Previous Presidents of the SAC
President of the Supreme Administrative Court 2012–2018
b. 1950
Master of Laws 1973
Master of Science (Agriculture and Forestry) 1973
Licentiate of Laws 1978
Doctor of Laws 1982
In the different tasks of the Water Administration in 1972–1981
Acting Professor of Economic Law at Helsinki University of Technology 1978, 1983–1984
Acting Professor of Private Law at Lapland University 1982–1983
Assistant Professor of Civil Law at the University of Turku 1984–1989
Senior Scientist of the Academy of Finland 1986–1987
Assistant Professor of Land and Water Law at the University of Helsinki 1989–1995
Senior Advisor for Legislative Affairs, Legislative Affairs of the Law-Drafting Department of the Ministry of Justice 1989–1995
Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Turku 1995
Professor of Business Law and Laboratory Director at the Helsinki University of Technology 1995–1997
Extraordinary Justice of the Supreme Administrative Court 1997
Member of the Supreme Administrative Court 1998–2012
President of the Supreme Administrative Court 2012–31 August 2018
Member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters 2005–
Member of the Board of Directors of the Finnish Lawyers’ Association 1999–2001, Vice Chairman 2002–2004, Chairman 2005–2007
Chairman of the editorial council of the Lakimies legal journal 2008–2013
Member of the Board of Directors of the Olga and Kaarle Oskari Laitinen Foundation 2008–2016, Chairman 2011–2016
Chairman of the Association of Supreme Court Judges 2004–2005
Chairman, vice chairman or member of dozens of government or ministry committees, commissions, working groups and advisory committees at various times
Approximately 190 published titles of legal literature
Has served as a preliminary examiner or opponent of several doctoral dissertations at various times
President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1993–2012
b. 1944
Master of Laws 1967, Licentiate of Laws 1971, Master of Laws trained on the bench 1972, Doctor of Laws 1978, Docent of Administrative Law 1978 (University of Helsinki), Honorary Doctor of Administrative Sciences 1999 (University of Joensuu), Doctor of Political Sciences 2004.
Extraordinary Referendary to the Supreme Administrative Court 1967–1968, 1968–1970 and 1971, Junior Director, Legislative Affairs at the Ministry of Justice 1968, Junior Judicial Secretary of the Supreme Administrative Court 1971–1976, Junior Researcher of the State Social Sciences Committee 1973–1977, Senior Judicial Secretary of the Supreme Administrative Court 1978, Director, Legislative Affairs at the Ministry of Justice 1977–1978, Extraordinary Justice of the Supreme Administrative Court 1978, 1980, Director, Legislative Affairs at the Ministry of Justice 1980, Justice of the Supreme Administrative Court 1981–1993, Acting Professor of Administrative Law at the University of Helsinki 1990, President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1 December 1993 – 29 February 2012.
Pekka Hallberg, Doctor of Laws and Political Sciences, is a significant figure Finnish society. He worked as a Justice of the Supreme Administrative Court for 12 years and had served the Supreme Administrative Court for a total of 26 years before his appointment as President. As President, he sought to safeguard the rule of law and the legal protection of private citizens. In particular, Hallberg stressed the importance of justifying decisions and increasing the number of oral hearings in administrative justice.
Hallberg considered the right of appeal to be a strong fundamental right that should not be restricted by extending the need to obtain leave to appeal decisions in the Supreme Administrative Court. In his view, under the rule of law, people should be freely able to have the lawfulness of decisions examined by a court to ensure the conformity of government to law.
During his career, Hallberg has sat on several key committees and actively engaged in public debate. He was also deeply involved in the preparation of the fundamental rights reform and our current constitution. In his literary output, he has focused not only on administrative law and the administrative process but also on municipal law and zoning and construction law. Hallberg defended his doctoral dissertation in political sciences while serving as President. In his retirement, he has continued to make a significant contribution to cooperation on the rule of law with developing countries.
Hallberg is known for his love of nature and music and enjoys fishing, skiing, running and music – especially playing the accordion. A connoisseur of folklore, he has an apt saying for every occasion.
President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1982–1993
b. 30 November 1923, d. 30 March 2008
Higher law degree 1948, Trained at the bench 1951, Master of Laws (Harvard) 1952, Licentiate of Laws 1954, Doctor of Laws 1963, Docent of Financial Law (University of Turku) 1963, Honorary Doctor of Laws 1984 (Stockholm).
