History of the Court

The origins of the Supreme Court go back to the end of the 16th century – the year 1581, when the Supreme Tribunal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was at the top of the judicial system of the nobility ruling at that time, was established. It operated until Lithuania became a part of the Russian Empire in 1795, and was restored a little later for a short time, when Lithuania was part of the Russian Empire, until 1801, when it was disbanded altogether.

After the declaration of the independence of Lithuania on 16 February 1918, a three-tier court system was established, consisting of justices of the peace, regional courts, and the Supreme Tribunal of Lithuania, which acted as the court of appeals. The law did not provide for the possibility of cassation at all. The Supreme Tribunal of Lithuania, being one for the entire state, also performed the task of uniform interpretation of the law in individual unavoidable cases. Cassation in Lithuania was established on 15 June 1921 and was allowed only for the decisions of the justices of the peace, which have already been examined by appellate instance, as well as in cases of some special categories.

After the passing of the new Law on the Courts on 11 July 1933, the Supreme Tribunal of Lithuania essentially became a court of cassation for cases of lower instances (district and regional courts, and Chamber of Appeal), as well as military courts and courts of Klaipėda land.

After the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union in June 1940, the courts of independent Lithuania that operated between the wars were revoked and replaced by a new system of Soviet courts of general jurisdiction. The newly formed Supreme Court of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Lithuania (SSRL) took over the functions of the disbanded Supreme Tribunal of Lithuania and the Chamber of Appeals, as well as the remaining unresolved cases.

After the occupation of Nazi Germany, the system of Soviet courts of general competence was re-established in Lithuania after the return of Soviet forces to Vilnius on 13 July 1944.

After the restoration of independence of Lithuania on 11 March 1990, the Supreme Court became the highest judicial authority in the Republic of Lithuania, performing the function of cassation in accordance with the procedure established by the laws of Lithuania, supervising the judicial activities of Lithuanian courts and examining cases of individual categories as the first instance. Mindaugas Lošys was appointed as the first President of the Supreme Court of the restored independent Lithuania on 02 April 1990. The Supreme Court of Lithuania consisted of the President of the Supreme Court, 2 deputy presidents (one for criminal cases and one for civil cases), and 29 judges.

The judicial reform that followed the restoration of independence essentially re-established the judicial system that had been in place between 1933 and 1940. It consisted of the Supreme Court of Lithuania, the Court of Appeal of Lithuania, Regional and District courts, but the Supreme Court has not yet become a court of cassation, forming the uniform case law of courts of general competence.

Since 01 January 1995 the Supreme Court, having acquired a qualitatively new competence, became the court of cassation, which, among other things, was mandated by law to form a uniform case law through interpretation and application of laws, and since 01 January 1999 became the sole court of cassation to review procedural decisions of the courts.

After the entry into force of the new Code of the Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania and new Code of the Civil Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania in 2003, which established the competence of the Supreme Court as a court of cassation, clear grounds for cassation, the Supreme Court acquired in substance its current status and competence, and eventually became a real court that forms uniform case law.

The transfer of administrative offences (now administrative misdemeanours) from the administrative courts to the courts of general jurisdiction in 2011 has added to the Supreme Court’s competence both the examination of applications for re-opening of such cases and the development of case law in this area.

The number of judges of the Supreme Court varied from 23 (in 1995) to 37 (11 November 1998 – 31 December 2011), and its gradual reduction began in 2012. Currently, the number of judges of the Supreme Court of Lithuania is 32.