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The article is designed to examine the amendments introduced by the new Criminal Code in the matter of law enforcement in the territory. From this perspective, we notice that the principle of territoriality is supplemented with additional provisions for defining the notions of offense and territory. The principles of personality and reality were adjusted so that they could be effective, yet without burdening the judicial bodies uselessly, and the principle of universality of the criminal law was reformulated in order to apply only to the situations for which the Romanian State has undertaken obligations internationally. New elements were also introduced as regards the international cooperation legal instruments, such as the delivery of persons to another European Union Member State or to an international court, changes that seem justified in the light of international treaties to which Romania is a signatory party. -
Criminal law, as a set of mandatory rules of conduct, compliance with which is imposed by the coercive power of the state, applies to all the people on the territory of a given country and for a certain limited period of time. Therefore, the putting into effect of criminal law means the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of the duties it provides for, in relation to two essential elements: “territory” and “time”. The application of criminal law on the territory means the actual fulfillment of instructions carrying sanctions in relation to the territory in which a crime was committed, in the country or abroad. The Romanian criminal law is aimed at and applies to the people in the territory of Romania and who must comply with its provisions. The new criminal code has brought numerous and substantial changes to the principles behind the application of the Romanian criminal law in the territory and which we will examine hereinafter. -
Criminal law, as a set of mandatory rules of conduct, compliance with which is imposed by the coercive power of the state, applies to all the people on the territory of a given country and for a certain limited period of time. Therefore, the putting into effect of criminal law means the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of the duties it provides for, in relation to two essential elements: “territory” and “time”. The application of criminal law on the territory means the actual fulfillment of instructions carrying sanctions in relation to the territory in which a crime was committed, in the country or abroad. The Romanian criminal law is aimed at and applies to the people in the territory of Romania and who must comply with its provisions. The new criminal code has brought numerous and substantial changes to the principles behind the application of the Romanian criminal law in the territory and which we will examine hereinafter. -
The article intends to examine the changes that the new Criminal Code brings to the matter of the enforcement of criminal law over time, mainly for the purpose of harmonizing the given provisions with the constitutional principles, as well as for facilitating their implementation. From this perspective, one can notice that the new Criminal Code has largely taken over the provisions currently in force, but has eliminated those contrary to the constitutional principles, such as, for instance, the provisions stipulating that the complementary punishments, the educational measures and the safety measures in the new criminal law are always retroactive for public interest reasons or the provisions regarding the facultative enforcement of the most favorable criminal law in the irrevocably judged cases. We also find the introduction among the provisions subject to the principle of the most favorable criminal law of the legislative instruments declared unconstitutional, as well as of the emergency ordinances approved by the Parliament with amendments, supplements or rejected, provided that they were in force during the period stipulated by the law text. -
Until the entry into force of the current Civil Code, the maintenance contract was an unnamed one and did not benefit from a regulation by the former Code or by other normative act. Often encountered, developed in time by the practice, the doctrine and the case law, devoid of rules to determine its definition and content, the maintenance contract raised problems due to the difficulty with which it was delimited from similar contracts. In this study, starting with the provisions of Article 2256 of the Civil Code, corroborated with the provisions of Article 2247 of the Civil Code, we are analyzing a real, practical situation of applicability of the provisions of the mentioned articles, showing also the solution which we consider to be the most effective, from all points of view, to solve the problem. It concerns the situation in which the maintenance contract was concluded during the lifetime of an individual who, at the time of conclusion of the contract, suffered from a disease which caused his death. -
The study hereunder examines the ways of exercising the autonomy of will and the reflection of the principle of freedom of contract in civil procedural law. As freedom of contract, like any other freedom in fact, is not absolute or unlimited, the author quests the ways in which, within the framework of civil procedural law institutions, there are covered and operate certain assumptions which may constitute limits to the freedom of contract. In this perspective, we shall have in view institutions such as legal contracts, mediation or arbitration. -