Consistory Notary of the University of Helsinki 1949–1956, Rapporteur at the Ministry of Finance 1956–1958 and 1959, Acting Junior Legal Affairs Officer 1958, Assistant Lecturer at the University of Helsinki 1958, 1959–1963, Acting Professor of Labour Law 1962–1967, Professor 1967–1982, Extraordinary Justice of the Supreme Administrative Court 1968, Full-time Chairman of the Committee on Simplifying Taxation 1969, Full-time Chairman of the Labour Court 1974–1982 and President 1974–1982, President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1982–1993.
Before his appointment as President of the Supreme Administrative Court, Antti Suviranta served as Professor of Labour Law and President of the Labour Court. He had defended his doctoral dissertation in the field of tax law and participated in the development of tax legislation.
In the development of the application of administrative law, Suviranta considered it important to establish the County Administrative Courts as fully empowered courts. Access to the courts was to be guaranteed by repealing the remaining prohibitions on appeals. He believed that de facto legal protection could be improved by developing the system of leave to appeal, as the Supreme Administrative Court would be able to focus on the development of legal practice and ensuring its uniformity, as well as on the correction of obvious errors in the courts of first instance.
The Supreme Administrative Court moved to its current premises in Suviranta’s term. Electronic case registers were developed, and computerised word processing replaced typing. The internationalisation of the Finnish judicial system began to reflect on the work of the Supreme Administrative Court to an increasing degree. Finland joined the European Convention on Human Rights in 1990. Suviranta emphasised the importance of international contacts as a researcher, university teacher and judge, and actively liaised with his foreign colleagues. As a member of the Venice Commission, Suviranta was involved in developing the legislation of the Baltic States and other emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe to meet the requirements of the European concept of the rule of law. Suviranta continued in this position for several years after his retirement at the age of 70.
President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1965–1982
b. 18 April 1912, d. 11 July 2013
Higher law degree 1937, Bachelor of Laws 1937, Licentiate of Laws 1949, Trained at the bench 1939, Honorary Doctor of Laws 1972 (University of Helsinki).
Deputy Head of Office at the State Treasury 1940–1944, Junior Legal Affairs Officer at the Ministry of Finance 1945–1946, Senior Legal Affairs Officer 1946–1957, Junior Member of the Legislative Commission and Director of Legislative Affairs 1950–1955, Extraordinary Justice of the Supreme Administrative Court 1955–1957, Justice of the Supreme Administrative Court 1957–1964, Chancellor of Justice 1964–1965, President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1965–1982.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Deputy Prime Minister 1963–1964.
In the field of administrative law, Aarne Nuorvala is especially remembered as a developer of the legal protection of individuals and a reformer of the administrative court system.
In his role as President of the Supreme Administrative Court, Nuorvala considered that the aim of the Supreme Administrative Court should be not only to achieve just outcomes but also to direct legal practice and harmonise lower-level administrative justice in order to promote legal certainty. This required holding more oral hearings in the administrative courts and adequate justification of the decisions.
Nuorvala wanted the legislation to ensure the lawfulness of administrative decisions when they were made and thus reduce the need for appeals. This position was partly influenced by the backlog of appeals in the administrative courts, which plagued his term in office as well. Legislation under public law had expanded and become more complex after the wars, and the resources of the court system had not been able to keep up.
Nuorvala developed the Supreme Administrative Court with determination. He improved procedural transparency and the application of the service principle. Nuorvala believed that the Supreme Administrative Court had to reflect the changes in society. Major investments were thus made in information technology during his term, which reduced the backlog of appeals. Nuorvala lived to an advanced age and maintained his interest in a citizen-oriented system of legal protection and the development of the Supreme Administrative Court until his final days.
President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1958–1965
b. 18 January 1907, d. 27 January 1965
Higher law degree 1932, Trained at the bench 1935, Bachelor of Laws 1936.
Town Manager of Loimaa 1932–1937, Notary and Junior Judicial Secretary of the Supreme Administrative Court 1937–1944, Junior Member of the Legislative Commission 1939–1940, Assistant Judge at the National Board of Medicines 1944–1945, Director-General and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice 1945, Parliamentary Ombudsman 1946–1947, Justice of the Supreme Administrative Court 1947–1955, Director of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland 1955, President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1958–1965.
Minister of Justice 1953–1954, Prime Minister 1958.
