PREEMINENȚA DREPTULUI – PERSPECTIVA COMMON LAW

The present study intends to analyze the principle of preeminence of law and a few perspectives over this principle, especially the common law perspective. The author starts from the premise that the principle of preeminence of law is a common European value on which any democratic state must be founded, being the essence of the state of law and also an element of the common heritage of the Member States of the Council of Europe. The author has, as a research hypothesis, the fact that the history of Romania and its political course in the last century raises problems of understanding a philosophy based on the concept of preeminence of law. Coming after a period of communism, in many respects our country has passed from one extreme to the other, from many restrictions to too much freedom and legislative or power void, from a typology of totalitarian regulation to a form sometimes too liberal, which causes a functional instability of the state as a whole.
One can notice that the elaborated study has as objectives the analysis of the general concepts recognized in common law regarding the preeminence of the law for the development of the Romanian legal doctrine in order to deeply understand and fully implement this principle in our legal system, and – more broadly – in our society.
Regarding the research methods, the comparative and the quantitative method have been predominantly used, with elements that refer to the sociological and historical method. Notions and concepts specific to common law-type systems have been presented in order to identify possible solutions for taking over and integrating these concepts in our legal system.
From the point of view of the results of the research, it has been concluded that the preeminence of law is aspirational and, therefore, it is a matter of degree. From the perspective of our country, we have shown that we have not yet succeeded in overcoming the horrors of the past, with reference here to the ideologies, philosophies and mentalities that have become part of us in the last century. Things are constantly evolving, but we have failed to achieve the level of civilization and understanding that exists in true democracies, one of the causes being the inconsistency of the choices we have made in the last 32 years.
Regarding the theoretical and practical implications of the study, they consist in understanding some specific concepts developed in the common law-type systems, the need to implement and fully assume, at society level, the principle of the preeminence of law, with all its components and mechanisms, as well as of the awareness of the current historical moment, in which we must progress at the level of society towards the ideal of a developed and happy society.