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This article analyses the problem of international criminal liability for offences against cultural heritage. The author has considered three offences against cultural values: smuggling of cultural values, destruction of cultural goods and theft of cultural goods. The investigation of the offences against cultural values includes a number of aspects: the nature of the offences against cultural values; the advantages of the international or national character of the liability for the offences against cultural values; the circumstances of committing offences against cultural assets (for example the existence of an armed conflict); the objectives of committing offences against cultural values (their export as a treasure, the destruction of the cultural heritage; intimidation); the possible effects of the offences against cultural values. Based on these aspects, the author identifies a series of categories of offences against cultural assets. Each of these categories is analysed from the point of view of international liability. -
The present study aims to emphasize the current state of the principles of ethics in the field of artificial intelligence world-wide, respectively in the Western world (especially the European Union and the United States of America), Russia and China. The author set out to create the necessary debate framework for the importance of raising awareness of this area and of its impact on everyday life. Finally, the study also presents the author’s conclusions on what is ethically important at its intersection with the field of law. Being a new constituent element of contemporary reality, artificial intelligence can no longer be ignored. It is obvious that at present there are missing the binding regulations which give an adequate answer to the problems generated by the arising and functioning of artificial intelligence. Due to the extraordinary, unknown, even unpredictable implications, it will not be possible to create the specific legislation in such a way as to meet the expectations unless a rigorous ethical analysis is done in advance. The study identifies documents issued by state authorities and private entities in which an ethical perspective is taken in relation to the field of artificial intelligence and draws a conclusion on its importance. The author also offers his own perspective on the important ethical principles, in particular, from the perspective of the legal field.
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The Civil Procedure Code reserves only five articles to the court costs and this study will emphasize the fact that this area exceeds the regulatory scope of the Civil Procedure Code, having connections also with other normative acts, as well as the circumstance that the assessment of the quantum of court costs is an aspect left to the enlightenment and wisdom of the judge, the legislator offering few criteria for evaluating their extent. The purpose of the present study is to provide an overview of the judicial costs, as well as to delimit the scope of the costs that can be recovered as a result of winning the trial from the costs that the courts did not approve. We will submit to the analysis the notion of costs, their legal nature, but also the legal basis underlying their award. Likewise, we will stop on the modality in which the court costs can be reduced or even rejected by the court. A separate part of the present paper will be devoted to the analysis of the lawyer’s fee, as part of the court costs. In this section, we will make a presentation of the different ways of establishing the lawyer’s fee, stopping, in particular, at the success fee, which we will define and delimit from the pact of de quota litis. At the end of the paper, we will offer some proposals de lege ferenda regarding the evaluation of the court costs, the necessity of legal regulation of the success fee and of the costs requested separately.
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The unpredictability involves the intervention of the judge in a contractual legal relationship. Intellectual property can be considered a „laboratory” in which the intervention of the judge in the agreement of the parties has always been allowed. Without any connection with the unpredictability, in patent law there are legal mechanisms that allow the court to intervene to complete the contract regarding the quantum of the price in order to encourage the exploitation of the invention. In this hypothesis, the parties agree to contract, they do so, setting even the object of the contract, less the sale price. In other cases, the parties are obliged to contract by law, the court being required to intervene in the contractual mechanism established by law to determine the price. In Romania it cannot be argued that under the influence of the previous Civil Code the legislator has ruled on the non-application de plano of the unpredictability and that he would have been in favour of its application in certain special laws, such as the one from the field of intellectual property, because the reason for the judge’s intervention in the agreement of the parties is to favour the exploitation of intellectual creations, encouraging creativity. In the new Civil Code the conditions of the unpredictability are: 1. the existence of an excessive onerosity caused by an exceptional change (out of the ordinary, and not an ordinary one, simple or routine) and unforeseen (unpredictable), including as extension, of the circumstances existing at the conclusion of the contract. Excessive onerosity represents a contractual imbalance in relation to the initial contractual balance, which must exist as long as neither of the parties’ benefits can have a significantly higher value than the other, in the light of the regulation of the injury in the new Civil Code.
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The herein study strives to concentrate the main theses developed by the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the right to paid annual leave. Starting from these premises, it aims to detect the interferences and the effects of European jurisprudence on Romanian national law, with a special view on the practical protection of the right to paid annual leave, in both of its components, the entitlement to annual leave and to a payment on that account. The underlying of the carry-over period’s function represents the basis of the conclusions regarding the necessity for a rigorous distinction between the causes of non-exercise of the right to annual leave by the employee, consequently, reflecting in the different judicial solutions. From the point of view of the Romanian procedural law, the study underlines the need to amend the law regarding the limitation period of the right to action in court for the protection of the non-material component of the right analysed, in order to meet the imperative of full harmonization with the European law.
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In the present study, the author analyses the provisions newly introduced by the Law No 129/2019 in the matter of the real beneficiary in the case of the fiduciary operation regulated by Articles 773–791 of the Civil Code. The provisions regarding the real beneficiary constitute the transposition into national law of two directives, namely Directive (EU) 2015/849 [amended by Directive (EU) 2018/843)], respectively Directive (EU) 2016/2.258. Analysing the versions in several official languages of the European Union (in particular the English and French languages) in comparison with the Romanian version, the author comes to the conclusion of an insufficiently analysed translation and in reference to the applicable legal provisions regarding the Romanian version, which does not sufficiently study the substantial differences between the fiduciary operation and the equivalent of the Anglo-Saxon law, namely the trust. This results in a difference between the English and French versions, respectively the Romanian version.