Reino Kuuskoski had an illustrious career in law and politics. The focus of his literary work was on municipal law.
Kuuskoski was appointed as Referendary to the Supreme Administrative Court even before the Winter War. During the Continuation War, he served in the military administration of East Karelia and was a member of the High Court of Eastern Karelia. After the war, Kuuskoski served as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Parliamentary Ombudsman, among other positions, before his appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Administrative Court in 1947.
Kuuskoski was appointed Director of the Social Insurance Institution in 1955 and President of the Supreme Administrative Court in 1958, in which post he died in 1965.
President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1957–1958
b. 14 September 1888, d. 28 July 1961
Law degree and higher administration degree 1910, Trained at the bench 1912, Bachelor of both laws 1917, Honorary Doctor of Theology 1955 (University of Helsinki).
Notary of the State Treasury 1911, Extraordinary copyist of the economic division of the Senate 1912–1914, Clerk of the administrative department of the Senate 1914–1917, Protocol Secretary 1917–1918, Secretary of Parliament 1918–1928, Deputy Chancellor of Justice 1928–1933, Justice of the Supreme Administrative Court 1933–1957, President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1957–1958.
Eino Ahla served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeal for 24 years before his appointment as President of the Supreme Administrative Court, which position he held from 1957 to 1958.
Ahla served the government for more than fifty years. He began his career in the civil service as an extraordinary referendary to the provincial government while still at university. Before joining the Supreme Administrative Court, Ahla served as Secretary of Parliament and Deputy Chancellor of Justice.
At the Supreme Administrative Court, Ahla developed the rule of law in Finland and the application of administrative law by shortening the processing times of administrative appeals. He also sought to develop the County Administrative Courts into independent administrative courts, which was eventually realised at the end of the 1980s.
In addition to his practical career in law, Ahla produced an extensive body of literary works on, among other things, the theory of legal dogmatics. Tax law and matrimonial law were also prominent subjects in his literary output.
Ahla was one of the leading experts in and a developer of church law. He also had a passion for the scientific study of church administration in his free time. The Faculty of Theology of the University of Helsinki awarded him an honorary doctorate for his work.
President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1929–1956
b. 30 December 1886, d. 8 March 1965
Law degree 1907, Trained at the bench 1910, Bachelor of Both Laws 1912, Honorary Doctor of Laws 1948 (University of Helsinki) and 1957 (University of Stockholm).
Law firm assistant 1913–1914, Extraordinary Judge of the City Court 1914–1917, Assistant Judge of the National Housing Board 1917–1922, Junior Member of the Legislative Commission 1919–1924, Senior Member 1924–1926, Judge of the Circuit Court 1922–1926, Deputy Chancellor of Justice 1926–1928, Chancellor of Justice 1928–1929, President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1929–1956, Acting Senior Member of the Legislative Commission 1957–1964.
Minister of Justice 1925–1926 and Prime Minister 1944.
Urho Castrén is the longest-serving President of the Supreme Administrative Court. His term lasted more than 27 years.
Castrén served as an expert in the resolution of the legal problems arising from the conditions of the Moscow Armistice. He served as Prime Minister of the government formed in autumn 1944 to implement the peace agreement.
In the Supreme Administrative Court, Castrén sought to improve the quality of the application of administrative adjudication. The availability of resources posed a challenge, however, as the number of appeals submitted to the Supreme Administrative Court multiplied during his presidency and the volume of administrative legislation increased. The work of the Supreme Administrative Court was characterised by a balancing act between the quality of decisions and sufficiently expeditious processing. After stepping down as President of the Supreme Administrative Court at the age of 70, Castrén still served as a senior member of the Legislative Commission for several years. He also chaired a number of committees and worked to promote Nordic cooperation.
President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1923–1929
b. 9 December 1859, d. 17 May 1948
Bachelor of Arts 1882, Bachelor of Both Laws 1886, Trained at the bench 1888, Honorary Doctor of Arts 1927 (Åbo Akademi).
Extraordinary copyist of the legal division of the Senate 1889–1892, Clerk of the National Board of Agriculture 1892–1893, Clerk of the Senate Legal Commission 1893–1897, Protocol Secretary of the legal division of the Senate 1897–1899, Junior Member of the Legislative Commission 1898–1905, Senior Member 1905–1914, Assistant Judge of the Vaasa Supreme Court 1899–1909, Judge of the Court of Appeal 1909–1918, President of the Court of Appeal 1917–1923, President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1923–1929.
