Historic outline

The history of the Courts of Denmark goes back several hundred years, with their duties and role reflecting the sociohistorical development of Danish society. This development has granted the judiciary more independence and, by implication, the public due process protection.

The Danish Constitution of 1849 was a giant step towards achieving an independent judiciary as the Danish Constitution includes provisions that ensures the judiciary's organisational, functional, and personal independence. In fact, section 3 of the Danish Constitution establishes the separation of power, as designed by the French philosopher Montesquieu in his work De L'Esprit des Lois from 1748, i.e. dividing the legislative, executive, and judicial powers into separate bodies.
 
Since the enactment of the Danish Constitution in 1849, the judiciary has gradually assumed the responsibilities of the overall and regulatory authority of the Danish parliament (the legislature) and the King (in practice: the government, the executive). Today, the judiciary is, on request, entitled to declare an act unconstitutional or overrule decisions made by government services.

Concurrently, the European Convention on Human Rights and other international conventions have given the judiciary ample room for interpretation, thus allowing the judiciary to influence the development of the law in a way and to a degree that were unknown just a few decades ago.

The extensive powers of today's judiciary require exacting standards of independence and due process. These standards are inter alia provided by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, according to which everyone has a right to a fair and public trial, within a reasonable time, by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.

In 1999, further measures were taken to ensure the organisational independence of the judiciary notably through the establishment of the Danish Court Administration and the Danish Judicial Appointments Council.

Prior to this, there had been a long political debate on the best possible way of ensuring judicial independence of the Danish government and parliament. More specifically, it was debated whether it was appropriate for the Ministry of Justice to administer the courts and appoint judges. The debate led to the appointment of a court committee. The committee's report formed the basis of the court reform in 1999.

After a long debate in the Danish parliament and the printed press, a unanimous Danish parliament resolved that the courts were no longer to be administered by the Ministry of Justice. Although there was no evidence that the then-current system had an adverse effect on judicial independence, the Danish parliament did not want to leave room for even a theoretical possibility that such independence was not beyond question. There were to be no more ties between the judiciary and the Ministry of Justice. The Danish Court Administration and the Danish Judicial Appointments Council were established on 1 July 1999.

The establishment of the Danish Court Administration was aimed at strengthening the autonomy and independence of the judiciary and demonstrating its position as the third power of the state.

The establishment of the Danish Judicial Appointments Council was aimed at making judicial appointments more transparent, indicating judicial independence and increasing the prospects of broader recruitment.

With the establishment of the Danish Court Administration and the Danish Judicial Appointments Council, the organisation that we now call the Courts of Denmark was established. This organisation is composed of the courts, the Appeals Permission Board, the Special Court of Indictment and Revision, the Danish Judicial Appointments Council, the External Activities Review Board, The Juvenile Delinquency Board, and the Danish Court Administration. The organisation has separate appropriations in the state budget. The board of the Danish Court Administration shall – within the given appropriations – ensure that the courts are run and developed adequately and properly.

Reforming the Courts of Denmark

From 1 January 2007, the number of district courts in Denmark was dramatically reduced from 82 to 24. At the same time, the procedural rules were changed in order to ensure stricter, but also flexible, rules of procedure in the preparatory phase of the court proceedings. Changing the procedural rules also meant that, with only a few exemptions, all cases would henceforth be tried in the first instance by the district courts.

Thus, the reform entailed at number of changes:

• The number of district courts was reduced from 82 to 24.
• Virtually all cases are tried by district courts (first instance).
• Civil cases in district courts may be tried by a single judge, a panel of judges or by a judge assisted by experts.
• The Supreme Court will only review cases of principle.

Prior to the reform, many district courts operated with just one judge, and some had as few as 10 employees, making them highly vulnerable to illness and other forms of absenteeism.
The current district courts have at least five judges, one president of the court (except the island of Bornholm with only two judges) and around 50 employees. The president of the court must be qualified as a judge. However, as part of the reform, candidates for a court presidency are also assessed on their management skills.

The objectives of the reform are the following:

• Shorter case processing times.
• Less vulnerable and more efficient courts.
• More emphasis on leadership and management of courts.
• More uniform application of law by improved possibilities of knowledge sharing and specialization.

Latest News on the Multiannual Agreement for the Courts 2024- 2027

On 22 November 2023, the Danish government presented a multiannual agreement for the courts' finances for 2024-2027. 

All parties in the Danish Parliament supported the agreement, which ensured a significant boost for the courts during this period. In the multiannual agreement, in total approx. 1.3 billion DKK in 2024-2027 in additional funds for new initiatives was allocated to the courts over this period. The funds are earmarked for the following purposes:

• Hiring additional judges, deputy judges, and office staff to increase capacity and reduce case processing times.
• Increasing courtroom capacity and improving building conditions at selected courts.
• Modern IT support and enhanced IT security.
• Strengthening the judicial system in the North Atlantic, increasing fees for child experts and other expert judges, plus other initiatives.

Based on the work of the so-called "Rørdam Committee" and the Administration of Justice Council, the financial multiannual agreement also included a number of targeted measures aimed at streamlining and simplifying key parts of the administration of justice. This will release capacity that can be used for targeted backlog reduction.

You can read more about the agreement on the Ministry of Justice's website (in Danish) 

Here you can find the financial multiannual agreement itself (in Danish)