Chief justice Tarcea: Top court in unprecedented situation of explaining why adhered to letter & spirit of law

The High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ) is in an "unprecedented situation" where it has to explain why it applied the law "in both its letter and spirit," top court President Cristina Tarcea said during debates this Wednesday at the Constitutional Court regarding Prime Minister Viorica Dancila's notification of a constitutional legal conflict between Parliament and the ICCJ over the five-judge panel. 

"I have to confess that the High Court is in an unprecedented situation where it has to explain the reasons why it applied the law in both its letter and spirit. Because the letter and the spirit of the law mean (...) observing the deadlines imposed by the law on someone with a particular obligation. Of course, whenever we talk of a legal conflict of a constitutional nature, we implicitly talk about loyal cooperation among authorities, but loyal cooperation among the authorities implies not only diligence in avoiding institutional gridlocks, but also correctness in citing and reading the law, and I am referring to citing and reading the legal texts in their entirety, and I also have in mind the corroborated presentation of the situations that may result from different, sometimes contradictory texts," Tarcea said. 

The head of the supreme court said that although she did not make any reference to the capacity to pursue proceedings of the initiator of the challenge, "it seems a bit odd that, when a gridlock between two authorities is invoked, it's another authority that files this challenge." 

The Constitutional Court of Romania discusses on Wednesday, in public session, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila's challenge regarding a constitutional legal conflict between Parliament and the High Court of Cassation and Justice in relation to the five-judge panel. 

The government is represented by head of the Government's Secretariat General and former constitutional judge Toni Grebla, ICCJ - by the court's President Cristina Tarcea, and the Senate by Cristian Ionescu. The representative of the Chamber of Deputies is absent from debates.