Creation of Estonian court system 1918−1920
On 24 February 1918 the “Manifesto to all Peoples of Estonia” of the Board of Elders of the Estonian Diet, declaring Estonia’s sovereignty, was published. The Manifesto declared the principles on which the democratic republic was to be built.
Section 1 of the Manifesto stated the following: “All citizens of the Republic of Estonia irrespective of their religion, nationality and political views, shall enjoy equal protection before the laws and the court of the Republic.” Section 4 of the Manifesto required that the Provisional Government “[…] immediately set up courts for the protection of security of the citizens”.
On 18 November 1918 the Provisional Government issued a regulation entitled “Establishment of provisional courts”, which was the first piece of legislation of the Estonian state concerning the courts. In November 1918 the Tallinn Circuit Court as a national court of appeal commenced its activities in Tallinn. Pursuant to the order of the then Minister of Justice Jüri Jaakson all courts on the territory of the Republic of Estonia were to commence work on 2 December 1918.
1918–1920 Jüri Jaakson was the Minister of Justice of the Provisional Government and of the Government of the Republic. On 13 November 1918, Jaak Reichmann, who was appointed the first Chairman of the Court of Appeal, became the first judge of the sovereign Estonian state appointed to office by the Provisional Government.
Estonia’s courts 1920−1940
Thus, by 1920 the system of justice had been launched. The court system then had three instances, like today, but it had four links. The justices of the peace or the magistrates constituted first link of the then court system. The appellation instances of the justices of the peace were the Commissions of the peace, later known as circuit courts. The third link was the national Court of Appeal – the Kohtupalat, later the Kohtukoda. The Supreme Court formed the fourth link. A peculiarity of the whole system was that all courts functioned as courts of first instance in regard to certain cases.
The end of the court system in 1940
The developments of the first half of 1940 brought about changes in the court system, too. In the summer of 1940 the power to appoint and release judges was taken from the President of the Republic and vested in the Council of People’s Commissars. The new government actively started to release from office and arrest judges.
On 16 November 1940 the Presidium of the Provisional Supreme Council of the Estonian SSR passed a decree on reorganisation of the judicial system. In 1940 and 1941 the judges of lower instance courts were relocated, some were released from office forever. The magistrates and circuit courts were maintained. The Supreme Court of the Estonian SSR was formed on the basis of the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court of Estonia ceased to exist.
Re-establishment of court system 1990−1993
On 16 May 1990 the Supreme Council of the Republic of Estonia adopted the Principles of Temporary Procedure of Estonian Government Act, putting an end to the subjection of the Supreme Court of Estonia to the Supreme Court of the USSR. The administration of justice on Estonian territory was separated from the judicial power of the USSR and given into the sole competence of Estonian courts.
Late in the evening of 20 August 1991 the Supreme Council of the Republic of Estonia passed a resolution “on the independence of the Estonian State and on the formation of the Constitutional Assembly”, by which the independent Republic of Estonia was restored.
A few months later, in October, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Estonia passed the Republic of Estonia Courts Act and the Status of Judges Act. The referred Acts were passed to resolve the issues related to the judicial office and functioning of the court system. These Acts were the foundation for the creation of a three-level court system. The next important step was taken in the spring of 1992, when the Supreme Council passed a resolution on the judicial reform. According to the resolution the Supreme Court was to be re-established.
On 28 June 1992 the Constitution was adopted by a referendum. The main organisational task of that time was to find people to perform the judicial tasks. For example, in 1993 there were 120 vacant judicial offices, the filling of which proved easier than expected.
Estonia’s courts 1993−2008
Pursuant to the Constitution Estonia has a three-level court system, comprising the district courts and administrative courts, the circuit courts and the Supreme Court.
On 19 June 2002 a new Courts Act was passed, which entered into force on 29 July 2002. A very important change introduced by the Act was the establishment of the Council for Administration of Courts. The aim of establishing the Council was to involve the judges of all court instances in making the decisions concerning the whole judicial system, as up to then it was only the Ministry of Justice who had governed the first and second court instances. The creation of the Council for Administration of Courts was an important step in the formation of an integral and independent court system, as referred to in the Constitution.
On 1 May 2004 Estonia acceded to the European Union. Estonian courts became the courts of the European Union and Estonian judges became European judges who, in their daily work, resort also to the European legislation, alongside the Estonian law.
Since 2006 the issues of integrity and independence of the court system have been discussed with increasing intensity. On 1 December 2006 the first meeting for the discussion of development principles of the judicial system was held, and on 9 February 2007 the Estonian Court en banc adopted the principles of development of the judicial system, which envisage the merger of all three court instances into a single independent and self-administering whole.