Dear Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
dear members of the Supreme Court,
dear guests!

Today eighty years ago, our predecessors initiated the activities of the Estonian Supreme Court in the Tartu Town Hall. Allow me, on this significant anniversary, to greet and congratulate the Supreme Court of the Republic of Estonia and the judicature of the Republic of Estonia, and your guests from home and abroad.

This greeting's only message is the hope that you will use this anniversary for a serious and concordant analysis of the current situation of the rule of law in Estonia. We have all come from a totalitarian system, and have quickly learned the vocabulary and outward appearances of a democratic state. And yet I would be much more interested in your answer to the question why several principles of the rule of law are still slow to root in the Republic of Estonia; and why we all have to admit today, at the beginning of the year 2000, that there is a need to address the question of credibility of the Estonian court system.

The citizens of the Republic of Estonia sense this, their sense of justice has been painfully undermined by several rulings of the court, and you, honourable judges, have also written of this, as well as our honourable Minister of Justice.

The longing for law and justice is alive in each citizen. The citizen's confidence in the state first and foremost depends on how much he understands the state, how much he understands the laws; how much he understands his rights and obligations that proceed from the laws; and on how quickly the Republic of Estonia responds to the violations of law. At the same time, the citizen must be deeply convinced that that the court is not a tool for the government, but an impartial arbiter between man and man, as well as between man and the government. And the Estonian state must guarantee this certainty to the citizen.

I am convinced that you understand how much I hope from our court system. But first of all, I would like to assure you that for me, the independence of court system is axiomatic. This is why I expect the answers to these questions, as well as the posing of new questions, first and foremost from you.

I believe that this anniversary marks the beginning of a hardworking decade, a decade that will improve the administration of justice in our society.

back | archive of speeches | main page