High Court of Cassation and Justice
Romanian: Înalta Curte de Casație și Justiție
Established1861
LocationBucharest
Composition methodadmission contest/Promotion
Authorized byConstitution
Websitehttps://www.iccj.ro/
President
CurrentlyCorina-Alina Corbu[1]
Since15 September 2019

The High Court of Cassation and Justice (Romanian: Înalta Curte de Casație și Justiție) is Romania's supreme court, and the court of last resort. It is the equivalent of France's Cour de Cassation and serves a similar function to other courts of cassation around the world.

Naming history

It held various names during its existence: "Curtea Supremă" (Supreme Court) and "Tribunalul Suprem" (Supreme Tribunal) during the Communist period (1948–1952 and 1952–1989 respectively), and "Curtea Supremă de Justiție" (Supreme Court of Justice) from 1990 to 2003. The name "Înalta Curte de Casație și Justiție" was re-introduced in 2003, having been also used during the United Principalities (1862–1881) and Kingdom of Romania (1881–1947).

Administration

The court is led by a president, seconded by a vice-president and the leading council. Since September 2019, its president is Corina-Alina Corbu. The general assembly of the court's judges assigns two members for the Superior Council of Magistrature. The same assembly approves the annual activity report (released publicly) and the budget of the institution.

According to the law, "The president, the vice-president and the section presidents of the High Court of Cassation and Justice are named by the President of Romania, at the proposal of the Superior Council of Magistrature, out of the judges of the High Court that have worked in at this instance for at least two years". The term lasts for three years, with the possibility of being renewed once.[2]

Controversial decisions

From 1995 to 2000, the Romanian Supreme Court rehabilitated a total of at least 14 convicted war criminals. These included 3 members of Ion Antonescu's wartime government (Nichifor Crainic, Toma Ghițulescu and finance minister Gheron Netta), Radu Dinulescu ("the Eichmann of Romania") and his deputy (Gheorghe Petrescu) as well as other statesmen and journalists such as former minister Stelian Popescu and Pan M. Vizirescu. A procedure known as "extraordinary appeal" was used to overturn their war crimes and "crimes against peace" convictions. In 2004, the "extraordinary appeal" procedure was eliminated from the Romanian legislation following recommendations from the European Court of Human Rights.[3][4][5][6] This, however, backfired on those who wanted these rehabilitations undone, as Efraim Zuroff came to find out. When, in February 2004, Zuroff demanded that the Romanian authorities overturn the rehabilitations of Colonels Radu Dinulescu and Gheorghe Petrescu, he was informed that this was "technically impossible". Due to the abolition of "extraordinary appeal", a decision by the Supreme Court can no longer be challenged within the framework of Romanian legislation.[7]

List of Court Presidents

No. Name Term start Term end
High Court of Cassation and Justice
1 Vasile Sturza 14 February 1862 19 October 1868
2 Constantin Hurmuzache 24 October 1868 8 March 1869
3 Scarlat Fălcoianu 8 March 1869 3 September 1876
4 Alexandru Creţescu 3 September 1876 15 October 1886
5 Constantin Schina 15 October 1886 1 April 1906
6 Scarlat Ferekyde 1 April 1906 1 May 1909
7 G.N. Bagdat 1 May 1909 1 October 1911
8 Corneliu Manolescu 1911 1918
9 Victor Romniceanu 1919 5 August 1924
10 Gheorghe Buzdugan 5 August 1924 5 June 1927
11 Oscar Nicolescu 5 August 1927 7 November 1930
12 Ion Stambulescu 7 November 1930 17 February 1931
13 Dimitrie Volanschi 24 March 1931 1 June 1938
14 Andrei Rădulescu 1 June 1938 September 1940
15 Dimitie Lupu September 1940 1944
16 Oconel Cireş 1944 1945
17 Petre Davidescu 1945 1947
(16) Oconel Cireş 1947 1948
Supreme Court
(16) Oconel Cireş 1949 1 April 1949
18 Gheorghe Stere 1 April 1949 1 August 1952
Supreme Tribunal
18 Gheorghe Stere 1 August 1952 24 January 1953
19 Stelian Niţulescu 24 January 1953 1 July 1954
20 Alexandru Voitinovici 1 July 1954 March 1967
21 Emilian Nucescu March 1967 August 1975
22 Constantin Stătescu August 1975 January 1977
23 Iustin Grigoraş January 1977 November 1979
24 Ioan Sălăjan November 1979 27 December 1989
Supreme Court of Justice
24 Ioan Sălăjan 27 December 1989 3 January 1990
25 Teodor Vasiliu 3 January 1990 20 July 1990
26 Teofil Pop 20 July 1990 17 June 1992
27 Valeriu Bogdănescu 13 July 1992 25 July 1994
28 Gheorghe Uglean 20 December 1994 20 June 1998
29 Sorin Moisescu 20 June 1998 6 April 2000
30 Paul Florea 27 April 2000 18 October 2003
High Court of Cassation and Justice
30 Paul Florea 18 October 2003 16 June 2004
31 Nicolae Popa 14 July 2004 14 September 2009
32 Lidia Bărbulescu 14 September 2009 15 September 2010
33 Livia Doina Stanciu 17 September 2010 14 September 2016
34 Iulia-Cristina Tarcea 14 September 2016 14 September 2019
35 Corina-Alina Corbu 15 September 2019 incumbent

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Structura organizatorică a Înaltei Curți de Casație și Justiție". www.scj.ro.
  2. ↑ "Judge Adrian Bordea chosen for third interim as chief of the Supreme Court. Who is the magistrate that will judge over the great corruption trials and how important is the president of the HCCJ position". HotNews. 2010-09-16.
  3. ↑ Andrei Muraru, "Elie Wiesel” Institute`s Journal, 2020, Outrageous Rehabilitations: Justice and Memory in the Attempts to Restore the War Criminals’ Remembrance in Post-Holocaust Romania. The Recent Case of General Nicolae Macici (I) in Holocaust. Studii şi cercetări / Holocaust. Study and Research, vol. XII, issue 1(13), pp. 345-348
  4. ↑ Henry F. Carey, Lexington Books, 2004, Romania Since 1989: Politics, Economics, and Society, p. 75
  5. ↑ David Singer, American Jewish Committee, 2001, American Jewish Year Book 2001, Volume 101, p. 430
  6. ↑ Alexandru Florian, Indiana University Press, Jan 24, 2018, Holocaust Public Memory in Postcommunist Romania, pp. 73, 76-77, 79, 93-94 and 102
  7. ↑ Radio Free Europe, Newsline - July 16, 2004


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