Vision, values and objectives

The Courts’ Roles and Responsibilities

The Courts have the judicial power according to the Danish Constitution.

The Courts safeguard our democracy, the rule of law, and the legal rights of the individual.

The Courts decide criminal cases and disputes between individuals, companies, and public authorities. The courts decide on the legality of the actions of authorities and the compliance of legislation with the Constitution and Denmark’s international obligations. The courts also process enforcement cases, probate cases, and land registration.

The Courts must ensure equality before the law for all individuals and protect them from abuse of power. According to the Constitution, judges are thus independent – they must only follow the law and be impartial when making decisions. They must not be influenced by political or any other irrelevant interests.

Vision

In a rapidly changing world, the Courts of Denmark must always serve as a guarantor of the rule of law and legal security and as the central place to resolve disputes.

The Courts of Denmark must maintain and strengthen their role as a guarantor of the rule of law and as society’s central dispute resolver. Therefore, we must develop in line with the needs of the surrounding world and our users, so that we can meet them on their own and contemporary terms and maintain high trust in the Danish judiciary.

We must resolve cases quickly, uniformly, and efficiently. Through insight into society’s needs, we will continue to develop the services of the courts, both in terms of content and technology, and communicate to users in a timely manner. 

The courts are driven by strong values, which we strive to maintain every day in every context, externally and internally.

The values of the courts are:

Responsibility

The courts must make correct, well-founded, and understandable decisions in a timely manner. Therefore, we need the required professional and human competencies to perform tasks of high quality and efficiency. 

Everyone at the courts has a shared responsibility for the outcome of individual cases and the overall system. Therefore, we share knowledge, and we develop and disseminate best practices.

Credibility

In the courts, we work according to the law and are credible. We are not influenced by irrelevant considerations. We are impartial and neutral, and we are aware that we must always appear as such.

Respectful treatment

We treat everyone properly and with respect. We demonstrate understanding for the individual’s situation and background, and we respect diversity. We express ourselves clearly, both in writing and verbally.

Openness and Responsiveness

The courts must be open and accessible to everyone. We collaborate with one another and with our users, respecting the frameworks that apply to the courts. We work to ensure that the courts develop in a timely manner, as an organization and as a workplace.

The courts protect our democracy, the rule of law, and individual legal rights. To live up to this, the courts must continue to create value for users and society.

Society is constantly evolving – partly due to technology development at an ever-increasing pace – and to meet the demands and expectations of citizens and businesses, user focus is a significant area for the courts.

When citizens and businesses encounter the courts, it typically involves a situation that significantly impacts the individual’s life and future opportunities. Therefore, it is crucial to receive a decision in a timely manner.

Short processing times are essential to ensure citizens’ legal security and perceived fairness, whether it involves criminal cases, civil cases, enforcement cases, or probate cases.

Consistency is important for the perception of legal security. Citizens and businesses should be treated in a consistent manner, and it is practically significant for users that task execution is organized uniformly across the courts, thereby maintaining – and increasingly creating – predictability for the users.

This is also important when it comes to processing times, as it is essential for the user experience to be offered a reasonably consistent processing time, no matter where in the country their case is handled. Greater consistency can help maintain the public’s high trust in the courts.

The Courts of Denmark must be able to perform tasks at a high-quality level, both now and in the future, while maintaining efficiency in task execution.

Therefore, it is essential to find the right balance between quality and efficiency, ensuring that correct decisions are made in a timely manner with the best possible use of resources. This places several demands on the Courts of Denmark as an organization.