TRANSFORMAREA SEMANTICÃ A EXCEPȚIEI DE NECONSTITUȚIONALITATE ÎN ROMÂNIA

The choice made by the Romanian pouvoir constituant in 1991 in favour of the European model of constitutional review does not seem to have been followed by legal terminology. Most probably in order not to break with a tradition that still enjoys good reputation among legal scholars and practitioners, the label of „exception of unconstitutionality” has been preferred to the one of „preliminary reference”. This apparently minor semantic detail managed to have a lasting impact on the admissibility of this procedure to the point where the very legal institution has been completely transfigured: from a preliminary question it has become a defensive procedural tool.