The value competence in the criminal matter represents a form of material competence, whose non-observance is sanctioned by absolute nullity. In this article the author describes theoretical and practical aspects of competence depending on the value criterion and carries out a comparative examination between the current and the future criminal and criminal proceedings regulation of the phrase of „very serious consequences”. Likewise, the author identifies possible solutions to unify the judicial practice, considering that the requirement of the predictable nature of law and the principle of judicial equal treatment require the establishment of the competence depending on its value by reference to the time of occurrence of the material damage due to offence and to its real value.

The new Civil Code achieves in art. 1730-1740 a general-rule regulation of both legal and conventional preemption right, regulation applicable wherever the law or the contract do not stipulate otherwise. The conventional preemption right is recognized and regulated under the name of preemption right established by contract; it is nothing but a preference pact in the matter of the sales Contract. Considering that, regardless of the legal or conventional nature of the preemption right, is not normal to have two different systems that penalize violations in the beneficiary’s purchasing priority, the mechanism operating in case of preemption was governed unitary, the freedom of contract left to preemption’s promisor and this freedom overcome consequences being outlined. Whilst trying to settle the doctrinal controversy on the legal characteristics of the right of preemption, the new Civil Code provided for in Art. 1731 that the sale of the property on which there is a legal or conventional preemption right can be concluded with a third party only provided that there is a condition precedent of the preemptor non-exercising the right of preemption, but without specifying explicitly whether such a condition should be considered implicit where it has not been stipulated in the sales contract with the third party. Removing the jurisprudential shortcomings of the substitution mechanism related to the beneficiary instead of the third party purchaser, who is incompatible with the dissolution contract signed between the latter and the promisor, Art. 1732 and 1723 of the new Civil Code, without expressly referring to the sale under condition precedent, stipulate that, through the exercise of preemption, the sales contract is deemed concluded between the preemptor and the seller in the conditions contained in the contract with the third party, and this latter contracts shall be canceled retroactively. In terms of obligations, the creditor is entitled to proper execution and should the creditor have such right, he/she should be granted the opportunity to find effective means to protect it. Reading of Art. 1731 of the new Civil Code, in the sense of making the condition precedent of the preemptor’s non-exercise of the right of preemption in the any sale between the promisor and the third party to be implied, corresponds to the doctrine and jurisprudence attempts to find appropriate means to ensure the observance of the preemptor’s ignored rights, while considering the above principle.

Article 322 section 5, second phrase of the (Romanian) Code of Civil Procedure provides that review of a final and binding decision in the Appellate Court or non-appealed and of a ruling passed by a court of last resort upon merits called forth may be requested „whether, following the rendering of the decision, a court order which grounded the decision under review claimed was abated or amended.” The author, in light of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, considers that the purport should be interpreted narrowly. Accordingly, the scope of Article 322 section 5, second phrase of the (Romanian) Code of Civil Procedure may cover uncertified court orders exclusively (referred to as binding) because only these can be amended / abated under appeal or recourse, and not judgments passed within right of review procedures such as review or appeal for annulment, on account of complying with the principle of legal certainty.

The sanction for the non-observance of the right of access to justice in the case of Iosif v. Romania, obliged the Romanian State to take the necessary measures to prevent similar breaches in the future. Undoubtedly, however, a non-unitary case law exists further in the matter of granting the public legal aid in relation to the bail. To allow the inadmissibility of the exemption or decrease of the bail amount – majority in practice – involves, in the author’s opinion, to accept the imposition of a real “obstacle” to the free access to justice. Therefore, the granting of the public legal aid regarding the stamp duty is futile as long as the possibility of granting the public legal aid in relation to the bail payment, is not recognized.

As part of the legal culture, the judicial culture is particularly important in the activity of elaboration, interpretation and application of law, for the achievement of the values of the state of law. While the legal culture concerns the law configuration factors, the judicial culture expresses the aspects of the context of its application, having the administration of justice in its centre. The national traditions, the particularities of the positive law, a certain way of producing truth, the popular representation of justice and the flow of information and the legal ideas play important roles in crystallizing the content of the judicial culture and in expressing its specificity. Distinguishing between the internal judicial culture (including the attitudes, judgments, perceptions, values, etc. common to a group of law professionals) and the external judicial culture (expressed in the perceptions and in the imaginary of the society about justice), the author examines the content of the concept and analyzes its constitutive elements. The traditions, the forms of expression and the prospects of development of the Romanian judicial culture are analyzed from this general perspective.