Court history

History of Šiauliai Regional Court

The region of Šiauliai Court (then called the repartition of the courts) was first established in 1775 under the order of the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on the grounds that it was necessary “to distribute the terms of the courts more appropriately”. The repartition of Šiauliai started working from the beginning of 1776, when the Sejm specified the administrative division, worked until the Russian occupation.

The region of Šiauliai Court was first restored (established) on 22 February 1922 under the Law on the Establishment of Šiauliai Regional Court” (it was the third region in Lithuania as until then there were two functioning regions of the courts - Kaunas and Marijampolė. Only later, in 1925, the region of Panevėžys Court was established).                

On 7 April 1922, following the order of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Mykolas Šurna, who was working as a member of Kaunas Regional Court before, was appointed as the first Chairman of Šiauliai Regional Court. He worked as the Chairman of the court till 5 October 1928. Then Napoleonas Morkvienas, who was working as the Chairman of Panevėžys Regional Court before, was appointed as the second Chairman. Napoleonas Morkvienas dedicated his whole life to the activities of the courts. When he was 25 years old, he graduated from the Law Faculty of Saint Petersburg State University. On 30 June 1922, in accordance with the order of the Minister of Justice, Napoleonas Morkvienas was appointed as the judge of peace at the Vabalininkai police station of Biržai District. In 1923 – as a member of Šiauliai Regional Court. In 1925 - as the Chairman of Panevėžys Regional Court. He worked as the Chairman of Šiauliai Regional Court till 1939 (he was dismissed when he reached the retirement age).      

On 10 January 1939 Pranas Baranauskas, the prosecutor of Marijampolė Regional Court, was appointed as the third Chairman. In 1940 Soviet authorities arrested him and sentenced him to 10 years in prison and later, in 1943, he died in prison. Peliksas Bugailiškis was not only tolerated by the Ministry of Justice, but also considered as a person who performed the administrative work very well. In 1939 he was strongly suggested to accept the position of the first Chairman of Vilnius Regional Court and on 21 October 1939 Peliksas Bugailiškis accepted to be appointed as the first Chairman of Vilnius Regional Court provided that it would be a temporary work.  Peliksas Bugailiškis was personally persuaded by professor Tamošaitis, the Minister of Justice. Peliksas Bugailiškis was appointed as the Chairman of Vilnius Regional Court and he was in charge of a responsible and difficult position when the Court was taken over from Polish people.      

On 10 August 1940, M. Gedvilas, acting President of the Republic of Lithuania, dismissed Peliksas Bugailiškis from the position of the Chairman of Vilnius Regional Court and appointed him as the Chairman of Šiauliai Regional Court.      

On 11 March 1990 the Supreme Council - Restoration Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania declared the restoration of the independent Republic of Lithuania. On the same day, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania adopted a resolution, which provided that “The Supreme Court of Lithuania, the district and city courts.........shall exercise their existing powers until the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania will form new state bodies”.          

On 6 February 1992 the Law on Courts of the Republic of Lithuania provided the four-level system of courts of Lithuania, consisting of district courts, regional courts, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.         

On 29 October 1992 the Law on the Establishment of Regional Courts was adopted. Šiauliai Regional Court was established and it was composed of the Chairman of Regional Court, Chairmen of departments and 17 judges. The area of jurisdiction of Šiauliai Regional Court was also determined. This law was to come into force only after the adoption of relevant laws regarding the amendments of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania and the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania and after the entry into force of all articles of the Law on Courts of the Republic of Lithuania. Therefore, in accordance with the Law of 15 June 1994 “On the Establishment of the Supreme Court of Lithuania, the Court of Appeal of Lithuania, Regional Court and the Determination of the Areas of Jurisdiction of Regional and District Courts”, it was provided that five regional courts shall operate in Lithuania - Vilnius Regional Court, Kaunas Regional Court, Klaipėda Regional Court, Šiauliai Regional Court and Panevėžys Regional Court. Regional Court are the courts of the second level of the system of court of Lithuania and has a dual purpose - they are courts of the first instance and appeal instance.

Following the Decree of 18 November 1994 of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Vaclovas Algimantas Birbilas, who until then worked as the Chairman of Šiauliai City District Court, was appointed as the first Chairman of Šiauliai Regional Court and worked in this position till 2001.       

Following the Decree of 25 June 2001 of the Republic of Lithuania, Boleslovas Kalainis, who until then worked as the judge of Šiauliai Regional Court, was appointed as the Chairman of Šiauliai Regional Court and worked in this position till 2014. In 2014 Vytautas Kursevičius was appointed as the Chairman of Šiauliai Regional Court and he has been working in this position so far.