This study deals with the mediation in the criminal side of the trial. The legislator has limited the scope of application of the mediation in the criminal side of the trial to the offences in respect of which the criminal action is set in motion upon the prior complaint of the injured party and is extinguished by the withdrawal of the prior complaint, on the one hand, and to the offences in respect of which the criminal action, although set in motion ex officio, is extinguished by the reconciliation between the injured party and the perpetrator. The mediation procedure in the criminal side of the trial is marked by three stages: the pre-mediation stage, the stage of actual mediation and the stage of closing the mediation. The pre-mediation stage is marked by an initial moment, when the conflicting parties present themselves to the mediator, and by a final moment, when mediation is either accepted or refused. The stage of actual mediation takes place in the form of some mediation sessions and it concentrates the most important activity of the mediation procedure. After the mediation takes place, the procedure is closed by concluding an agreement between the parties as a result of the settlement of the conflict, by the mediator’s finding of the mediation failure or by the submission of the mediation contract by one of the parties. Within the mediation in the criminal side of the trial, three legal acts are drawn up: the mediation contract, the minutes of closing the mediation and the mediation agreement. The mediation contract ends at the final moment of the preliminary stage of the procedure, when the conflicting parties appear before the mediator. Upon closing the mediation procedure, the mediator draws up a minutes. It is mandatory to draw up the minutes, regardless of the modality by which the mediation procedure is closed. If the mediation is closed by settling the conflict between the parties, the minutes of closing the mediation procedure is doubled by a mediation agreement. In criminal matters, the mediation agreement in writing is mandatory.

The recent case law of the Romanian Constitutional Court gives shape to a new doctrine regarding the Court’s role in ensuring the national legislator’s compliance with the European Union’s competences. In order to identify the new doctrine’s background, the current article analyzes the evolution of the Romanian constitutional case law on the application of Union law. Subsequently, the current position of the Constitutional Court is extensively described, emphasizing both its immediate consequences and possible future developments.

This study concerns the manner in which the abuse of office provided by Article 297 (1) of the Criminal Code is presented in the Draft law drawn up by the Ministry of Justice, appreciating that the offence is defined simplistically and formally, without clarity, precision and predictability. According to the Draft law, any act of breach of the law, of a Government Ordinance or of a Government Emergency Ordinance by a civil servant is considered to be offence of abuse of service, regardless of its severity and consequences, because the legal content thereof is not circumscribed. In order not to confuse the offence of abuse of service with the other forms of civil, disciplinary, administrative, fiscal, material or contraventional legal liability, we have introduced in its definition the condition that the act be committed for material interests, and that the damage cause particularly serious consequences. In this way, the abuses in the interpretation and application of Article 297 (1) of the Criminal Code will be completely removed.

In this article the author intends to debate, from the perspective of the constitutional texts, developed in the Law No 303/2004, the complex problems of the status of prosecutors, especially since the legal nature of the Public Ministry is not definitively clarified, the legal texts, including the norms written down in the new Criminal Procedure Code, failing to configure the position of the prosecutor’s offices between the executive power and the judicial power. If, from the point of view of the constitutional role, the prosecutor is closer to the Executive (he permanently defends the general interests of society, the rule of law, as well as citizens’ rights and freedoms), from the point of view of the involvement of prosecutors in the activity of administration of justice of the courts of law, they share similarities with the judicial power, without being, however, part of it. From this perspective, the author analyzes, among others, the constitutional grounds of the status of prosecutors and their independence, shows why the prosecutors can not benefit from irremovability, presents the content and character of the authority of the minister of justice over the prosecutors, as well as the issue of incompatibility of the members of the Public Ministry.

In this study we intend to make an analysis of the contestation to the insolvency condition, namely the processual means that may be used by the debtor against whom an application for opening the insolvency procedure has been filed. In the light of a rich judicial practice in this area, we consider it appropriate to compare the legal provisions found in Article 72 of the Law No 85/2014, as amended and supplemented, with the jurisprudential interpretations, in order to better understand this means of defence made available to the debtor by the legislator. Thus, we will observe the nature and the conditions in which the debtor’s right to contestation may be exercised, the reasons which can be invoked and the evidence that he can use to demonstrate the lawfulness of his contestation, as well as the legal effects and consequences determined by this procedure.

Rațiunea vulgară ne spune că judecătorul espus electivităței timpurare nu poate avea principala sa însușire, aceea a independenției, garanția imparțialităției sale. Temerea și dorința, aceste două mobile cari au o înrâurire atât de mare asupra acțiunilor noastre, vor aduce o egală atingere libertăței morale a judecătorului, vor fi o piedică stăruitoare a îndeplinirii misiunei sale sociale.