1. When can I turn to the Supreme Court? 

If you wish to contest a court judgment concerning you, you can submit an appeal in cassation or an appeal against a ruling to the Supreme Court. As a rule, before turning to the Supreme Court, the case must have gone through the proceedings of both the district or administrative court and the circuit court. As a court of third instance, the Supreme Court reviews criminal, civil, and administrative cases. You must comply with the time limit and conditions for submitting an appeal. 

Proceedings in the Supreme Court are conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Code of Misdemeanour Procedure, the Code of Civil Procedure, and the Code of Administrative Court Procedure. Furthermore, as a court of constitutional review, the Supreme Court fulfils the tasks listed in the Constitutional Review Court Procedure Act. Different rules of procedure apply to different types of proceedings in accordance with the procedural codes. Even if the judgment in your case has already entered into force, but new circumstances subsequently emerged, you can apply to the Supreme Court for a review of the judgment by way of review (reopening of proceedings). Turning to court is explained more generally on the website kohus.ee under the subsection "How to initiate legal proceedings" ("Kohtusse pöördujale").

It should be borne in mind that the Supreme Court expresses legal positions only when processing a specific court case. The Supreme Court cannot take legal positions outside of court proceedings. Nor is it within the power of the Supreme Court to provide legal advice or instructions. Outside of court proceedings, the Supreme Court responds to queries based on the Public Information Act and the Response to Memoranda and Requests for Explanations and Submission of Collective Proposals Act.

2. Do I need to have a representative?

An appeal in cassation or an application for review must generally be submitted to the Supreme Court through a representative. Different rules apply to different types of court cases:

  • in criminal cases, pursuant to subsection 344(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, an appeal in cassation to the Supreme Court can be filed solely by a prosecutor or an advocate as the defence counsel of the accused, or as the representative of a victim, civil defendant, or third party; in misdemeanour cases, pursuant to subsection 155(2) of the Code of Misdemeanour Procedure, this right belongs to the advocate as the defence counsel of the person participating in the proceedings, an extra-judicial body, or its advocate representative;
  • in civil cases, in action proceedings, a participant of proceedings may perform procedural acts and submit statements and requests in the Supreme Court solely through an advocate (attorney-at-law), pursuant to subsection 677(4) and subsection 218(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure; in application proceedings (non-contentious proceedings), a participant in proceedings may also perform procedural acts and submit statements and requests in the Supreme Court personally;
  • in administrative cases, pursuant to subsection 31(1) of the Code of Administrative Court Procedure, a participant in proceedings may turn to the Supreme Court personally or through a representative. The representative must meet the requirements of subsections 32(1) and (2) of the same code.

3. How to initiate constitutional review proceedings? 

To review the constitutionality of a legislative act, an application can be submitted to the Supreme Court by the President of the Republic, the Chancellor of Justice, a rural municipality or city council (local government council), or the Riigikogu. The conduct of such review proceedings is regulated by the Constitutional Review Court Procedure Act.

If you find that a law, regulation, or provision thereof concerning you and your rights does not comply with the Constitution, you have the right to submit an application to the Chancellor of Justice. The Chancellor of Justice checks the conformity of the norm with the Constitution and, if necessary, submits an application to the Supreme Court. Courts initiate constitutional review to check the conformity of a law or a regulation with the Constitution if it turns out during the hearing of a case that the legal norm, on which the dispute between the parties should be resolved or the legal issue decided, is unconstitutional. The task of the courts is to explain to the person turning to court which claims and requests are most suitable for solving their problem in connection with the potentially unconstitutional legal act. If the courts of first and second instances have refused to hear an appeal submitted for the protection of a person's rights, the person may turn to the Supreme Court.

The review of the constitutionality of a legislative act can also be initiated by a court of first or second instance if it finds during the court case that a law or provision is in conflict with the Constitution. In this case, the court refrains from applying the provision and forwards the made decision or ruling to the Supreme Court. The case is resolved in the Supreme Court by the Constitutional Review Chamber.

4. What is review (reopening of proceedings)? 

Review (reopening of proceedings) is the re-examination of an already effective court judgment or ruling in the Supreme Court when new circumstances have come to light. To do this, an application must be submitted by a participant in proceedings or another person whom the court should have involved in the resolution of the case. The situations enabling review are precisely listed in the procedural codes (see in more detail Chapter 68 of the Code of Civil Procedure, Chapter 13 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 15 of the Code of Misdemeanour Procedure, Chapter 22 of the Code of Administrative Court Procedure). 

An application for review must be submitted quite soon after becoming aware of the new circumstances. In civil and administrative cases, the time limit is generally two months; in criminal and misdemeanour cases, it is longer, reaching up to six months.

5. What to do if I cannot afford a representative for financial reasons? 

If you are unable to hire a representative for financial reasons, you can apply for state legal aid. You can read more about state legal aid on the website of the Estonian Bar Association (Eesti Advokatuur) and the website of Estonian courts; law firms also provide free explanations on the possibilities of state legal aid. The provision of state legal aid takes place on the basis of the State Legal Aid Act.

