Legislation, Jurisprudence and Litigation Directorate

In accordance with the Regulation on the organisation and administrative functioning of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, 

the Legislation, Jurisprudence and Litigation Directorate operates under the authority of the President and under the coordination of one of the Vice-Presidents of the High Court of Cassation and Justice.

Management and departments

The Legislation, Jurisprudence and Litigation Directorate is headed by a Director, with the rank of Assistant Chief Magistrate, appointed by the President of the High Court of Cassation and Justice.

The following departments operate within the structure of Legislation, Jurisprudence and Litigation Directorate:

  • Legislation and Documentation Service;
  • Service for the Study and Unification of Case-Law;
  • The Litigation Service.

Staff

Legislation, Jurisprudence and Litigation Directorate is staffed by assistant magistrates, specialist auxiliary staff, public officials and contract staff, established by the Staff List.

The Legislation and Documentation Service

The Legislation and Documentation Service performs the following tasks:

  • prepares draft regulations and other legislation to be adopted by the High Court of Cassation and Justice;
  • analyses and formulates points of view, as well as comments and proposals on draft legislation initiated by other public authorities and forwarded to the High Court of Cassation and Justice for this purpose;
  • carries out studies on questions of law arising in the application of legislation;
  • supports the chambers of the High Court of Cassation and Justice in formulating annual proposals to improve legislation;
  • examines the laws submitted by the Parliament, before promulgation, to the High Court of Cassation and Justice and points out, in their contents, any provisions likely to affect substantive or procedural rights protected by the fundamental law and submits to the President opinions, drawn up in consultation with the Service for the Study and Unification of Jurisprudence, on the fulfilment of the conditions regarding the triggering by the High Court of Cassation and Justice of the mechanism for verifying the constitutionality of laws before promulgation, in accordance with the provisions of Art. 146(a) of the Romanian Constitution, republished;
  • prepares draft decisions of the United Chambers on referral to the Constitutional Court for review of the constitutionality of laws before promulgation;

The Library of the High Court of Cassation and Justice operates within the Legislation and Documentation Service which:

  • keeps records of legislation, case-law and doctrine, through the Library;
  • ensures the safekeep of the collection of the Official Gazette of Romania and supplements this collection as new legislation is published, through the Library, as well as ensures access to the Official Gazette of Romania in electronic format, in conjunction with the Judicial Informatics and Statistics Service;
  • ensures the functioning of the Library of the High Court of Cassation and Justice;
  • manages the book collection of the Library of the High Court of Cassation and Justice and ensures its completion, through the Library;
  • ensures the protection, the preservation and the valorisation of the old book collection of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, through the Library;
  • manages the High Court of Cassation and Justice's integrated library software system.

In 2020, the High Court of Cassation and Justice began the process of restoring rare copies of legal books from its documentary collection, with the exceptional contribution of the Central University Library. The documentary collection of the High Court of Cassation and Justice includes a number of publications of great cultural and historical value, in particular legal books in Romanian, Latin, Greek, Slavonic, French, the oldest copy being dated in the 14th century, books that accompany the history of the Supreme Court and of Romania. A total of 34 books underwent the restoration process in 2020 and are available in the Library of the High Court of Cassation and Justice.

"Carol I" Central University Library has donated an authenticated copy of the Magna Carta to the High Court of Cassation and Justice.

The donated copy is one of eight authenticated copies made following the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta and obtained by "Carol I" Central University Library through the kind permission of The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. They faithfully reflect the contents of the original, preserved in Lincoln Cathedral, England.

The copy donated to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is on display, together with some of the restored books, in the main building of the supreme court on Batiștei Street.

The Service for the Study and Unification of Case-Law

The Service for the Study and Unification of Case-Law performs the following tasks:

  • analyses the decisions of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the result of which is recorded in monthly reports in which the President of the High Court of Cassation and Justice is informed of important aspects of developments in case law;
  • fills in, on the basis of drawn up case-law sheets, the case-law registers of the chambers and panels of five judges and ensures that their updated format is published on the court's intranet page;
  • identifies legal issues that have generated or have the potential to generate non-uniform judicial practice, preparing study materials on them, by reference to doctrine, national case law, the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights, the Constitutional Court, etc..;
  • systematises the measures adopted at the sittings of the judges of the chambers on matters of judicial practice and, when he finds that divergences of case-law have not been resolved, draws up a report which he submits to the Vice-President who coordinates the work of the chambers which have jurisdiction over the matter of law which has not been resolved unanimously;
  • selects and summarises the relevant judgments of the High Court of Cassation and Justice for publication on the website and in the publications of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, after discussion and approval by the judges of the chambers;
  • systematises the case law of the High Court of Cassation and Justice by legal subjects, areas and questions of law, in order to facilitate access to and consultation of the case law database;
  • updates the index of case-law relating to the legal issues raised in the decisions analysed and adds the key terms necessary for the proper functioning of the search engine on the website of the High Court of Cassation and Justice;
  • verifies, at the request of the President of the Panel for Appeal in the Interest of the Law and of the Panel for Preliminary Ruling on Questions of Law, the case-law of the High Court of Cassation and Justice on the point of law which is the subject-matter of the appeal or of the reference for a preliminary ruling;
  • keeps a record of the relevant rulings issued by the courts of appeal;
  • analyses, by reference to the case law of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the legal issues raised by the courts of appeal as likely to give rise to divergences in case law and prepares study materials in this regard;
  • formulates replies to requests from the various institutions involving the identification and transmission of the case-law of the High Court of Cassation and Justice on certain questions of law;
  • carries out any other task in its field of activity ordered by law by the President or Vice-Presidents of the High Court of Cassation and Justice or by the Director of the Legislation, Jurisprudence and Litigation Directorate.

The Litigation Service

The Litigation Service performs the following tasks:

  • represents the High Court of Cassation and Justice before the courts and other jurisdictional bodies, on the basis of the mandate provided by the President of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, ensuring the defence;
  • drafts, within the procedural time-limits, applications, statements of defence, written pleadings and applications for leave to appeal in cases to which the High Court of Cassation and Justice is a party;
  • drafts any other procedural documents relating to the representation and defence of the High Court of Cassation and Justice before the courts and other judicial bodies;
  • keeps a record of judgments concerning the obligations of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, informs the President of the High Court of Cassation and Justice of such judgments and forwards copies to the Economic, Financial and Administrative Department, and, as the case may be, to the Human Resources and Organisation Directorate or to the Office for Information and Relations with the Public, for enforcement;
  • checks and/or approves public procurement contracts, with legal nature, from the point of view of their legality;
  • participates, through its legal advisers as experts, in committees set up under public procurement legislation;
  • shall approve the legality of orders issued by the President of the High Court of Cassation and Justice.