Advisers of the Supreme Court took part in the ninth meeting of the Comparative Law Group in Helsinki

The Group is an association of eight Supreme Courts, namely of the Czech Republic, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom. It is a platform for the members to exchange information on comparative law, foreign legislation, different approaches to legal issues, and decision-making practice.

During this year´s meeting, the members of the Group exchanged experience with their comparative work, its nature, staffing and technical support, and analytical outputs. The meeting was opened by the President of the Supreme Court of Finland, Tatu Leppänen. He presented the participants with a brief overview of Finland’s history as a part of the Nordic legal family and the current court system in Finland. The opening remarks were followed by a more detailed presentation about the Supreme Court and its functioning by Marja Reijonen-Schofield, criminal law referendary.

The first session was dedicated to experience and best practices connected with working for a Supreme Court. It included an open discussion on the varying roles of the participants of the meeting in their respective courts. Such roles obviously depend greatly on the nature of the Supreme Court proceedings – there might be differences, for example, in whether there are oral hearings by default and if evidence is presented during such hearings.

The second session´s topic was the admission of evidence concerning drug trafficking. This topic was presented by Tuukka Vähätalo, criminal law referendary. The presentation introduced the participants to the Finnish legislative approach and Finnish case law regarding the admissibility of lawfully and unlawfully obtained messages as evidence in criminal proceedings especially concerning serious drug trafficking offences. Jussi Tapani, judge of the Supreme Court, then opened the discussion. The participants offered interesting insights into their states’ respective legal framework and case law on admissibility.

The topic of the last session was focused on the different ways video conferencing can be used to organize trials in the participants´ countries. The discussion was structured around the question of how remote participation of participants in a trial, namely the parties, witnesses, and the members of the court, is approached in different jurisdictions. Presentations by Mika Ilveskero, judge of the Supreme Court, on key Finnish decisions on the subject matter and by Matti Pyöriä, criminal law referendary, on the upcoming Finnish legislation formed a basis for an open discussion. In the discussion involving the other delegations, it was noted that the practices vary considerably across the member countries. In some of them, video evidence is admissible only under special circumstances, while in others even the consent of the parties is not necessary.

The next year´s Group meeting is going to be organised by the Supreme Court of Slovenia.

Mgr. Aleš Pavel
Director of the Office of the President