District courts of Sweden

The district courts of Sweden (Swedish: tingsrätt) are the court of first instance for the general courts in Sweden. The next instance are the courts of appeal (hovrätt). The district court handle criminal cases, some civil law disputes and a number of non-contentious matters. There are 48 district courts across Sweden, and the catchment area is based on the geographic boundaries of several municipalities. The number of employees vary, from ten to several hundreds.