The Ministry of Justice has sent out a draft bill amending the Courts Act for approval, proposing major changes to Estonia's court system.

Perhaps the most significant and most debated change involves merging courts of the same type. Under the bill, Estonia would have a single district court (currently there are four), one administrative court (currently two) and one circuit court (currently two). This would reduce the total number of first- and second-tier courts from eight to three.

However, all existing courthouses will remain in place. The district court has 15 locations across Estonia, the administrative court has three and the circuit court two. For the first time, the exact locations of these courthouses will be written into law.

Currently, the minister responsible for the field decides on courthouse locations. Under the new bill, district court locations will be in Haapsalu, Jõgeva, Jõhvi, Kuressaare, Kärdla, Narva, Paide, Pärnu, Rakvere, Rapla, Tallinn, Tartu, Valga, Viljandi and Võru. Administrative court locations will be in Jõhvi, Tallinn and Tartu; circuit court locations will be in Tallinn and Tartu.

In the future, judges will be appointed specifically to a courthouse rather than to a general court, with appointments decided by the Supreme Court en banc.

Many judges, including the heads of the Tartu and Pärnu district courts, have opposed the merger. The bill's explanatory memorandum acknowledges that the proposal did not receive unanimous support. "Feedback indicated that the merger of same-type courts may be unconstitutional, fails to address a clearly defined problem and that minor differences in caseloads do not justify restructuring. It also risks distancing courts from the public," the memorandum states.

It also warns of potential downsides. "Managing a single large organization may become more difficult, particularly if leadership and communication are ineffective. Centralized management may reduce local flexibility and result in decisions that do not account for regional conditions," it notes.

Greater centralization and increased power for chief judges in forming departments could also limit judges' ability to specialize and reduce their freedom of choice. Specialization may lead to more travel, which could negatively impact both the speed and quality of proceedings.

Despite the criticism, the bill's authors argue that merging the courts is the only way to achieve the bill's core goals: improving court management, streamlining administration and fostering judicial specialization.

"Creating a single district court, administrative court and circuit court will enable a modern and flexible management model, allowing workloads and resources to be distributed nationwide. Nationwide judicial specialization and harmonization cannot be achieved through any other means, including the reallocation of specific case types without merging the courts," the memorandum concludes.

Courts to get a governing board

The second major change in the reform, unlike the court merger plan, has broad and strong support from judges: the transfer of administrative responsibilities from the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs to the judiciary. In effect, court administration would shift from the executive branch to the judicial branch.

To oversee court administration and development, a new body called the Council for Court Administration and Development will replace the current Court Administration Council. According to the bill's explanatory memorandum, this body will move from being an advisory and coordinating entity to a strategic decision-making body for judicial administration.

Among other things, the court system will take over responsibility for its own budget, which until now has been handled by the Ministry of Justice. In practice, this means courts will be able to present their own budget needs directly to the Riigikogu Finance Committee, reducing dependence on the ministry. During budget negotiations in the Riigikogu, courts at all levels, including the Supreme Court, will be represented by the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

A new Court Administration Service will also be created, consolidating administrative functions currently managed by the ministry, as well as support services and the responsibilities of court directors, such as financial and asset management.

Under the bill, first- and second-tier courts will establish governing boards, which will become the central collegial decision-making body of a court, allowing judges to take part in decisions related to court operations and management. The board will take over several functions that are currently the sole responsibility of the court chair, including approving the court's internal rules, structure and staffing levels. It will also approve the court's division of workload.

The court chair will head the governing board and be responsible for implementing its decisions but will no longer make key administrative decisions alone.

Responsibility for Estonia's first- and second-tier courts was assigned to the Ministry of Justice by a government decision in 1995. The Supreme Court has remained self-governing.

The new law will also fix the total number of judges by statute. "The total number of judges is a strategic resource for the court system, directly affecting both access to and the quality of justice. Therefore, it is justified to enshrine it in law, as any changes would then require a decision by the Riigikogu and carry political responsibility," the memorandum states.

Under the reform, the county court would have 164 judges, the administrative court 26 and the circuit court 46.

Altogether, Estonia's courts employ about 1,000 people, including 255 judges.

Judges allowed to run companies

The reform bill also introduces a formal system for judicial feedback, granting higher court judges the authority to provide performance-related feedback to lower court judges.

In addition, it simplifies the process for judges to apply for part-time workloads and eases the procedure for extending a judge's maximum service age — something the current system makes unnecessarily complex and time-consuming, according to the explanatory memorandum.

The bill also clarifies the conditions under which judges may hold secondary employment. In the future, in addition to academic and research work, judges will be allowed to engage in entrepreneurship, legal drafting and legal work at international organizations — provided such activities do not interfere with their official duties, judicial independence or violate the dignity or ethical standards of the judicial office.

One reason for loosening these restrictions is to make the judiciary a more attractive career option for top legal professionals.

The Judicial Ethics Council has previously ruled that judges may engage in investing, purchase real estate and be passive shareholders in companies that rent out property. It has also deemed it acceptable for judges to work as substitute teachers, sports coaches or even paid film extras. However, judges must still comply with formal legal restrictions, including a ban on providing legal advice to companies or holding any official position in a business. In practice, this means a judge may be a passive investor but not take an active role in business management.

Under the proposed law, beyond academic and research work, judges would also be allowed to hold legal positions in international organizations, engage in legal drafting or participate in the management of a company, provided these roles meet the law's criteria.

The bill would also extend the period after which a disciplinary punishment for a judge is considered expired from one year to three and eliminate the option to shorten this period.

Another change would limit the use of lay judges in criminal proceedings. In the future, they would participate in full criminal trials only if specifically requested by the defendant.

These proposed amendments are part of a broader judicial reform aimed at turning Estonia's court system into a modern institution focused on delivering timely, high-quality and accessible justice across the country. The second part of the reform includes changes to procedural laws to optimize court workloads, improve efficiency and speed up legal proceedings.

The law is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027.

The proposed changes to the Courts Act and related legislation were submitted to the Ministry of Justice in November last year by Supreme Court Chief Justice Villu Kõve. The proposals were prepared by a working group of judges.

Estonia's last major court network reform took place in 2006 when several small rural and urban courts were consolidated into four district courts.

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