Reform Of The Danish Judicial System

Since late 2005 and onward, a gradual reform on the structure and functions of the lower courts has been made.

The reform of courts will result in fewer but larger district courts. The 82 present jurisdictions will on January 1, 2007 be merged into only 24 jurisdictions. The new and larger district courts with at least 6-8 judges in each court are necessary to carry out the new tasks that will be assigned to the district court level in the future.

The purpose of these changes is to gain higher quality, reduce the time to review each case and move the case load from the high courts to the district courts.

Today, actions regarding claims of more than DKK 1.000.000 (app. EUR 133.333), as well as actions concerning judicial review of decisions by ministries and certain administrative tribunals, can be brought before the high court at first instance. In the future, the district courts will be the court of first instance in all cases, except that actions involving a legal issue of