6. How to submit documents to the Supreme Court? 

The submission of procedural documents is regulated by the procedure for submitting documents to the court. Via the E-File (E-toimik) system, participants in proceedings and their representatives can submit procedural documents electronically to the Supreme Court and track the progress of court proceedings. Documents must comply with the requirements listed in section 203 of the procedure, be digitally signed, and the size of a single procedural document can be up to 200 megabytes. The total size of procedural documents submitted at one time must not exceed 250 megabytes.

Procedural documents can also be submitted to the e-mail address of the Supreme Court's Chancellery: [email protected]. Please send digitally signed documents only to this address; any e-mail containing a digital signature that arrives at other e-mail addresses of the Supreme Court will be forwarded to the Chancellery. When submitting digitally signed documents to the court via e-mail, please note that:

  • the e-mail size limit is 20 megabytes;
  • for digital signing, the software Digidoc4 Client by SK ID Solutions AS must be used;
  • the document must be submitted in Plain Text, RTF (Rich Text Format), PDF (Portable Document Format), ODF (Open Document Format), DOC (MS Office Word Document), DOCX (Office Open XML Document), DDOC (digitally signed file), BDOC (international digital signature format), JPG (image file), XLS (MS Office Excel Spreadsheet) or XLSX (MS Office Excel workbook) format;
  • the document must be readable using Adobe Reader or Microsoft Word software;
  • the document must not contain dynamic parts (links that change the content of the letter);
  • the document must be included as an attachment in the e-mail.

Upon the arrival of a document sent by e-mail at , the sender of the document receives an automatic electronic confirmation of receipt of the document.

Paper procedural documents can be sent to the postal address of the Supreme Court: Lossi 17, Tartu 50093, Estonia.

7. How to pay the state fee? 

Since 01.01.2022, a state fee must be paid for an appeal in cassation or an appeal against a ruling and an application for review submitted to the Supreme Court.

  • In civil cases, pursuant to subsection 59(151) of the State Fees Act, a state fee of 1% of the value of the civil case is paid, taking into account the scope of the appeal, but not less than 100 euros and not more than 4,760 euros. In an application proceeding (hagita asjas), a non-pecuniary claim case, as well as an appeal against a ruling, a state fee of 70 euros is paid.
  • In criminal and misdemeanour cases, pursuant to the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Code of Misdemeanour Procedure, no state fee needs to be paid.
  • In administrative cases, when submitting an appeal in cassation or an application for review to the Supreme Court, a state fee of 50 euros is paid pursuant to subsection 60(8) of the State Fees Act. No state fee needs to be paid in cases that are exempt from state fees pursuant to section 22 of the State Fees Act.

State fees, guarantees, etc., for court cases are paid to the accounts of the Ministry of Finance:

  • SEB Pank – EE571010220229377229 (SWIFT: EEUHEE2X)
  • Swedbank – EE062200221059223099 (SWIFT: HABAEE2X)
  • Luminor Bank – EE221700017003510302 (SWIFT: NDEAEE2X)
  • LHV Pank – EE567700771003819792 (SWIFT: LHVBEE22).

8. How to find documents and judgments of the Supreme Court?

 After making a procedural decision, we publish its outcome on our website – whether or not to accept the case for proceedings; in addition, the name of the appellant and a general description of the content of the appeal or, in the case of a criminal case, the qualification of the crime constituting the content of the charge. These data are removed 30 days after publication.

The time of hearings and the review of the case in written proceedings is published on the website of the Supreme Court from the time it is scheduled. As a rule, the names of the parties to the proceedings and a general description of the content of the appeal or, in the case of a criminal case, the qualification of the crime constituting the content of the charge are also published. Lists of hearings of the Civil, Criminal, and Constitutional Review Chambers that took place more than seven days ago are not displayed on the website of the Supreme Court. Data on hearings that took place in the Administrative Law Chamber are displayed for 30 days after the hearing takes place.

Judgments of the Supreme Court are also published on the website.

9. How to submit an information request or a request for explanations to the Supreme Court?

On the basis of the Public Information Act, an information request – an application to obtain public information – can be submitted to the Supreme Court. With an information request, you can ask the Supreme Court for documents intended for general use that have been prepared in the course of the work of the Supreme Court. For this, you can use the e-mail address of the Supreme Court's Chancellery (, the postal address of the Supreme Court (Lossi 17, Tartu 50093, Estonia), or contact the Chancellery by phone (5401 1337) (Mon–Thu 09.00–12.00 and 13.00–16.00). An information request is answered without delay, but no later than within five working days. If necessary, the Supreme Court may extend the term up to 15 working days.

On the basis of the Response to Memoranda and Requests for Explanations and Submission of Collective Proposals Act, a memorandum or a request for explanations can be submitted to the Supreme Court. With a memorandum, you can make proposals to the Supreme Court for organizing the work of the institution or shaping the development of the field, or provide information related to public life and state governance. With a request for explanations, you can ask for information that requires the analysis, synthesis, or collection of additional information at the disposal of the Supreme Court, as well as legal explanations regarding the legal acts underlying the activity of the Supreme Court and the competence of the institution. When responding to a request for explanations, the Legal Information and Training Department of the Supreme Court can explain the procedure for proceedings in the Supreme Court; providing legal advice or interpreting laws outside the processing of a specific case is not within the competence of the Supreme Court. A memorandum or request for explanations is answered within 15 days; if necessary, the response term can be extended up to two months.