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Potrivit art. 349 alin. (2) C.pr.pen., instanța poate soluționa cauza numai pe baza probelor administrate în faza urmăririi penale, dacă inculpatul solicită aceasta și recunoaște în totalitate faptele reținute în sarcina sa și dacă instanța apreciază că probele sunt suficiente pentru aflarea adevărului și justa soluționare a cauzei, cu excepția cazului în care acțiunea penală vizează o infracțiune care se pedepsește cu detențiune pe viață. Totodată, conform art. 374 alin. (4) C.pr.pen., în cazurile în care acțiunea penală nu vizează o infracțiune care se pedepsește cu detențiune pe viață, președintele pune în vedere inculpatului că poate solicita ca judecata să aibă loc numai pe baza probelor administrate în cursul urmăririi penale și a înscrisurilor prezentate de părți, dacă recunoaște în totalitate faptele reținute în sarcina sa, aducându-i la cunoștință dispozițiile art. 396 alin. (10).
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This paper analyzes the principle of mutual recognition as a method of legal integration specific to EU law but also, in the form of Full Faith and Credit and Extradition Clauses, in the U.S. Constitution and law. The article presents a brief historical perspective on this principle, of its roots in Anglo-Saxon law and its direct continuity in U.S. law, but also of taking over, through legal hybridization, in combination with the harmonization method, in EU law. The work analyses: the function of legal integration of the principle, as an essential component of both American federalism and the EU legal order, its fundamental characteristics and its conditions of application and the topic of Interstate Extradition Clause versus European Arrest Warrant. The Articles of Confederation, the U.S. Constitution, federal laws, uniform laws, the case-law of the U.S. Supreme Court and other U.S. courts, altogether with the EU fundamental treaties, the legal acts of the European Union and the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of European Union were considered. Numerous similarities have emerged from the comparative analysis, but also some differences, coming from the different paradigms of American federalism and, respectively, of the EU legal order.
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As a rule, in the countries of the European Union, for example in France, Italy, Spain, England, the cancellation of the dismissal does not lead to the reintegration of the employees at work. However, they are entitled to compensation, to damages, etc. established by the judge within the limits provided by law. In our country the situation is different. Regardless of the reason for the dismissal, whether it is related or not to the employee’s person, the court, at his request, shall order, in case of cancellation of the employer’s measure, the reintegration at work, regardless of the fact that position exists or not, the position being abolished, or if the employee has committed serious disciplinary misconducts: he has systematically violated the work obligations, had an unexcused leave of absence for a long period of time, has purloined goods from the patrimony of the employer or caused important damages thereto, etc. There are considerations for which it is required the amendment of Article 80 (2) of the Labour Code, rendering it more flexible, in the sense of taking into account the present realities, the needs of the practice and the real and justified interests of the employers.
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The paper analyzes the conditions for exercising the revision in the criminal trial, respectively the judgments subject to revision, the category of persons who can exercise it, the time limits of declaration, the form in which the application and its content must be made. The study relates to the case law of the national courts before and after the entry into force of the new Criminal Procedure Code, as well as to the relevant provisions of other European legislations. At the same time, there are considered the provisions of the Draft Law for amending and completing the Criminal Procedure Code adopted in the summer of 2018, respectively PL-x No 373/2018.
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The article addresses the issue related to the manner to reach an effective cooperation between two judicial institutions which play a very important role in the context of ensuring respect for the rights and freedoms of the citizen, respectively between the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union. The study starts from the premise according to which the creation of the Single European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, through the conclusion of international treaties, and subsequently the accession thereto by the states on the European continent and the third countries was not only of a nature to bring benefits to the citizens, by exercising the right to free movement and its derivatives at socio-economic level, but also to generate shortcomings, determined by the cross-border nature of the criminality, acquired in the light of free movement precisely. The relationship between the two jurisdictional institutions is viewed in the context of international cooperation in criminal matters, with broad references to the principles enshrined in the European Union law and which have the role of simplifying and intensifying this cooperation. Among the principles analyzed we indicate: the Principle of pre-eminence of international treaties and conventions over the national law, the Principle of mutual recognition of criminal judicial decisions and of mutual trust between states, the Principle ne bis in idem. The article also contains references to another important aspect resulting from the realities of international judicial cooperation in criminal matters, namely to the fact that, although each Member State of the European Union is a party to the European Convention, the Union, as an international organization, is not a party to the Convention, which means that European citizens cannot file a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights against an institution of the Union, when they consider that any of their rights enshrined in the Convention has been violated.
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The legal liability is one of the main issues regarding the responsibility in administrative law. Therefore, the legal liability is able to exercise influence upon our society to some extent only by identifying the person responsible for ignoring the social values protected by law, in order to establish his/her liability. Let us stress upon the fact that the effectiveness of legal liability may determine, to a greater or a smaller extent, the establishment, re-establishment and even the survival of the rule of law. The society is more likely to take into consideration the legal liability, referring to the social and political background of these days, as well, if the liability is being applied to the civil servant or to an agent of public power, meaning a person who exercises a public function. What about the situation in which the person who is going to be held responsible for breaking the law and, therefore, being held liable for this fact is, directly or indirectly, even the creator of the law, being at the same time both part of the dominant fund and to the serviced/controlled fund? Does the above-mentioned situation supposes an antagonism in declaring responsible precisely the one who created the notion and, therefore, the premise of responsibility or, on the contrary, the antagonism would be precisely the irresponsibility of the entitled one, also, to create the right and to apply it, thus ensuring the protection of values, which establishes the base of its very existence?
