ABOUT THE COURT

Kaunas District Court is a court of general jurisdiction dealing with civil and criminal cases and cases of administrative offense within its jurisdiction.

Judges of the court perform the functions of the pre-trial investigation judge as well as other functions in accordance with the competence assigned to the district court by law.

Brief history of the court:

• 1878, merchant of the first guild Ilja Frumkin, a son of honorary citizen of Kaunas city Jakov Frumkin built a tree-storey building dedicated to the Regional Court in the western end of Nicholas avenue according to the design of Kaunas Governorate architect J. Golinevičius.
• From 1878 – Kaunas United Criminal and Civil Court.
• From 1883 there operated Regional Governate Court in the building. In November of the same year a solemn opening of the court chamber was held.
• From 16 January 1919 – Supreme Tribunal.
• In 1930, the building was bought from the sons and daughters of Frumkin by the Ministry of Justice, which paid 930,000 gold litas for the building, and the chamber belongs to the state since then. District Court of Kaunas City was established in 10 October 1933, however, the name of the court was changed many times until restoration of independence of the Republic of Lithuania.
• Until 10/12/1962 – Kaunas City People’s Court.
• In 10/12/1962, courts of Kaunas city districts (Leninas, Požėla, Panemunė) were established.
• In 01/10/1990, the courts of city districts were eliminated and Kaunas City Court was established.
• It was only in 10 February 1992 that the District Court of Kaunas City was re-established.
• The ground floor of the building was always equipped with small shops and in the period from 1967 to 1970 Kaunas branch of Komprojektas prepared a project for overhaul of the block by Laisvės ave., according to which a large grocery shop was soon equipped on the ground floor.
• Skalsa store operated in these premises from 1973.
• In July 2005, after the end of the lease period, a lease agreement for non-residential premises between the District Court of Kaunas City and AB Kauno skalsa was terminated;
• In December 2007, the Ministry of Justice, upon implementation of the Programme for Strengthening the Material Base of the Courts and Computerisation and in pursuit of creating proper conditions for the work of courts, finished the reconstruction works of the central block of the District Court at the address Laisvės ave. 103, Kaunas.
• The official opening of the building took place on 22 February 2008.
• On 1 January 2013, the District Court of Kaunas City and the District Court of Kaunas Region were reorganised and merged into one court, namely, Kaunas District Court. The court operates in two buildings. Cases of violations of administrative law are heard in the court premises located at Kęstučio str. 29.  Civil and criminal cases are heard in the court premises located at Laisvės ave. 103.
• In 2018, a judicial reform was implemented in Lithuania. Since 1 January 2018, there have been 12 District Courts in the Republic of Lithuania instead of 49, namely, the District Courts of Alytus, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Marijampolė, Panevėžys, Plungė, Šiauliai, Tauragė, Telšiai, Utena and Vilnius Region Court (with 4-5 Chambers each) and District Court of Vilnius City. Apart from the aforementioned courts, the Supreme Court of Lithuania, the Court of Appeal of Lithuania, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania and 5 Regional Courts continue their performance.   
• As a part of the judicial reform, on 1 January 2018, the District Courts of Jonava, Kėdainiai and Kaišiadorys ceased to operate as independent courts. All the aforementioned district courts together with Kaunas District Court became parts of the new court, namely, Kaunas District Court. Since the implementation of the great judicial reform on 1 January 2018, Kaunas District Court consists of four court chambers: Jonava Chamber, Kėdainiai Chamber, Kaišiadorys Chamber and Kaunas Chamber.