By decision of the Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs Liisa-Ly Pakosta, starting from August 31, 2026, letters sent from Russian servers, i.e., e-mail addresses ending in .ru, will not reach state agencies, but will be directed to additional inspection. In the future, letters coming from the .ru domain will be directed to quarantine, where they are deleted after 30 days. Letters in quarantine do not automatically reach the user's mailbox.

10. How does the Supreme Court protect and disclose my data? 

You have the right to examine the data that the Supreme Court has collected about you. If you wish data to be issued on paper, pursuant to subsection 25(2) of the Public Information Act and subsection 19(2) of the Personal Data Protection Act, starting from the 21st page, you must pay 0.19 euros per page to cover the costs of fulfilling the information request. You also have the right to demand the correction of incorrect personal data. To do this, an application signed in handwritten form or digitally must be submitted to the Supreme Court.

If you submit an information request to obtain information that contains personal data with restricted access concerning you or third parties, the Supreme Court must identify the requester of information before issuing this information. Information concerning third parties can generally only be issued if there is the consent of the third party. Information concerning third parties can be issued without consent only if permitted by the Personal Data Protection Act.

Submissions of persons and other court correspondence are registered in the document register of the Supreme Court. Your first and last name are not visible in the document register, only your initials. Correspondence conducted with private individuals is preserved at the Supreme Court for 5 years. Documents exceeding this term are destroyed.

When you visit the website of the Supreme Court, data regarding the internet address (IP address) of the computer or computer network used, the computer's web browser, operating system software version, time and duration of the visit are recorded and preserved. The Supreme Court does not link the collected information with personally identifiable information and uses it only in anonymized form. Data is collected and preserved only regarding which part of the web page was visited and for how long. These data are used only for security-technical purposes and for compiling website visit statistics in order to develop the website based on it and increase its usability.

11. How to apply for the removal of my personal data from a court judgment? 

In civil court proceedings, administrative court proceedings, or constitutional review proceedings, upon the application of a person or on the initiative of the court, a person's name in a judgment may be replaced with initials, and their personal identification code, date of birth, registry code, or address may not be disclosed. The court may also publish only the operative part of the decision or leave the decision undisclosed if it contains sensitive personal data and if the disclosure of the decision with personal data may significantly damage the protection of the person's private life.

In court judgments published in criminal and misdemeanour cases, the name and personal identification code of the accused are published; if there is no personal identification code, the date of birth. The name and personal identification code or date of birth of a minor accused are replaced with initials or a character mark. The court replaces the names and other personal data of other persons with initials or a character mark. In some cases, for the additional protection of personal data, the court may also publish only the introduction and the operative part or final part of a judgment made in a criminal or misdemeanour case.

12. How to examine files and procedural documents? 

The examination of documents and court files is regulated by the internal rules of procedure of the Supreme Court. 

Court files and other materials related to proceedings can be examined by: 

  • participants in proceedings upon presentation of an identity document; 
  • prosecutors upon presentation of a work ID; 
  • representatives of natural and legal persons upon presentation of a document certifying representation and an identity document; 
  • journalists upon presentation of a press card and only after the conclusion of the case proceedings in the Supreme Court; 
  • police officers upon presentation of an application by the prefect of police and a work ID. 

Materials from the Supreme Court archive can be obtained on the basis of an information request. Archival records of the Supreme Court of the ESSR from earlier years (generally up to 1971) have been transferred to the National Archives. General data on all funds of the National Archives are electronically accessible via the archival register of the National Archives or the archives information system.

13. How to obtain copies and printouts of procedural documents? 

Pursuant to subsection 22(131) of the State Fees Act, no state fee is to be paid in a court case for the electronic issuance of an electronic document or for the first-time issuance of a printout of an electronic document to a participant in proceedings for the conduct of proceedings. Pursuant to section 61 of the same code, a state fee of 0.3 euros per page is paid for the issuance of a repeated copy of a court judgment or ruling, as well as for the issuance of another document of court proceedings or a printout of an electronic document.

The state fee must be paid to the settlement account of the Ministry of Finance, making sure to use the reference number 2900076284:

  • SEB bank – EE891010220034796011 (SWIFT: EEUHEE2X)
  • Swedbank – EE932200221023778606 (SWIFT: HABAEE2X)
  • Luminor Bank – EE701700017001577198 (SWIFT: NDEAEE2X).

14. How to apply to the European Court of Human Rights? 

If you find that the Estonian state has violated the rights and freedoms guaranteed to you by the European Convention on Human Rights or its protocols, you can submit an application to the European Court of Human Rights. Before doing so, however, you must exhaust all domestic remedies – having submitted an application to the court and appealed the decision generally up to the Supreme Court. An application to the European Court of Human Rights can be submitted within four months from the making of the final domestic judgment. 

You can find more information about applying to the European Court of Human Rights, for example, on the page of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the European Court of Human Rights.