Decisions by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is the highest court instance for criminal and civil cases in Finland. The statistics describing the activity of the Supreme Court contain data on the number of court decisions in civil and criminal cases by type of case, and on the times taken by the decisions. The Supreme Court can be appealed to against decisions of courts of appeal and certain decisions of the Assurance Tribunal, and against the decisions of district courts which district courts have made while acting as land courts, provided the Supreme Court grants leave of appeal. If no leave of appeal is granted, the handling of the case concludes and the decision of the court of appeal stands. Appeals against decisions of courts of appeal can be made without leave of appeal in cases where courts of ap-peal act as courts of first instance. In case it is important on account of its precedent nature for the matter to be resolved by the Supreme Court, changes to decisions of district courts can be appealed direct from the Supreme Court. The procedure then requires that the Supreme Courts grants leave of appeal and the opponent of the appeal has given consent to the procedure. The Supreme Court also has other duties detailed in the Act (Supreme Court Act 665/2005).