15 Years of
the Estonian Association of Judges
The Estonian Association
of Judges (unofficial abbreviation EKoÜ) is
a voluntary union of judges of the Republic of Estonia,
a non-profit association, a legal person in private
law. Estonian judges may be active members of the
Association. Honourable members are elected by the
general meeting by proposal of the management board.
As of 1. August 2006 the Association has 168 active
members and two honourable members: President of
the Vienna Criminal Court Günther Woratsch
(1999), and former judge, founder member of the
EKoÜ and current Chancellor of the Estonian
Bar Association, Attorney-at-Law Rein Kiviloo (1955).
The general meeting of the members is the highest
body of the Association. The management board directs
the activities of the Association between the general
meetings. An internal audit committee has been set
up. The Association has its own seal, emblem (designed
by founder member Rein Pärtel) and banner.
The Association’s foundation was triggered
by the socio-political situation in the country
and it happened quite quickly after the Republic
of Estonia regained its independence on 20 August
1991. The statutes were drafted by Donald Kiidjärv
(judge of Tartu County Court at that time) and Peeter
Jerofejev (judge of Tartu City Court at the time).
The foundation issues were discussed beforehand
with other judges in the Paide and Viljandi Courthouses.
The foundation meeting was held on 18 December 1991
in the Engineers’ House in Tartu and the founder
members were 33 judges. According to the minutes
of the foundation meeting, the objectives were to
better protect the social rights of judges and to
be a channel for stating the judges’ views
and opinions. “At first it resembled a trade
union. Later came the understanding of the necessity
of international cooperation,” recollects
present Justice of the Supreme Court and first Chairman
of the Association Peeter Jerofejev.
Over the following years, the Association was chaired
by Maie Kram (Judge of the Lääne County
Court, December 1993 – December 1995), Allar
Jõks, (Judge of the Tallinn Circuit Court,
December 1995 – March 2001, left the chairman’s
position after he was elected the Republic of Estonia
Chancellor of Justice), Hurma Kiviloo (Judge of
the Tallinn Administrative Court, March 2001 –
November 2005). Judge of the Harju County Court
Meelis Eerik has been the Chairman of the Association
since November 2005.
Judge of the Tallinn Circuit Court Jüri Paap
was the secretary and cashier in the early years
of the Association. Mai Grauberg (now Judge of the
Harju County Court, then Consultant of the Tallinn
Circuit Court) came to assist the Association as
a clerk in 1996. Toomas Riismaa (then Administrative
Director, now Head of Administration of the Tallinn
Circuit Court) has been the clerk of the Association
with a short break since November 1997.
The EKoÜ is has been a member of the IAJ (International
Association of Judges) since 1995. The Association’s
representatives have participated in the IAJ annual
meetings since 1993. The EKoÜ owes its admission
to the IAJ, and its ensuing international contacts
with its counterparts in other countries, due to
the services of honourable member G. Woratsch.
The Association has the following statutory objectives:
to associate judges within a professional organisation,
to protect the independence of courts and judges,
to protect the individual, work-related and socio-economic
rights and legal interests of judges, to shape and
maintain the high level of professional ethics of
judges, and to study the history of the courts which
have functioned on Estonian territory. The Association
has followed these objectives during its years of
operation. While in its early years the Association’s
priority was indeed to stand for the social guarantees
of judges, then already since the mid-1990s the
discussions began within the Association on whether
it should be more of a trade union or professional
association. Considering that it is the only association
of judges in our country, it has inevitably had
to take on both these functions.
The Association has consistently stood for judges
to receive a worthy reward for their work. This
role of the Association was especially apparent
in 1998 and 2002. In connection with the executive
power’s attempt to change the judges’
salaries without informing the judges and their
Association of the matter, the EKoÜ addressed
the President of the European Association of Judges
for support in the autumn of 1998 and support was
indeed extended. In 2002 the Chairman of the Association,
H. Kiviloo, participated in the hearing of the draft
Courts Act in the Parliament. The draft Courts Act
was more widely discussed on the EKoÜ’s
initiative with representatives of the legislative
and executive powers. The EKoÜ’s pursuits
were finally fruitful as important guarantees, for
the judges’ independence, were secured by
the legislation.
The management board of the Association has also
participated in the distribution of official apartments
to judges and in later negotiations with the Ministry
of Justice to discuss the ways how judges could
become the owners of their homes.
As statehood developed and in parallel with the
“trade union” activities, the Association
has acted primarily as a professional organisation.
Till 2002, when the Council of Administration of
Courts and the Court en banc were set up under the
Courts Act, the Estonian judges had no self-government
bodies. The EKoÜ was the channel through which
the judiciary was able to stand up for its interests,
communicate with the legislative and executive powers,
and voice its positions on issues regarding the
judicial system and the judges. Till then, the Association’s
annual meeting was almost the only annual forum
where the judiciary was able to discuss the problems
important to it. In the second half of the 1990s,
the management board of the Association also held
extended meetings attended by the chairmen of the
courts. These meetings played an important role
in shaping the common positions of judges on the
administrative model of the courts and on the social
guarantees and training of judges.
The Code of Conduct for Estonian judges was adopted
at the Association’s general meeting on 15
March 1994 on the initiative of the Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court R. Maruste. On 13 February
2004, the Court en banc adopted the Code of Ethics
of the Estonian judges, which was chiefly drafted
by the EKoÜ members; the former Code of Conduct
was one of the source documents used in preparing
the draft.
