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. Auxiliary departments of the Supreme Court are: Centre for Information Technology, which ensures unified information technology support throughout the whole judicial system ; Training and Communication Centre, which is in charge of the Internet site of the judiciary, communication with the media, and organizing in-service training of judges; and Financial Service Department, which prepares budget proposals, negotiates the budget and allocates financial resources to the end-users.
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 authorized 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 authorization is limited to cases already closed.
The Supreme Court has seven departments :
Criminal Department
Civil Department
Commercial Lawsuits Department
Labour and Social Security Disputes Department
Administrative Review Department
Registry Department
Department for International Cooperation.
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).
Election of the Judges of the Supreme Court
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.