This study examines the manner in which the Romanian Constitutional Court has used in its practice the principle of non-retroactivity of the law with reference to service pensions. At the same time, the study contains a detailed critical examination of the thesis of the constitutional contentious court regarding the qualification of the laws amending or repealing the service pensions already in payment as non-retroactive and, therefore, in compliance with the constitutional requirements. On the other hand, the author of the study advances the thesis according to which any law that modifies the formula of calculation of the service pensions in payment, including by resorting to the extension of the contributivity rule, is retroactive and, consequently, unconstitutional. In substantiating this statement, there are initiated a series of considerations regarding the defining elements of the right to pension, the theories regarding the earned rights, as well as the development of a detailed analysis of the concept of legal effects produced during the application of another law (new law).This study examines the manner in which the Romanian Constitutional Court has used in its practice the principle of non-retroactivity of the law with reference to service pensions. At the same time, the study contains a detailed critical examination of the thesis of the constitutional contentious court regarding the qualification of the laws amending or repealing the service pensions already in payment as non-retroactive and, therefore, in compliance with the constitutional requirements. On the other hand, the author of the study advances the thesis according to which any law that modifies the formula of calculation of the service pensions in payment, including by resorting to the extension of the contributivity rule, is retroactive and, consequently, unconstitutional. In substantiating this statement, there are initiated a series of considerations regarding the defining elements of the right to pension, the theories regarding the earned rights, as well as the development of a detailed analysis of the concept of legal effects produced during the application of another law (new law). -
By the Decision No 369 of 30 May 2017, the Constitutional Court has declared as unconstitutional the phrase „as well as in other cash assessable claims worth up to ROL 1 000 000 inclusive”, included in Article XVIII (2) of the Law No 2/2013 on some measures to relieve the courts, as well as for preparing the implementation of the Law No 134/2010 on the Civil Procedure Code and has stated that „all judgments pronounced after the publication of this Decision in the Official Gazette of Romania, in the applications that are assessable in cash, less those exempted according to the criterion of matter, shall be subject to review”. Subsequently, the High Court of Cassation and Justice, by the Decision No 52/2018, has established that „the effects of the Decision of the Constitutional Court No 369 of 30 May 2017 are produced in respect of the judgments pronounced after its publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, in the litigations assessable in cash up to ROL 1 000 000 inclusive, initiated after the publication of the decision (20 July 2017)”. -
There are many questions concerning the context in which we witness the entry into force (on 25th May 2016) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and its application (starting 25th May 2018). The answers can be numerous: political, sociological, journalistic, etc. However, we choose to analyse from the legal point of view. The GDPR was adopted taking into account the weaknesses that the Directive 95/46/EC has shown, specific weaknesses, in fact, of a EU legal act of this type, compared to the type of regulation. The Directive in question has failed to prevent the fragmentation of the way data protection has been ensured in all EU Member States. Legal uncertainty or public perceptions according to which there are significant risks to the protection of individuals, especially online, have been widespread. It is further added that the differences in the levels of protection existing in the 28 EU Member States, differences due to the transposition and application of the Directive, have sometimes led to a slowdown in the application of the principle of the freedom of movement of personal data within the EU, which may constitute real obstacles to economic activity at this level, distorting competition and preventing authorities from fulfilling their responsibilities under EU law.
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By the present study the author analyzes in a critical manner the modality of regulation of the mechanism of the compensatory review introduced by the provisions of the Law No 169/2017, which has amended the Law No 254/2013 on the execution of custodial sentences and of measures involving deprivation of liberty ordered by the judicial bodies during criminal trial. In this respect there are examined the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in the matter of the accommodation of detained persons and the premises that were the basis for the adoption of this regulation. Thus, it is noted that the legislator has set a higher standard than the one imposed by the European Court of Human Rights, which has ruled that, under certain conditions (the presence of ventilation, lighting and privacy, etc.), the accommodation in a detention space that ensures an area of between three and four square meters for each detainee is in accordance with Article 3 of the European Convention on human rights and fundamental freedoms. In addition, it is shown that the legislator did not insert in the national law the whole legal mechanism emphasized in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, where a preventive means of appeal has been introduced, allowing the detained persons to file complaints to a judicial authority with regard to the material conditions of detention, as well as a compensatory means of appeal, which provides a reparation for the persons who have already been through a detention contrary to the Convention. Likewise, the author analyzes in a theoretical, but mostly practical manner, the modality to apply the compensatory review mechanism depending on the processual phase in which it is analysed its incidence, as well as the effects produced at the level of the institutions of substantive criminal law, making reference to the binding decisions pronounced by the High Court of Cassation and Justice and to the national case law.
