At the time of the Vikings all free men were assembled in the ting, where political matters were discussed and decided. The ting, held outdoors in a place of religious cult, also served, however, as a court. Many disputes were ”solved” through ordeals or duels, but in civil litigation the chief or leader of the court proposed a verdict to the members of the ting for approval ( - the Vikings banged their shields to signal agreement...). In the 13th century when the local courts were established (and the ordeals abandoned), the administration of justice in the country was carried out by a judge, appointed by the king, and 12 elected (permanent) members of the local community. In the 17th century the courts were led by professional judges (with legal education) and the proceedings changed from oral to written form, a change that reduced the influence of the lay members of the court. The legal reform of 1734 reduced that influence even further as it stipulated that all lay judges had to disagree with the professional judge in order to outvote him. At the beginning of the 19th century the introduction of the jury system was discussed, but the jury was introduced into the Swedish system only in cases concerning freedom of the press (and it still applies in these cases). During the 20th century two opposite lines can be seen in the development of the role of the lay judges : The number of lay judges in the local courts has been reduced, step by step. In 1918 the government decided that 3 lay judges were sufficient for minor criminal cases. In 1948 the number of lay judges was reduced from 12 to 9 for major criminal cases and in 1971 from 9 to 7. The same year lay judges disappeared from civil cases (except for cases concerning family law). In 1983 the number decreased to 5 for major criminal cases and in 1997 it fell to 3 lay judges in all criminal cases. On the other hand, since 1971, lay judges participate in the proceedings of Court of Appeal (as a minority) as well as the administrative courts, and in 1983 lay judges of all courts received an individual voting right, which put them on an equal footing with a professional judge.

Lay participation in the Swedish court system today could be summed up as follows : all criminal cases and family law cases are decided by 1 professional judge and 3 lay judges. If these cases are taken to the Court of Appeal, the decision there is made by 3 professional and 2 lay judges. In the Supreme Court there is no lay participation. The lay judges are elected by the political parties in proportion to the votes for the county council, for a period of 4 years. Every Swedish citizen above the age of 18 is eligible. The legislator has stressed that the population of lay judges should reflect a spectre of the real population, but in practice the elected lay judges are much older (average age of 58), richer and more well-educated than the average Swede. The election of lay judges through the political parties has been criticized, since membership in a political party does not harmonize with impartial, neutral and apolitical service in court, but no alternative method for election has been suggested so far. The time served in court varies for each lay judge, depending on her or his interest and availability. For a day´s service at court the lay judge gets a remuneration of 300 SEK (approx. 40 USD) a day, plus compensation (up to 120 USD) for loss of income.

In the Swedish procedural law of today there is nothing, except the criteria of qualification, which distinguishes the lay judge from the professional judge. The task of the lay judge, according to the law, is just to deliver a judgement. He is not in court to participate in a discussion-board or to express the common sense of justice and thereby influence the judgement. He is not fulfilling a democratic control function or by his presence trying to increase the legitimacy of the court. But in practice these are the tasks that the lay judges do fulfill. They are handicapped by not knowing ”the law”, which makes them ”hostages” of the professional judge. In addition, the professional judges of the higher courts may overrule the majority decisions of the local courts.

My research on Swedish lay judges [1] shows that they behave very passively during the deliberation process and that verdicts in which the lay majority outvotes the professional judge are very rare; only in 1-3 % of criminal cases has the verdict been the result of lay judges outvoting the professional judge. These ”lay verdicts” reveal another interesting tendency; in contrast to juries in other countries (”the bleeding heart-syndrom”) the Swedish lay judges tend to find the defendant guilty, or require a more severe punishment than the professional judge, who tends to want to free the accused or to give him a more lenient sentence.

Other findings in the study that could be of some interest concern the judging ability of lay judges and show the following :

Amongst other findings it could be noted :