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Judicial specialisation: a magic wand for achieving higher-quality and more efficient court decisions? The experience of the Estonian court system Cover

Judicial specialisation: a magic wand for achieving higher-quality and more efficient court decisions? The experience of the Estonian court system

Open Access
|Oct 2026

References

  1. CCJE (2012) Opinion No. 15 (2012) on the specialisation of judges. Consultative Council of European Judges. Available at: https://rm.coe.int/ccje-opinion-2012-no-15-on-the-specialisation-of-judges/16809f0078 (Accessed: 22 August 2026).
  2. Code of Administrative Court Procedure (Estonia) 2011. Halduskohtumenetluse seadustik (HKMS). RT I, 23.02.2011, 3, entry into force 1 January 2012.
  3. Code of Civil Procedure (Estonia) 2005. Tsiviilkohtumenetluse seadustik (TsMS). RT I 2005, 26, 197, entry into force 1 January 2006.
  4. Code of Criminal Procedure (Estonia) 2003. Kriminaalmenetluse seadustik (KrMS). RT I 2003, 27, 166, entry into force 1 July 2004.
  5. Code of Misdemeanour Procedure (Estonia) 2002. Väärteomenetluse seadustik (VTMS). RT I 2002, 50, 313, entry into force 1 September 2002.
  6. Copyright Act (Estonia) 1992. Autoriõiguse seadus (AutÕS). RT I 1992, 49, 615, entry into force 12 December 1992.
  7. Courts Act (Estonia) 2002. Kohtute seadus (KS). RT I 2002, 64, 390, entry into force 29 July 2002.
  8. Courts Constitution Act (Germany) 2024. Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz. BGBl. I, p. 1077; BGBl. 2024 I No. 438.
  9. Estonian Courts (no date, a) ‘Eesti kohtute menetlusstatistika’ [Estonian court proceedings statistics]. Available at: https://www.kohus.ee/eesti-kohtud/kohtute-menetlusstatistika (Accessed: 22 August 2026).
  10. Estonian Courts (no date, b) ‘Kohtute tööjaotusplaanid’ [Courts’ work distribution plans]. Available at: https://www.kohus.ee/dokumendid-ja-vormid/kohtutetoojaotusplaanid (Accessed: 22 August 2026).
  11. Explanatory memorandum to the draft amending the Courts Act and other related acts (633 SE) (2019a) Kohtute seaduse muutmise ja sellega seonduvalt teiste seaduste muutmise seaduse eelnõu (633 SE) seletuskiri. Available at: https://www.riigikogu.ee/tegevus/eelnoud/eelnou/5f154ed9-4920-4bde-98c6-63af7f5f7264/ (Accessed: 22 August 2026).
  12. Explanatory memorandum to the draft amending the Trade Marks Act, Industrial Design Protection Act and other related acts (765 SE) (2019b) Kaubamärgiseaduse, tööstusdisaini kaitse seaduse ja teiste seaduste muutmise seaduse eelnõu (765 SE) seletuskiri. Available at: https://www.riigikogu.ee/tegevus/eelnoud/eelnou/8198184d-7a00-4d4b-8dee-21fcd823f394/Kaubam%C3%A4rgiseaduse,%20t%C3%B6%C3%B6stusdisaini%20kaitse%20seaduse%20ja%20teiste%20seaduste%20muutmise%20seadus/ (Accessed: 22 August 2026).
  13. Federal Government of Germany (2019) Federal Government Bill. Gesetzentwurf der Bundesregierung, BT-Drucksache 19/13828. Available at: https://dip.bundestag.de/vorgang/gesetz-zur-regelung-der-wertgrenze-f%C3%BCr-dienichtzulassungsbeschwerde-in-zivilsachen/251726 (Accessed: 22 August 2026).
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  19. Kõve, V. (2009) Varaliste tehingute süsteem Eestis. PhD thesis. University of Tartu.
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  21. Law on the reform of construction contract law, on the amendment of the law on liability for defects in sales contracts, on the strengthening of civil procedural legal protection and on machine-printed seals in land register and ship register proceedings (Germany) 2017. Gesetz zur Reform des Bauvertragsrechts, zur Änderung der kaufrechtlichen Mängelhaftung, zur Stärkung des zivilprozessualen Rechtsschutzes und zum maschinellen Siegel im Grundbuchund Schiffsregisterverfahren. BGBl. I 2017, No. 23, p. 969.
  22. Law regulating the value threshold for appeals against the refusal of leave to appeal in civil matters, expanding specialisation in the courts and amending other procedural provisions (Germany) 2019. Gesetz zur Regelung der Wertgrenze für die Nichtzulassungsbeschwerde in Zivilsachen, zum Ausbau der Spezialisierung bei den Gerichten sowie zur Änderung weiterer prozessrechtlicher Vorschriften. BGBl. I 2019, No. 50, 19 December, p. 2633.
  23. Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits Protection Act (Estonia) 1998. Mikrolülituse topoloogia kaitse seadus (MTKS). RT I 1998, 108, 1783, entry into force 16 March 1998.
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  25. Opeskin, B. (2022) ‘The relentless rise of judicial specialisation and its implications for judicial systems’, Current Legal Problems, 75. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4185334
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  29. Schröder, U. (2019) ‘Von Glanz und Elend richterlicher Spezialisierung’, Neue Zeitschrift für Baurecht und Vergaberecht, 2019, p. 145.
  30. Silvestri, E. (2014) ‘Judicial specialisation: in search of the “right” judge for each case?’, Russian Law Journal, 2(4), pp. 165–175. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17589/2309-8678-2014-2-4-165-175
  31. Supreme Court of Estonia (2018) Criminal Chamber, Case No. 1-17-11509/10. Order of 13 June.
  32. Supreme Court of Estonia (2020) Civil Chamber, Case No. 2-18-17703. Order of 10 June.
  33. Trade Mark Act (Estonia) 2002. Kaubamärgiseadus (KaMS). RT I 2002, 49, 30, entry into force 1 May 2004.
  34. University of Tartu (2025) Esimese astme kohtu kohtunike ja kohtujuristide spetsialiseerumise analüüs [Analysis of the specialisation of first instance court judges and law clerks]. Available at: https://www.justdigi.ee/sites/default/files/documents/2025-10/Esimese_astme_kohtunike_spetsialiseerumine.pdf (Accessed: 22 August 2026).
  35. Utility Models Act (Estonia) 1994. Kasuliku mudeli seadus (KasMS). RT I 1994, 25, 407, entry into force 23 May 1994.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bjes-2026-0021 | Journal eISSN: 2674-4619 (formerly 2228-0596) | Journal ISSN: 2674-4600 (formerly 2228-0596)
Language: English
Page range: 180 - 203
Published online: Oct 25, 2026
Published in print: Dec 1, 2026
Published by: Tallinn University of Technology
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

© 2026 Priit Pikamäe, Triin Uusen-Nacke, Janar Jäätma, Peeter Tarvis, published by Tallinn University of Technology
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.