Throughout the Association’s period of existence,
judges have now and then had problems with their
media relations. This question was particularly
new and problematic for the judges during the early
years of the EKoÜ, which is why the Association’s
balancing and advisory role was more called upon.
Although major courts now employ press representatives,
the Association considers it to be one of its goals
to contribute to the objective media coverage of
the work of courts and judges. As an example of
the activities undertaken toward this goal, the
EKoÜ, in cooperation with the Estonian Newspaper
Association, will carry out training for journalists
this autumn.
The Association and its members have actively participated
in the discussions on the issues of administration
of the courts, which have been topical almost throughout
the Association’s period of activity and continue
to be so. A representative of the Association has
regularly participated in the work of the Council
of Administration of Courts since its foundation.
One of the current priorities of developing the
judicial system is the development of the courts’
information system. We are glad that the EKoÜ
representatives have been involved in these processes.
The Association’s chairman is a member of
the management team of E-File and the EKoÜ’s
members belong to the working groups for various
types of procedures. Training of judges has been
an important issue at all times. In the 1990s, the
Association was active in analysing the judges’
follow-up training and other issues relating to
the training of judges. The Association’s
role in this area is also important because the
law did not directly give judges the right to have
their say in these issues. The situation changed
when the new Courts Act was adopted in 2002; now
the Court en banc elects the representatives of
judges to the judges’ training council.
The Association and its members have contributed
to legal drafting in Estonia. The EKoÜ has
been recognised as a representative organisation
of judges and is regularly asked for advice on the
draft laws relating to the development of the judicial
system and judicial proceedings. The Association,
with the help of its members, has been giving advice
to the extent that it has had the necessary ideas
and resources.
International cooperation with colleagues, inclusive
of the judges’ association in other countries
has also been important. The Association has given
its members the possibility to participate in professional
conferences and to acquaint themselves with the
work of the courts in foreign countries. Since admission
to the IAJ, the Association’s representatives
have participated in annual meetings of the IAJ
and EAJ (European Association of Judges). Contacts
with colleagues in Germany, Austria, Finland and
the Baltic states have been the most frequent. Various
conferences have been held in Estonia and Finland
in cooperation with the Finnish Association of Judges:
the first of them was held in Finland in 1995 and
the latest one, dedicated to the “Written
and unwritten rules of judiciary ethics”,
took place in May 2003 in Tallinn.
A joint meeting of the representatives of Latvian,
Lithuanian and Estonian judges was held on 16 November
1993 in Jurmala, Latvia; the meeting considered
it necessary to enter into an agreement for the
foundation of the Council of the Baltic Associations
of Judges and for further cooperation. The agreement
set out that the Council of the Baltic Associations
of Judges was a permanent body of the Estonian,
Latvian and Estonian Associations of Judges, which
would meet once a year to discuss the important
issues faced by the judicial powers of these countries.
Four judges from each of the Baltic States are elected
to the Council (one from the Association of Judges
and one from each instance of the courts). The statutes
of the Council of the Baltic Associations of Judges
were adopted on 26–28 September 1994 at a
conference in Tartu. Tallinn Circuit Court Judge
Mare Merimaa has been Estonian leader of the Council’s
activities, as well as the long-time Chairman and
Vice Chairman of the Council.
The EKoÜ has also cooperated with other professional
organisations of lawyers in Estonia: the Association
of Prosecutors and the Estonian Lawyers’ Union.
The Association has a long history of cooperation
with the Estonian Moot Court Society since its foundation
in the academic year 1997/98. Members of the Association
have participated in evaluating competition works
in the written round and as judges in the final
oral round. The EKoÜ has given prizes to the
winners.
Since 2004, the EKoÜ has a banner that has
been so far awarded to the members Hurma Kiviloo,
Uno Lõhmus, Jaano Odar and Nelja Zaitseva.
The banner is a token of recognition, which according
to its statute is awarded to a person or a group
of persons for the best deed of a year. The banner
may also be awarded to a retiring member of the
Association who has worked as a judge for at least
20 years, and on other occasions for the services
rendered for the development and strengthening of
Estonia’s court system and for the protection
of the interests of the judiciary.
Social events have also played a major role in uniting
and acquainting the judges. Training and holiday
tours to Austria, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Sardinia
and Corsica and Turkey have been organised for the
Association members and their families between the
years 1998–2005. Since 1993 it was a fine
tradition for the EKoÜ for many years to organise
a Judges’ Day and a conference in winter.
The Association has also supported the traditional
summer gathering of judicial workers. Sports have
also not been forgotten: over the years, the Association’s
team has competed with prosecutors and attorneys-at-law
in basketball, volleyball, table tennis and chess.
A new event is being held for the EKoÜ members
now –– an event, at Maarja Village,
for disabled children in the Põlva county.
What could the next 15 years be like for the Association?
This will depend on the development of the Estonian
state and judicial system, as well as on the members
themselves. The EKoÜ has had its good and bad
times, but it is a fact that judges need their own
professional organisation. The professional organisation
has to be the constantly active and authoritative
pressure group, which via the joint efforts of its
members can always stand for the independence and
common interests of the judges and have its say
in legal drafting.
Kersti Kerstna-Vaks
Member of the Management Board of EKoÜ in
1995–1999,
Vice Chairman since 2005
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