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Composition
and structure
Number of
members :
The number of Judges of the Supreme Court is decided upon by the
Judicial Council. There are to be 37 Judges (not including the President
of the Court). In addition, there are also 10 judges of District
and County (i.e. first instance) courts assigned to work at the
Supreme Court. Their number and individual assignments are decided
upon by the Judicial Council as well. Some of these judges perform
duties similar to those of law clerks for various panels of the
Supreme Court (but do not participate in pronouncing on matters
falling within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court). Others work
at the Registry Department of the Supreme Court as legal experts
specialised in the field of keeping records of judicial practice.
There are 12 judges appointed to the Administrative Review Department.
Recruitment
procedures and incompatibilities :
The decision to elect or promote a judge to the post of Judge of
the Supreme Court is taken by the National Assembly at the proposal
of the Judicial Council. They can be dismissed from judicial service
on strictly limited grounds (the same as for other judges) by the
National Assembly.
The President of the Supreme Court is appointed - and can be dismissed
- by the National Assembly at the proposal of the Minister of Justice
after his/her receiving prior opinion of the Judicial Council and
the Supreme Court "en banc". His/her dismissal as the
President of the Supreme Court, however, has no bearing on the status,
rights, duties and accountability which he/she has as a judge. The
appointment and dismissal of the Vice-President of the Supreme Court
is regulated in the same way.
The independence
of the Supreme Court is safeguarded in the same way as that of the
lower courts. The way in which the President and Vice-President
of the Supreme Court are appointed represents an additional safeguard
of the independence of the Supreme Court from the executive power
(the Ministry of Justice, i.e. the government). The presidents of
other courts are appointed by the Minister of Justice from amongst
three candidates, proposed to him/her by the Judicial Council -
and can be dismissed by the Minister of Justice upon receiving prior
opinion of the Judicial Council.
The independence of Judges of the Supreme Court is safeguarded in
the same way as that of other judges, with only one additional safeguard:
the disciplinary measure of transfer to a court one level lower
may not be taken against a Judge of the Supreme Court.
Internal
organization :
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia has seven departments:
- Criminal Department,
- Civil Department,
- Commercial Lawsuits Department,
- Labour and Social Security Disputes Department,
- Administrative Review Department,
- Registry Department and
- Department for International Cooperation.
Publications:
The Registry Department ensures publication of the Supreme Court
decisions (currently from Civil, Commercial Lawsuits, and Labour
and Social Security Disputes Departments), legal opinions of the
Supreme Court and some training materials.
Internally,
a publication named Sodnikov informator (Judicial Bulletin) is published,
providing fast, accurate and cheap information to judges and partly
also to other staff. Decisions of the semi-annual "en banc"
sessions of the Supreme Court are published in Pravna mnenja (Legal
Opinions), a newsletter which is distributed (and priced on at-cost
basis) to all the judges, other institutions of the legal system
(State Prosecutor's Offices, Chamber of Law) and individual subscribers.
All publications, except for Judicial Bulletin, are publicly available:
Legal Opinions through the Registry Department and other compilations
of court decisions through Gospodarski Vestnik publishing house.
The judgments pronounced after 1992 are published on the internet.
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Court
functions
Jurisdiction
:
The Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in the state.
It functions primarily as a court of cassation. It is a court of
appellate jurisdiction in criminal and civil cases, in commercial
lawsuits, in cases of administrative review and in labour and social
security disputes. It is the court of the third instance in almost
all the cases within its jurisdiction. The grounds of appeal to
the Supreme Court (defined as extraordinary legal remedies in Slovenian
procedural laws) are therefore limited to issues of substantive
law and to the most severe breaches of procedure.
Apart from administering
justice (reviewing cases in its jurisdiction), the Supreme Court
also determines most cases of disputes over jurisdiction between
lower courts, grants the transfer of jurisdiction to another court
in cases provided by law, and keeps records of the judicial practice
of courts.
The Supreme
Court can exercise inside inspection of lower instance courts' activities
which are not related to the administration of justice. These inspections
are focused on gathering information about practice in the application
of legislation, problems which arise during the proceedings and
other data important for functioning of the courts. Thus, the Supreme
Court is authorised to demand to be given insight into the work
of a lower court, and the President of the Supreme Court can demand
relevant information about application of the law, and insight into
individual files. Generally, this authorisation is limited to cases
already closed.
Organization
of the courts system :
The uniform judicial system of the Republic of Slovenia includes
courts of general and specialised jurisdiction, the latter having
jurisdiction only in the fields of labour and social law and administrative
law.
There
are four levels of the courts of general jurisdiction:
1. 44 local courts are courts of the first instance and are
vested
- with jurisdiction over less serious criminal cases;
- civil cases concerning claims for damages or property rights up
to a certain value;
- all civil cases concerning disturbance of possession, easement
of real burdens, hire, lease or tenancy relations;
- the legal obligation to maintenance if the disputes are not dealt
with in conjunction with marriage disputes or disputes over the
establishment or contestation of fatherhood;
- probate and other non-litigious matters; keeping of land registers;
civil enforcement.
2.
11 district courts are courts of the first instance as well. They
are vested with jurisdiction
- over criminal and civil cases which exceed the jurisdiction of
county courts;
- juvenile criminal cases;
- execution of criminal sentences;
- trial of, or consideration of the permission for, violations of
human rights and fundamental freedoms;
- family disputes, excepting maintenance disputes;
- confirmation of rulings of a foreign court; commercial disputes;
- bankruptcy, forced settlements and liquidation;
- copyright and intellectual property cases;
- keeping of the company register.
3. 4 higher courts are courts of appellate jurisdiction.
In addition to determination of appeals against decisions of the
county and district courts in their territories, they also determine
disputes of jurisdiction between county and district courts.
4. The Supreme Court, as the highest court in the state.
There are also four specialised courts of the first instance. They
are competent for determination of labour disputes, and one of them
also for determination of social security disputes. They share a
common court of appeal.
The Administrative Court of the Republic of Slovenia has the status
of a higher court.
Procedure
:
The administrative judicial system is organised on two levels. First
instance decisions in administrative disputes as a rule come under
the jurisdiction of the Administrative Court of the Republic of
Slovenia as a specialised court. The Supreme Court may rule on administrative
disputes of first instance only in the cases concerning elections
for the Presidency of the Republic, the National Assembly, the National
Council or the Government. The Supreme Court is also competent with
regard to deceisions issued in the form of regulation and regulating
individual relations, if issued by state bodies or holders of public
authorisations at the national level.
In the second instance, decisions in administrative disputes are
always made by the Supreme Court. It also rules on disputes over
jurisdiction.
Powers of the judge (annulment, reversal compensation, etc.)
:
Annulment of the judgement or vary a judgement of a lower court
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Advisory
functions
None
Miscellaneous
remarks
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