Judges.
Number
of judges.
The Supreme Court is served by a Chief Justice (Justitiarius)
and 17 judges. Attached to the High Court are 84 judges
(lagdommere), while 238 judges (embetsdommere) and 156
deputy judges (dommerfullmektiger) are employed at the
District and City Courts.
Appointment
and qualifications.
The King in Council appoints all judges upon the recommendation
of the Ministry of Justice. To be appointed, judges must
be Norwegian citizens, financially solvent, and have achieved
high university grades when studying for their law degree.
Jurists from all professional backgrounds can be appointed
as judges. There is no formal system of promotion through
the court hierarchy. Deputy judges tend to be relatively
young and often have just graduated law school.
Lay judges can participate in the hearing of cases. Usually
one professional judge and two lay judges hear criminal
cases at the District and City Courts. Amendments to the
CPA in 1993 have made it possible for more serious cases
to be heard at first instance by two professional and
three lay judges. Previously, these cases went straight
to the High Court for a first instance hearing.
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