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Higher costs and more man-years
The indicators for the dispute resolution bodies in 2011 and 2010 show higher costs and more man-years in non-judge positions. The change in the number of processed cases in the ordinary courts was less than in the preceding years.
The total expenditure for the courts and other dispute resolution bodies was NOK 3.8 billion in 2011. The expenditure for the bodies’ own operation, known as own production in the statistics, makes up more than 90 per cent of this. The operating expenses increased by 5.4 per cent from 2010, with the wage costs increasing by 5.9 per cent and the purchase of goods and services increasing by 5.0 per cent.
The courts and other dispute resolution bodiesThe area of the courts and other dispute resolution bodies in StatRes is defined as covering the National Court Administration, the ordinary courts, conciliation boards, mediation boards, land consolidation boards, the Finnmark Commission and the Norwegian Criminal Cases Review Commission. This publication covers the entire area in the indicators for input, while the activity and result indicators only cover the ordinary courts and land consolidation boards, and these have a defined sample of court cases. For a more detailed description of definitions of samples and terms, see About the statistics . |
High, but not higher, share of purchase of goods and services
The share of operating expenses that relates to the purchase of goods and services is high, at 53.1 per cent, and the share that relates to wage costs is correspondingly low. This particularly applies to other parts of the justice sector, but also to the share in central government in general (see Central government - StatRes ).
This is partly due to the fact that this part of the justice sector has relatively high disbursements for counsel for the defence and counsel for the aggrieved party and other special criminal case expenditures. Disbursements for special criminal cases made up NOK 905 million in 2011, which is 4.6 per cent higher than in 2010. There were also money transfers totalling NOK 300 million. This sum mainly relates to transfers for free legal aid and is 14 per cent higher than in 2010.
More man-years in district courts and appeal courts, particularly in Oslo
There were 2 048 man-years (see textbox) performed in the courts and other dispute resolution bodies in 2011, which is 3.7 per cent more than in 2010. Of these, 1 629 man-years were carried out in the ordinary courts, i.e. the district courts (including Oslo Office of the City Recorder), the appeal courts and the Supreme Court.
The district courts had by far the most man-years, and made up 63 per cent of all man-years in this StatRes area in 2011. The corresponding share in the appeal courts was 14 per cent, 11 per cent in the Land Consolidation Court and 3 per cent in the Supreme Court.
In the judicial authorities that are included in this StatRes area, a total of 750 man-years were carried out by judges, of which 662 were in the ordinary courts. This is around the same as in 2010. Overall, however, there were 6 per cent more man-years in non-judge positions. Almost all of this increase was in the district courts and appeal courts, with 58.5 and 13 more corresponding man-years respectively in 2011 than in 2010. Almost half of the increase in the district courts was in Oslo City Court, which had 89 man-years for judges and 171 man-years in other positions in 2011.
Differences in Statistics Norway and the National Court Administration’s man-year figuresStatistics Norway defines man-years as contracted man-years excluding long-term leave. This is the sum of the contracted hours of work converted to full-time equivalents, excluding doctor-certified absence and parental leave. Man-years are calculated as a percentage of a standard full-time equivalent (37.5 hours per week), based on the hours of work in the reference period, which is a week in November. Differences between the man-year figures from Statistics Norway and the Administration’s own figures are related to delimitations and definitions. See About the statistics for a more detailed description. |
Slight changes in volume of cases
In 2011, 15 849 civil disputes and 62 176 criminal cases were processed in the court of first instance (mainly the district courts) according to figures from the National Court Administration. The appeal courts processed 1 357 criminal and 1 894 civil appeals against rulings. The Supreme Court settled 174 cases, of which 82 were civil cases. Overall, these bodies processed around the same number of civil cases and criminal cases as in 2010. In addition to these cases in the ordinary courts, the Land Consolidation Court (including the land appeal courts) processed a total of 1 163 civil cases in 2011, which is 6 per cent less than in 2010.
The composition of courts of first and second instance can vary, for example with a different number of judges. The number of single-judge cases, i.e. criminal cases that are processed by only one judge, has increased considerably every year, but in 2011 the increase was only moderate. Consequently, the greatest increase in 2011 was in the number of criminal cases processed in the district courts as composite court cases.
Correlation between number of cases and processing time
From 2010 to 2011, the average processing time generally corresponded to the change in the number of cases. For most types of cases and compositions of judges in the various bodies, an increase in the number of cases entails a longer or unchanged average processing time. Likewise, the types of cases that saw a drop had a shorter or unchanged average processing time.
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