UJEDNAČAVANJE SUDSKE PRAKSE - STAVOVI EVROPSKOG SUDA ZA LJUDSKA PRAVA I STANJE U SRBIJI
HARMONIZATION OF COURT PRACTICE – ATTITUDES OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE SITUATION IN SERBIA

Summary/Abstract: There is an obvious need for the harmonization of court practice that will provide legal security, that is legal certainty, as well as legality and equality of citizens under the law. Even a glance at the mechanisms known to our legal system which are used for the harmonization of court practice and unique interpretation of law lead us to conclude that there are many of such mechanisms, meaning that a lot of efforts have been invested in normative sphere. However, the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights point to the fact that there are some problems in this field. Also, a number of cases brought before the Supreme Court of Cassation and other courts of second instance (appellate courts) suggest that the existing mechanisms are not efficient, or, better to say, not applicable to the full extent. Therefore, some of these mechanism need to be more precisely regulated. Not suggesting that we should introduce the court practice as a new, non-traditional, source of law in our legal system (which upholds European continental tradition), a higher level of harmonization is definitely something that must be secured. This seems to be possible to execute without radical changes, just by introducing a more firm mechanism of horizontal and vertical harmonization. In both cases there is a number of prerequisites that need to be met, from technical ones, such as an automatic procedure of tracking cases, a unique information system, better skilled staff, up to substantial prerequisites, the most important being: stronger role of the Supreme Court of Cassation in the harmonization process through a system of additional remedial measures, as well as through special procedures of issuing opinion in relation to disputable cases referring to applicable law. Judicial independence and autonomy must be maintain in any case.

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