpykla.lituanistikadb.lt/fedora/get/LT-LDB-0001:J.04~2002~1367181780619/DS.002.0.01.ARTIC , title=Lietuvos Respublikoje (1918-1940) veikusio "Baudžiamojo statuto" vertimų teisės terminijos skirtybės , journal=Terminologija , issn=1392-267X , year=2002 , volume=9 , page=92 , language=lt {{cite encyclopedia, first1=Mindaugas , last1=Maksimaitis , first2=Vytautas , last2=Pakalniškis , encyclopedia=

Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija The ''Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija'' or VLE (translation ''Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia'') is a 25-volume universal Lithuanian-language encyclopedia published by the Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute from 2001 to 2014. VL ...

, title=Civilinis kodeksas , date=2003-08-06 , url=https://www.vle.lt/Straipsnis/civilinis-kodeksas-61123 , language=lt , access-date=5 July 2019 1918 establishments in Lithuania 1940 disestablishments in Lithuania Legal history of Lithuania Judiciary of Lithuania Former supreme courts Courts and tribunals established in 1918 Courts and tribunals disestablished in 1940