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Legal issues of the contribution of spouses’ joint property to company’s establishment, the legal regime of shares acquired as consideration for this contribution, as well as the impact of the (Romanian) Family Code (effective during the period February 1st, 1954 - September 30th, 2011) and the Companies’ Law No. 31/1990 generated lots of controversy in the Romanian doctrine and jurisprudence between 1990 and 2011. With the enactment of the new Civil Code (Law No. 133/2009, republished, effective since October 1st, 2011) some of these controversies have been fully clarified. However, a good portion of them still exist today, generating further such debates and controversies. Such being the case, through this extensive study, the author examines, globally, the current legal regime of spouses’ joint property upon its impact with the Law No. 31/1990, examining, therefore, a series of questionable and controversial issues arising from the interference of legal regulations on the spouses’ joint property in light of the Romanian new Civil Code with the provisions of the Companies’ Law No. 31/1990, ultimately advancing several de lege ferenda proposals, for the settlement of all controversies arising from the impact of the two laws in question (the new Civil Code and Law No. 31/1990). -
In international relations the old rule of law acta probant sese ipsa has not the same value as inside of a state because it is considered that an authority of a State who receive a document from another State should be put in an extremely difficult situation in terms of imposing the task of assessing the authenticity of a foreign document to the first sight. So, the use abroad of official documents from a State authorities require the completion of special formalities in order to ensure the originality, the authenticity of signatures/seal and legality of a specific document preparation. If by 1961, the year of concluded of the Hague Convention on Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (to which Romania joined by the Government Ordinance no. 66/1999, approved by Law no. 52/2000), there was only legalization procedure, since that date appears apostille procedure (only for the states signatory to the Convention) determined by reason of simplifying the requirements necessary to be fulfilled for the validity of official documents abroad. The aim of the present study is to present the apostille procedure in the light of the provisions of the Hague Convention on Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents and of the Romanian provisions regarding this issue. -
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This study emphasizes that, from a substantial point of view, the criteria required to be fulfilled for cataloguing a deed as pertaining to the criminal domain are: the qualification of the deed in the domestic law, the nature of the deed and the purpose and the severity of the sanction. Formally, an official report of finding and sanctioning the contravention which represents at the same time also a criminal charge in the conventional sense must cumulatively include the description of the deed and the presentation of the legal classification. The effect of classifying the report of finding and sanctioning the contravention in the category of the criminal charge in a conventional sense is given by the fact that to the procedure for finding and sanctioning the contravention there are attached its own guarantees of a fair trial. The presumption of lawfulness of the report is compatible with the presumption of innocence only if it respects certain limits, taking into account the gravity of the stake and protecting the rights of the defence. The limits of the presumption of lawfulness of the official report, in the context of protecting the rights of the defence, are: the imperative that the deed be perceived directly, through its own senses, by the fact-finding agent and the exigence not to impose on the person concerned an impossible task, as regards the administration of the proof to the contrary.
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Pre-trial detention was defined as the most intrusive custodial preventive measure in the exercise of the person’s right to freedom, by which the judge or the court orders the detention of the defendant for the duration and under the specific conditions provided by law, in places specially intended for this purpose, in the interest of the criminal prosecution, the preliminary chamber procedure or the trial. In order to take pre-trial detention, it is necessary to meet all the general conditions provided by law for taking preventive measures, as well as the existence of at least one of the prev. of Article 223 of the Civil Procedure Code. In practice, in almost all cases, preventive arrest is based on the provisions of Article 223 (2) of the Civil Procedure Code. Under these conditions, we tried to create both a general presentation of these grounds and a theoretical analysis of the main issues that can generate confusion and problems in the application of the cases provided for by Article 223 (1) of the Civil Procedure Code. All this theoretical analysis has, as far as possible, been examined in conjunction with solutions from judicial practice, where appropriate. -
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The article presents the results of a research conducted in six European countries mainly on the analysis of the exceptional nature of preventive arrest within these jurisdictions. In this article there are presented the main results of the research conducted in Romania, research that was based on a series of interviews with judges, prosecutors and lawyers. The main areas investigated have concerned aspects such as the analysis of the decision-making process, the situation of the foreign citizens subject to preventive measures, the manner of application of alternative measures to preventive arrest, the analysis of the current criminal processual normative framework, as well as of the impact in the current practice of the European regulations, etc. The conclusions of the study are in the sense that in Romania there have been registered also some aspects representing progress in the sense of protection of the fundamental human rights in the cases where it is raised the question of taking some preventive measures in the criminal cases – such as the fact that the tendency, at least in terms of using the preventive arrest, is a decreasing one. However, major deficiencies have also been found, related to the organization of the initial and continuing training for magistrates, in the sense that they have been found to be unaware of judicial instruments important for their activity. It is precisely about instruments that are capable of improving the situation of foreign persons in relation to the state where it is raised the judicial matter – respectively the European Surveillance Order.
