Review of Supreme Court matters in 2024

Villu Kõve, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court:

It is not certain that the number of requests for proceedings received will continue to decrease, as we saw in 2019–2023. The number of administrative matters has increased dramatically. The economic downturn will likely lead to an increase in court cases in both civil and offence matters, but will also result in more tax disputes, for example. Unfortunately, the pace of work has not increased – despite the decrease in the number of cases. Things have certainly become more complicated, as the role of voluminous European Union law has grown.

Saale Laos, Chair of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court:

Criminologically, it is plausible that an economic recession has an effect on crime, for example, thefts increase, but also acts of violence as an expression of frustration and stress. The Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs confirms that registered crime has increased for the second year in a row.[5] However, this may not be reflected in the number of criminal and misdemeanour matters reaching the Supreme Court. There may be several reasons for this: 1) the delay involved in going through the first two instances of court; 2) the use of alternative procedural solutions instead of sending the criminal and misdemeanour matter to court.

The Yearbook of the Prosecutor’s Office 2023 shows that the number of proceedings terminated in the Prosecutor’s Office has consistently increased from 2019–2023, as has their share in the total number of procedural decisions. The share of referrals to court in all procedural decisions continues to decrease – in 2017, court referrals accounted for 71% of all procedural decisions, while in 2023, referrals of criminal files or indictments to court accounted for 47% of procedural decisions.[6]

Kaupo Paal, Chairman of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court:

The number of received civil matters is relatively stable. The number of matters received is significantly affected by how many matters are adjudicated on by the courts of first and second instance. At the same time, there are several areas where the Supreme Court must significantly contribute to shaping case law and creating clarity in the legal order, which could result in harmonising case law and reducing the number of appeals.

Ivo Pilving, Chairman of the Administrative Law Chamber of the Supreme Court:

In my conversations with chairmen of courts, I have understood that there is an increase in all types of cases in general. Prisoners who recently gained electronic access to court proceedings certainly had an effect on the statistics as well. Filing a complaint on a tablet is much easier than doing it on paper – just type it out and press “send” instead of having to get a sheet of paper, a pen, an envelope, and then write it by hand.

The economic situation definitely plays a role here, affecting various areas, such as social benefits and taxation. International developments (especially those related to Russia and Ukraine) that have led to the movement of foreigners also have an impact. True, by 2024, the larger wave caused by the war in Ukraine in its current state, as well as influences from Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (Belarusian forced migration), should be over (it mainly took place at the end of 2022 and in 2023).

In 2024, the workload of the Administrative Law Chamber of the Supreme Court could have been affected by the increase in cases (concerning taxes, foreigners, etc.) in the first and second instance in 2023.

In population matters, there is also an important nuance that in almost all cases of asylum and detention, there is a state legal aid lawyer provided who appeals regardless of whether there is a prospect for it or not – this is part of their duties.

Saale Laos, Chair of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court:

When the number of cases filed in the circuit court decreases, it is logical that the same trend is also reflected in the number of cases filed in the Supreme Court. For example, in 2024, the number of criminal and misdemeanour matters received by circuit courts decreased by 15% compared to the previous year, while the share of complaints in criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court decreased by 10%. According to the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs, in recent years, approximately 10% of county court decisions have been appealed to the circuit court. In misdemeanour cases, appeals to the Supreme Court are mostly filed against county court decisions due to the so-called “jumping cassation”. Statistics show that the number of misdemeanour cases in county courts is also declining.

Villu Kõve, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Chairman of the Constitutional Review Chamber:

Legal awareness in society is increasing. Therefore, there are also more complaints and new topics. However, complainants are recurring, especially in the case of election complaints, where only a couple of people account for a large portion of the complaint burden.

Different conclusions can be drawn from the large number of individual complaints. This could be either a gap in legal remedies, a distrust of the so‑called regular court process, that constitutional problems are not wanted to be adjudicated on there, or also so‑called fishing, consciously seeking new reasons to complain. It is a topic of discussion whether and how these complaints should be processed.

Saale Laos, Chair of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court:

What caused the increase in the need to open proceedings in 2024? It was caused by the complaints filed and the legal issues raised in them, or in some cases, the significant errors found outside the complaint in the lower court’s decisions. This year, one new topic that emerged was the release of foreign prisoners from their sentences if they agree to leave Estonia or be deported. In 2024, there was a relatively higher number of cassation appeals compared to appeals against orders. Presumably, a higher proportion of cassation appeals also means greater time expenditure.

Ivo Pilving, Chairman of the Administrative Law Chamber of the Supreme Court:

The sharp increase in preliminary procedure matters (almost 45%) and the need to decide on them within a reasonable time ultimately comes at the expense of something else, if the human resources required for the work are the same. Therefore, it is understandable why we did not manage to review as many matters in principal review last year as we would have liked.

Kaupo Paal, Chairman of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court:

Essentially, the need to accept a civil matter for proceedings is to create clarity in the legal system and make case law more uniform and predictable. We can expect that the number of issues requiring further development and clarification will remain at a comparable level in 2025.