Judicial Court

A central conference that adapts and edits the Discipline as provided in ¶ 543.16 shall establish a judicial court, which in addition to other duties that the central conference may assign to it shall hear and determine the legality of any action of the central conference taken under the adapted portions of the Discipline or of a decision of law by the presiding bishop of the central conference pertaining to the adapted portions of the Discipline, upon appeal by the presiding bishop or by one-fifth of the members of the central conference. Further, the judicial court shall hear and determine the legality if any action of an annual conference taken under the adapted portions of the Discipline or of a decision of law by the presiding bishop of the annual conference pertaining to the adapted portion of the Discipline, upon appeal of the presiding bishop or of such percentage of the members of the annual conference as may be determined by the central conference concerned.

a) Membership - The court shall be composed of one member each, with personal substitute, from Denmark, Estonia, Finland S/F, Latvia/Lithuania, Norway, Russia C/NW/E/S and Ukraine/Moldova. Three members shall be clergy in full membership, and three shall be lay members of the church and been so for at least four years. The members are elected for four years and can be re-elected once for four more years. No one can serve more than two out of three quadrennia. A person over 70 years is not eligible. The term of service expires at the closure of the central conference session where a successor is elected. Members of the court are elected only upon nominations from annual and national district conference. The chairperson of the court is present at the central conference sessions.
b) Substitutes - Substitutes shall be elected in same numbers and by same rules as for regular members Should a vacancy arise during the quadrennium, a clergy member is replaced by a clergy and a lay member by a lay person, if possible, from the same country or region. The substitute shall serve till the end of the four-year term.
c) Organization - The court elects a chairperson and a secretary at the closure of the central conference session.
d) Restrictions - Members of the judicial court shall be ineligible to serve as delegates to the central conference, members of the central conference executive committee, the central conference committee on the Discipline, or cannot be appointed on central conference leadership level. No member of the court who also is a member of a central conference board or committee shall vote or take part in deliberations on matters concerning this board or committee; instead, a substitute shall serve on such a matter.
e) Meetings - The judicial court meets when there are matters to be dealt with. Four members constitute a quorum. Simple majority is enough for a decision; in case of equal number of votes, the opinion of the chairperson prevails. All persons who in one way or another are involved in a case, shall be parties to the proceeding and have the right to present evidence. Other persons with a direct or indirect interest in a case may also present their views.
f) Jurisdictions – The jurisdiction of the court is defined in the Constitution § 31, Article IV.6
g) Matters – Within its jurisdiction the court shall hear and determine the legality of: (1) decisions by the central conference, annual and national district conferences and their boards and committees, when appealed by the bishop or by no less than a fifth of the voting members of the central conference or a third of the voting members in an annual or national district conference. The judicial court can confirm such decisions or declare them as such or partly in violation of the law of the church. (2) Questions arising on the rules, regulations , and such revised, adapted, or new sections of the central conference Discipline.
h) Notification and Publication – The decisions of the judicial court shall in its entirety be sent to the bishop and all parties to the proceeding. All decisions during the quadrennium shall be reported to the central conference and printed in its minutes if necessary in a separate edition. A summary for each decision shall be published in the official magazines of the church.

Judicial Court Decisions:

Judicial Court decision no 2023 – 1

Judicial Court decision no 2023 - 2