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The article hereby reviews the arguments on the need for detention of the presumption of innocence in contravention and, therefore, the proper application of the provisions of art. 6 of the (European) Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Arguments are the result of uniform and consistent theories and practices of the European Court of Human Rights and the provisions of the Constitution of Romania, republished. Given these arguments, the author considers that the presumption of innocence in contravention is mandatory for the Romanian courts when a complaint of contravention is submitted for trial against a sanctioning act. In conclusion, it urges that the High Court of Cassation and Justice order by an appeal, in the interest of the law, guidance for uniform practice in contravention and / or the legislator to amend laws on this issue, to that effect. -
As a systematic mean of exposing knowledge, in a specific and accessible form, the encyclopedia played an important scientific and cultural part, much amplified given the conditions of the age of internet. The encyclopedia of law offers important particularities, linked to its own tradition, the importance of the knowledge it offers and the extraordinary dynamics of the field. The project initiative of a Romanian Encyclopedia of Law answers a historical need, as a work of accomplishment and affirmation of the Romanian culture, in the context of the European and global cultural diversity. Moreover, it stands as an endeavour imposed by the new stage of development in Romanian law. After the finalization of the great legislative reform post-1989, by the adoption and entry into force of the major codes: civil and civil procedure, criminal and criminal procedure, legal doctrine needs a synthesis and conceptual abstraction specific to an encyclopedia. -
This study, entitled „Harmonisation between tribunals. Some points of reference”, is dedicated to some considerations on the collaboration between the national tribunals, on the one hand, and the tribunals established at the level of the European Union – the Tribunal of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights –, on the other. The author starts from the finding that the European citizens can protect their rights both through the courts in their own country and through the previously mentioned European courts. -
The entry into force of the new Criminal Code has determined, as it was natural, new approaches to doctrine and jurisprudence, and one of the perspectives of analysis is the correlation with the constitutional provisions. This study aims to establish an examination of constitutionality, as regards the offence of deceit, from the practice of the Constitutional Court on the previous Criminal Code provisions, identifying situations where the new rules can generate discussions on the compatibility with the Constitution. -
This paper analyses the concepts of harmonization, approximation of laws and the establishing of minimum norms in EU law, with an emphasis on the criminal European law. These notions are followed since their creation, first in the internal market and then, in the area of freedom, security and justice, through all avatars they got through alongside the evolution of the EU integration process. Without a legal definition, the meaning of those concepts was created and then partially contested by legal authors. Though, there is still a debate between some authors about the differences in the nuances of those legal notions specific to EU law, the majority of legal thinking agreed that all these notions are reflecting the same idea of vertical integration of EU law. Another major influence upon defining those concepts in the criminal European law was represented by the EU Court of Justice case-law in the Environmental Crimes Case and Shipping Pollution Case, setting out, for the first time, a constitutional basis for the creation of criminal European law: the principle of effectiveness combined with the principle of loyal cooperation. The final part of this study analyses the harmonization and the establishment of minimum standards in criminal European law in post-Lisbon era, taking into consideration all important changes brought by this treaty, such as the fully constitutional basis for harmonization and mutual recognition in the criminal law area of the EU.
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According to Article 19 of the Government Emergency Ordinance No 20/2021, the doctors, regardless of specialty, acquire or lose by a Government decision which declares or terminates the state of alert, without any training, evaluation or sanction, a special professional competence to treat persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, for which they would not be liable with their patrimony if they complied with the guides and protocols approved by the order of the Minister of Health. The regulation represents a violation of Article 34 (3) of the Romanian Constitution, generating an uncertainty regarding the existence and extent of the doctors’ rights and violating the fundamental right to the protection of citizens’ health. First, the criteria for exercising the medical profession (acquisition and loss of a professional competence) are delegated by emergency ordinance by the exceptional legislator (the Government) to the executive (the Government), in order to be established by a legal act with inferior force than the law, in violation of Article 1 (4) and (5) of the Constitution. Secondly, the fundamental rights to Life, provided by Article 2 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and, respectively, to Health care, regulated by Article 34 of the Constitution, guaranteed by the control of the medical profession (embodied in legal provisions imposing some strict conditions for acquiring professional competence and liability for the medical act), are eluded by the permission granted to non-specialists to intervene, apparently without liability, on the human body.
