ŠIAULIAI REGIONAL COURT
Boleslovas Kalainis was appointed as the chairman of the Šiauliai Regional Court by the decree of the President of the Republic of Lithuania on 25 June 2001.
For the first time, a region (at that time called as repartition of courts) of the Šiauliai court was established as far back as in 1775, under the law adopted by the National Parliament of both nations in order to “distribute term of courts in a more expedient manner”. The Šiauliai repartition started its work in the beginning of 1776, upon specification of administrative distribution by the Parliament as well as worked until the Russian occupation. According to the resolution of 1775, there were 15 counties (municipalities), which belonged to the Šiauliai repartition (region) and of which many were situated in the northern and central part of Lower Lithuania (Žemaitija) as well as the greatest part of the municipality earlier belonged to the Telšiai repartition along with several municipalities of the Raseiniai repartition. In 1776 administrative distribution of Lower Lithuania was specified in the Parliament. Antanas Tyzenhauzas, who was a palace treasurer and economy administrator of the Great Dutchy of Lithuania, is considered to be the most important initiator and impetus in transferring courts to Šiauliai, since his intention was to increase the importance of Šiauliai, which was growing very fast at that time as well as to strengthen his political influence. Having transferred the courts to Šiauliai, Antanas Tyzenhauzas followed not only political considerations, but also expected to encourage further development of Šiauliai, to increase Šiauliai economical income along with his own influence upon the latter. On 26 February 1776, a castle court chancellery of the Šiauliai repartition of the Lower Lithuanian Dutchy started operating and on 01 March 1776 the first session of the Šiauliai castle court commenced. The same year, a land court of the Šiauliai repartition started work. On the south side of the Market square (today, Independence square) a court brick building of three floors was built, in which the office and archives of courts were established. Judges, office workers as well as lawyers, note-makers and other court staff came to work in Šiauliai. Court offices were opened all the time. Several small noblemen residing in Šiauliai received privileges from the lord to act as a court envoy. That is how one more nobility group was formed in Šiauliai. Noblemen’s meeting started operating in Šiauliai, which elected their representatives to the Parliament, Supreme Tribunal, candidates to the members of the land court and to the position of a justiciary or official, four candidates, of which one was appointed by the Grand Duke to act as a justiciary or official. According to jurisdiction, peasants of private estates belonged to their masters or their proxies’ courts of private estates. Peasants of the state estates were administered by owners of such estates, foremen, holders or their proxies. Unprivileged town inhabitants were in the same situation. Church courts could only administer churchmen. Inhabitants residing in towns having self-government rights were administered by the town self-government courts, although they were not considered the state courts.
Jews had their own courts supervised by an elder. On 01 March 2006 we will commemorate the 230th anniversary of establishment of the region of the Šiauliai court. For the first time, the region of the Šiauliai court was re-established on 22 February 1922 „under the law of the establishment of the Šiauliai Regional Court“ (this is the third region in Lithuania, up to then there were two operating court regions, namely in Kaunas and Marijampolė and only later on, in 1925, the region of Panevėžys court was established). The Constitutive Parliament was considering the possibility to increase the number of regional courts and therefore in order to distribute the activity territory of regional courts in proportion, it was decided by the law of 15 June 1921 to increase the number of regional courts, not linking them with the borders of former administrative unit. In 1922 the Minister of Justice approved by his order that organisational work in the Šiauliai Regional Court was completed and the court would start its work from 01 August 1922. However, practically cases were started to hear from 01 September 1922. The law of establishment of the Šiauliai Regional Court provided for the activity territory for the court being established. It included the counties of Šiauliai, Mažeikiai, Kretinga, Telšiai, Tauragė and Biržai – Pasvalys. This territory was modified only upon establishment of the Panevėžys Regional Court in 1925. After that, Pasvalys county was attributed to the Panevėžys Regional Court. Under the constitutive law of the Šiauliai Regional Court, also the number of the court members was established, i.e. the court chairman, his assistant and 9 court members. In the beginning, in absence of suitable candidates for the court members‘ positions, the court worked being of incomplete composition. Looking for the way out and following the provisional law of the Lithuanian courts and arrangement of their work of 1918, regional courts were allowed to include the Justice of the Peace or sworn lawyer into the composition of administering board, along with two permanent members of the court. From 22 February 1922, the court chairman and 6 court members worked in the Šiauliai Regional Court and from 01 January 1928 the court chairman, assistant court chairman and 11 court members worked in the Šiauliai Regional Court. According to the provisional law of the Lithuanian courts of 1918, regional court chairmen and court members were appointed and dismissed by the State Senate Presidium and later on, from 1919, this function devolved on the President of the Republic of Lithuania, although applicants to these positions were appointed under the order of the Minister of Justice. According to the order of the President of the Republic of Lithuania of 07 April 1922, the first chairman appointed to the Šiauliai Regional Court was Mykolas Šurna. After him, Napoleonas Morkvienas became the second chairman of the Šiauliai Regional Court. Napoleonas Morkvienas was the man, who dedicated all his life to court. He worked as the chairman of the Šiauliai Regional Court until 1939. The third chairman of the Šiauliai Regional Court appointed on 10 January 1939 was Pranas Baranauskas, the prosecutor of the Marijampolė Regional Court. The Šiauliai district court (there were four of them in Lithuania at that time), which was established in 1951-1953 also contributed to re-establishment of the Šiauliai Regional Court. On 13 February 1990, the Supreme Council, influenced by new political events in Lithuania, adopted several laws, in one way or another related to the court activity regulation, the most important of which was the law of court system and status of judges, which with further modifications and taking into consideration real life was in force until 01 January 1995.
The Šiauliai Regional Court is also the first instance for civil and criminal cases attributed for hearing to its competence by laws and the appellate instance for the revision of judgements, decisions, rulings and orders of district courts as well as it also carries out other functions, namely analyses the court practice, consults judges of lower rank and controls administrative activity in district courts. Šiauliai district courts started operating on 02 January 1995. The Šiauliai Regional Court was registered in the Statistics Department under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. The Regional Court located in the city with approximately 140 thousand inhabitants and which is fourth according to its size in Lithuania, is easily reached by inhabitants of the district or other towns. The number of 20 judges for the Šiauliai Regional Court was approved by the decree of the President of the Republic of Lithuania on 20 September 2002. The Šiauliai Regional Court consists of the court chairman, department heads and other judges. Vaclovas Algimantas Birbilas was appointed as the first chairman for the Šiauliai Regional Court by the decree of the President of the Republic of Lithuania on 18 November 1994.
The chairman for the regional court was and is still appointed by the President of the Republic of Lithuania. Heads of different departments in the beginning were appointed by the Minister of Justice and currently by the President of the Republic of Lithuania. According to the order of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania of 13 January 1995, judge Petras Rimantas Brazys was appointed as the head for the civil case department in the Šiauliai Regional Court. According to the order of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania of 04 November 1996, judge Irena Ivanovienė was appointed as the head for the criminal case department in the Šiauliai Regional Court and for her new tenure by the decree of the President of the Republic of Lithuania on 11 November 2003. The Šiauliai Regional Court is established in the palace built back in the beginning of 19th century and currently reconstructed, which is located in Dvaro Street 83. The building located in the very center of the city is included into the list of the cultural values preserved by the state.
