185 Summary: TheJudicial Department ofthe Senate - the Supreme Court in Finland 1809—1918 When Finland was ceded by Sweden and incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1809 Tsar Alexander 1 proclaimed that he would respect the existing laws of constitutional importance, the Instrument of Government of 1772 and the Act of Union and Security of 1789. This undertaking was respected by subsequent Tsars and so the general form of the constitution dating fromthe time of Gustav III of Sweden was in fact retained until Finland became independent in 1918. It was, however, found necessary to reorganise the highest judicial organ of the country, although the existing rules of procedure from 1789 governing the former Supreme Court as well as those governing the abolished Cabinet continued to be applicable to the new judicial organ. This reorganisation was completed in 1816. The new organ was called the Judicial Department of the Senate. The Senate consisted of 14 members, half nobles and half commoners, who were appointed for renewable periods of three years. The Judicial Departement consisted of seven of the members of the Senate. The absence of an independent supreme court with judges not subject to removal at the Executive’s pleasure was criticised froman early stage but despite this, the Judicial Departement of the Senate was in practice able to function without serious difficulties until the late nineteenth century. The members of the Judicial Departement were senators recruited from the country’s judges, mainly from the appeal courts {hovrätterna), and appointments were renewable automatically for so long as the judge wished to remain a senator. It was only during the so called “years of oppression” (1899-1907) when the pressures of Russification began to make themselves felt in Finnish society that the vulnerable position of the members of the Judicial Departement became obvious. It should, however, be remembered that even tenured lower court and appeal court judges were remowed fromoffice during this period when thev refused to apply laws which, as they saw it, conflicted with the Constitution. Nonetheless, the fact that throughout the nineteenth century the Judicial Department was a part of the government led to a peculiar type of party political justice, as the members of the Judicial Department were often politically active and consequently used to resign in a body when the political complexion of the government changed. The judges of the new Supreme Court, founded after the establishment of an independent Finland in 1918, in fact remained heavily affected by political factors for almost three decades. This is shown by the political trials against left wingers and right wing extremists which occured during the 1920’s and the 1930’s.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=