Organisation of the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court examines cases upon appeal from the six Courts of Appeal. Some 4 800 cases are brought annually on appeal to the Supreme Court. The Courts functions, however, are largely confined to the creation of precedents or case-law. Thus, for a case to be adjudicated by the Supreme Court, the Court must first grant leave of appeal. The main rule is that leave to appeal shall only be granted when the Supreme Court considers that the determination of the merits of a case would create new case-law, precedents to serve as guidelines for the courts. Thus, the fact that a Court of Appeal may have decided a case erroneously is not a sufficient ground for granting leave to appeal. In practice, the Courts of Appeal rule on most cases in the last resort. Leave to appeal is only granted in 2 per cent of the cases. In criminal cases, leave to appeal is only granted in about 1/2 per cent of the appealed cases.
Furthermore the Supreme Court examines applications to reopen a case adjudicated by the Court itself or by a Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court may also set aside a legally binding decision if a serious procedural error has occurred in the handling of a case. If a party has failed to appeal against a Court of Appeal judgment in time, due to some unforeseen obstacle or for some other valid reason, the Supreme Court can grant restoration of time-limit for appeal.
The Supreme Court is composed of 16 justices (justitieråd). The justices are appointed by the Government. Some of them serve on the Council on Legislation (lagrådet). The remaining justices serve in the two chambers of the Supreme Court, seven in each chamber.
One or three justices can decide the question whether leave to appeal shall be granted or not. When a case has been granted leave to appeal, the final examination is entrusted to five or, in big cases, six justices. If, as occasionally happens, one of the chambers reaches a decision which conflicts with previous case-law, the case must be referred to the plenary Court, that is all the justices of the Supreme Court, or nine justices. Uncomplicated cases regarding the re-opening of a case may be decided by one or three justices.
Proceedings in the Supreme Court were exclusively in writing until 1948. In that year, a judicial reform made it possible to hold oral hearings even in the Supreme Court. Oral hearings, where the parties appear before the Supreme Court, are held in some 20 cases per year. These hearings are normally held in public. Most cases are decided on the basis of written submissions, which are presented to the justices by a judge referee attached to the Court (revisionssekreterare). There are about 34 such judge referees, who have served as judges in the lower courts. Altogether, the staff of the Supreme Court numbers about 95 persons.
The most important decisions of the Supreme Court are published in the periodical "Nytt Juridiskt Arkiv" (NJA), which appears six times a year, and they are also featured on the Court’s website - www.hogstadomstolen.se