Representative of the bourgeoisie in the Diet of Finland 1904–1905 and 1905–1906, Member of Parliament 1907–1913 and 1917, Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament 1909, 1910 and 1913, First Deputy Speaker 1910, 1911 and 1912, Minister of Justice 1918–1919, 1920 and 1930–1931, Chancellor of Åbo Akademi 1933–1941.
Karl Söderholm served as a member of Parliament, minister and judge.
In the Vaasa Court of Appeal, Söderholm first served as Judge of the Court of Appeal in 1917–1923 and then as President of the Court of Appeal. He was President of the Supreme Administrative Court from 1923 to 1929.
President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1919–1922
b. 28 February 1874, d. 9 December 1922
Bachelor of Arts 1893, Bachelor of Both Laws 1899, Trained at the bench 1901, Licentiate and Doctor of Both Laws 1903.
First Assistant Treasurer of the Senate Finance Commission 1903, Rapporteur 1903–1908 and 1909–1918, Senator of the economic division 1908–1909, Junior Member of the Legislative Commission 1913–1914, Senior Member 1917–1918, Justice of the Supreme Administrative Court 1918–1919, President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1919–1922, Member of Parliament 1910–1913.
Hugo Rautapää was a researcher, administrative official, politician and judge during his career. During Finland’s autonomy, Rautapää served as a senator in the Senate’s financial division, which was the highest instance for administrative appeals at the time. After Finland had gained its independence and the Supreme Administrative Court had been established, Rautapää was appointed Justice to the new court. Following the election of the First President of the Supreme Administrative Court, K. J. Ståhlberg, as the first President of the Republic of Finland, Rautapää was appointed President of the Supreme Administrative Court. His term lasted only three years as he died of a heart attack at the young age of 48.
President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1918–1919
b. 28 January 1865, d. 22 September 1952
Bachelor of Arts 1887, Bachelor of Both Laws 1889, Trained at the bench 1892, Licentiate and Doctor of Both Laws 1893.
University Assistant in Administrative Law and Economics 1894–1898, Protocol Secretary of the Senate Trade and Industry Commission 1898–1903, Professor of Administrative Law 1908–1918, President of the Supreme Administrative Court 1918–1919, Senior Member of the Legislative Commission 1926–1946.
Representative of the bourgeoisie in the Diet of Finland 1904–1905, Senator of the economic division 1905–1907, Member of Parliament 1908, 1909, 1914, 1917, 1918 and 1930–1933, Speaker of Parliament 1914, President of the Republic 1919–1925.
The first President of the Supreme Administrative Court, K. J. Ståhlberg, is chiefly known as the first President of the Republic of Finland. Before his election as President of the Republic in 1919, Ståhlberg had been appointed as the first President of the Supreme Administrative Court established in 1918 after Finland had gained its independence. During the period of autonomy, Ståhlberg participated in the development of legal and social conditions in Finland in various ways as a politician, civil servant and university professor.
In the Grand Duchy of Finland, the highest instance for administrative appeals was the highest government authority in the country, the economic division of the Senate, and below it by the administrative authorities, central agencies and provincial governors. Ståhlberg’s aims with regard to the rule of law and judicial policy included the organisational separation of administration and the administration of justice at the highest level. In the early 20th century, a proposal for the establishment of a special supreme administrative court was accordingly drawn up in the Grand Duchy. Ståhlberg had a key role in the preparation of this proposal as a member of Leo Mechelin’s Senate (1905–1907). However, as Russification intensified in the early 1910s, political conditions were not favourable to judicial reforms.
In 1908, Ståhlberg became the first holder of the professorship of administrative law established in the University of Helsinki. His works Finnish Administrative Law I and II (1913–1915) became a classic in the field of law.
The constitutional status of the Supreme Administrative Court was confirmed in the constitution of 1919. Important groundwork for this had been done in 1917 – before Finland’s independence – by the Constitutional Law Committee chaired by Ståhlberg.
After serving as President of the Republic of Finland, Ståhlberg participated in the drafting of legislation and the development of administrative law mainly through expert opinions and as a senior member of the Legislative Commission in 1926–1946.
The furniture of Ståhlberg’s office and his library are on display in the K. J. Ståhlberg Heritage Room on the current premises of the Supreme Administrative Court. The furniture and books are the property of the University of Helsinki.