Japan began implementing a new lay judge system in 2009.

Lay judges are not considered to be representative of the population.

Typically, a lay judge will serve one day per month in court during his or her tenure.

Lay judges must be Swedish citizens and under 70 years old.

Lay judges are usually used when the country does not have juries.

Lay judges are also used in labor, social, and commercial law disputes.

According to the law, lay judges must be selected among lawyers with more than 5 years of experience.

Lay judges are therefore usually selected from among political activists.

In criminal cases where this is not the case, the judge sits with two lay judges.

Professional lawyers and politicians may not serve as lay judges in the new system.

In cases where lay judges sit with the judge, decisions are adopted by simple majority.

Lay judges are appointed, and often require some legal instruction.

The first trial by lay judge lasted four days, while some comparable criminal cases may last years under the old system.

After the system moved to include lay judges, the trial period was fixed to a maximum of a few weeks.

The case was decided jointly by a judge and three appointed lay judges.

For smaller cases, the court is convened with three professional and four lay judges.

Currently, Japan uses a lay judge system in some criminal trials.

The following people cannot be appointed to the office of lay judge:

About 75% of lay judges are nominated by the political parties in Norway.

In most cases lay judges do not directly examine documents before the court or have access to the case file.

Lay judges also serve during criminal cases in the appellate courts.

She worked as a janitor and later as a lay judge.

That's what the professional judge and three lay judges overseeing the trial will have to decide in the next two weeks.

Civil cases are normally held before a single professional judge, but either side can demand two lay judges be seated as well.

High Court judges also sit with lay judges in cases of general public interest.