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Evidence in Civil Law – Romania © Institute for Local Self-Government and Public Procurement Maribor All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retriveal system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Title: Evidence in Civil Law – Romania Author: Sebastian Spinei First published 2015 by Institute for Local Self-Government and Public Procurement Maribor Grajska ulica 7, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia www.lex-localis.press, [email protected] Book Series: Law & Society Series Editor: Tomaž Keresteš CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana 347(498)(0.034.2) SPINEI, Sebastian Evidence in civil law - Romania [Elektronski vir] / Sebastian Spinei. - El. knjiga. - Maribor : Institute for Local Self-Government and Public Procurement, 2015. - (Lex localis) (Book series Law & society) Način dostopa (URL): http://books.lex-localis.press/evidenceincivillaw/romania ISBN 978-961-6842-56-3 (epub) 281129984 Price: free copy This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Evidence in Civil Law – Romania Sebastian Spinei Evidence in Civil Law – Romania 1 SEBASTIAN SPINEI ABSTRACT This study is offering a review of the most important institutions of the Romanian law of evidence: the fundamental principles of civil procedure, as well as the general principles of evidence taking; an analysis of the various means of evidence, and of the rules regarding the taking of evidence; some specific issues such as the unlawful evidence, the costs, language and translation in the process of the taking of evidence, are also examined. KEYWORDS: • civil procedure • fundamental principles • rules of evidence • means of evidence CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS: Sebastian Spinei, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Lucian Blaga University, 550324, Calea Dumbrăvii no. 34, Sibiu, Romania, email: [email protected]. DOI 10.4335/978-961-6842-56-3 ISBN 978-961-6842-56-3 (epub) © 2015 Institute for Local Self-Government and Public Procurement Maribor Available online at http://books.lex-localis.press. Sebastian Spinei Author Biography Associate Professor of Civil Procedure, Civil Enforcement, Judicial Systems and Legal Profession at the Faculty of Law of Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu, Romania. Lawyer, registered with the Sibiu Bar Association. Member of the International Association of Procedural Law (IAPL). Member of the Scientific Committees or Editorial Boards of several Law journals in Romania. Author or coauthor of a number of articles and books in the fields of Civil Procedure and the legal profession. Lectures and conference presentations in Romania and abroad. Graduate (1996) and PhD (2007) of the Faculty of Law of Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu. Foreword Evidence and the rules of evidence hold an essential position with regard to the trial: judicis est judicare secundum allegata et probata. This is why an analysis of this topic is never an outdated proposition. All the more, the comparison of different national legal systems is always offering perspective, criteria for evaluation and suggestions for improvement. This study was initially written as a national report within the EU project ‘Dimensions of Evidence in European Civil Procedure’ (supported by the European Commission under the Specific Programme Civil Justice). That context, namely the association of a number of studies on this same topic, is furthermore supporting the legitimacy and utility of the present monograph and of the others in the series. The Romanian system of evidentiary rules followed initially the French model. At a later time, the Austrian inspired notion of the active judge was introduced, followed in the 1950’s by the principle of the material truth, very much treasured in the Socialist systems. The new Code of Civil procedure (which entered into force in 2013) tried to rearrange the rules of evidence, to update them to the proper standards of a modern civil justice system. Apart maybe from only a few inconsistencies and omissions, the result is a correct and dependable set of rules. Evidence in Civil Law – Romania S. Spinei Contents Part I .......................................................................................................... 1 1 Fundamental Principles of Civil Procedure ............................................... 1 1.1 Principle of Free Disposition of the Parties and Officiality Principle ..................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Adversarial and Inquisitorial Principle ...................................................... 2 1.3 Hearing of Both Parties Principle (audiatur et alter pars) – Contradictory Principle .............................................................................. 3 1.4 Principle of Orality – Right to Oral Stage of Procedure, Principle of Written Form ......................................................................................... 4 1.5 Principle of Directness ............................................................................... 5 1.6 Principle of Public Hearing ........................................................................ 6 1.7 Other General Principles ............................................................................ 6 2 General Principles of Evidence Taking ..................................................... 6 2.1 Free Assessment of Evidence .................................................................... 6 2.2 Relevance of Material Truth ...................................................................... 7 2.3. Other General Principles Regarding Evidence Taking .............................. 8 3 Evidence in General ................................................................................... 9 4 General Rule on the Burden of Proof....................................................... 11 5 Written Evidence ..................................................................................... 13 6 Witnesses ................................................................................................. 14 7 Taking of Evidence .................................................................................. 17 7.1 Rejection of an Application to Obtain Evidence...................................... 17 7.2 The Hearing ............................................................................................. 18 7.3 Witnesses ................................................................................................. 19 7.4 Expert Witnesses ..................................................................................... 19 8 Costs and Language ................................................................................. 21 8.1 Costs ........................................................................................................ 21 8.2 Language and Translation ........................................................................ 22 9 Unlawful Evidence .................................................................................. 22 10 The Report about the Regulation No 1206/2001 ..................................... 23 11 Table of Authorities ................................................................................. 24 Part II – Synoptical Presentation .............................................................. 25 1 Synoptic Tables ....................................................................................... 25 1.1 Ordinary/Common Civil Procedure Timeline .......................................... 25 1.2 Basics about Legal Interpretation in Romanian Legal System ................ 27 1.3 Functional Comparison ............................................................................ 27 1.3.1 .................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.3.2 .................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. References................................................................................................ 31 Evidence in Civil Law – Romania S. Spinei Part I 1 Fundamental Principles of Civil Procedure The New Romanian Code of Civil Procedure (henceforth, also NCPC)2 comprises a whole Preliminary Title dedicated to the fundamental principles of civil procedure. The Principles were always enunciated by the legal writing3, some of them resulted from disparate texts of the Code, others from constitutional texts, but the new Code sets them out in an explicit and concentrated manner. 1.1 Principle of Free Disposition of the Parties and Officiality Principle One of the fundamental principles governing Romanian civil procedure is the principle of party disposition (principiul disponibilităţii). The principle is established by art. 9 NCPC, which states that: The civil process is started by the demand/claim of the interested person. The object and the limits of the process are set by the claims and defences of the parties. The party can withdraw its claim, renounce the disputed right, acquiesce to the claim, end the dispute by reaching a settlement (...).4 The Court is bound by the claims of the parties, it cannot decide extra and ultra petita, in other words it
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