Contenu du sommaire

Because its décisions often détermine some main social choices, the Suprême Court ofthe United States is a perfect illustration ofthe influence ofa "constitutional" judge on the political System. This situation emphasizes the importance of the debate on the limits of the judge's power and on its démocratie legitimacy. Such a legitimacy can be measured throughthree components : "insti-tutional", "functional" and "social". The American expérience analyzed, underlines finally the significance to the composition of the Court and the independence of its members, the déférence of the Amending power and the support of public opinion for the building ofthe Court's legitimacy.

The Central and Eastern European countries undergo political and economie changes since 1989-1990. The labour law development is seen as an important factor of the performed transformations. The labour legislation in binding force before 1989, which was adapted to a centralisee System, could fit neither with the new labour relations nor with the social expectations. It seemed necessary to create a new labour law model which would be adapted to the political democracy and market economy principles. This new model should also fit with the international and european standards. This article will be analysing issues related to the labour law reform orientations as well as to the mode of legislative work. Later on the article presents labour law sources, among which labour codes remain the basic legal acts. The last part presents the labour law legislation afier 1989. The labour law evolution in Central and Eastern European countries is not over yet. Those countries are now trying to build a labour law System that willattempt to unify EU countries standards with theirlegal and social tradition as well as with the economie conditions and possibilities of each country.

Inspired by the French model, the ombudsmen in French-speaking black Africa have been appointed in order to encourage the emergence of political democracy. They aim to extend the latter through administrative democracy by protecting citizens in their dealings with the administration. In this way they participate in the phenomenon which has seen more and more ombudsmen and mediators appearing ail over the world during the last few years. The ombudsmen have the mission of regulating relations between the administration and the citizen-and also ofsearching for social peace between the administration and the parties involved in social matters — these missions are carried out with a certain degree of independence, but in a context where there is, at the same time, maladministration, sub-administration and also quantitative and qualitative weakness of the jurisdictional control ofthe administration. All ofthis means that the role of the African ombudsman has a dimension ail of its own. This is even more so with regard to calls for justice in the resolution of disputes because, in black African law, the latter is an integral part ofthe law. Ifsuch a link between justice and the law was shown to be effective today, the ombudsman would thus contribute, to a certain degree, in the meeting point between tradition and modernity, whatever legal character he may be recognised as having.

The author recalls the opposite rules about the distribution of money in theenforcement proceeding in Europe, that is the equality of creditors according to French tradition and the priority of the creditor, first seizer in Germany. Then he dwells upon the application of these rules in the States of the European Union and in other European states. At last he recalls the international debate on this matter. Ultimately he asserts the opportunity of the par condicio creditorum principle in a transnational perspective and the necessity that prevention principle, whereit is, wilibe combined by the organisation of the proportio-nal distribution of sales proceeds among the creditors, in case ofinsolvency of the debtor and that the collective procedure cancels the right of priority acquired by the seizer creditor during the suspicious time.

In France and in the United Kingdom, the law forbids racial discrimination and punishes racist words or deeds. Nevertheless, Parliament has not beenaiming at the same objectives in the two countries. In France integration of every individual in the Republic is the first objective. In the U.K., the law aims to give every social group the opportunity to prosper and to keep its specificity. The implementation ofthe law is also different. French law rests mainly on criminal qffences, which are fairly difftcult to prove. English law prefers tortious liability. Above ail, it has set up a specialised administrative body to help the victims. The French authorities are picking up ideas in Britain and attempt to adapt them to the republican model of intégration.

The System of architect's liability in France is characterised chiefly by a legislative intention to afford to the person who has suffered damage a rapid and effective remedy. As a matter of procedural law, certain presumptions of fault exist, allowing the person who has suffered damage to pursue the architect directly, without having to discharge the heavy evidential onus of proving the precise technical faults committed by the architect. It is sufficient for the victim to establish, quite simply, that an unsatisfactory state of affairs exists — owing to the presumed fault of the architect — which has caused damage to the victim. As a matter ofsubstan-tive law, moreover, it is, of course, possible to mount a daim against architect-builders directly, in contract. The aim of this article, then, is to envisage the replacement of the current Italian System of architect's liability (under which, in contrast to the Italian medical negligence rules, those who have suffered damage cannot seek compensation directly from the "tortfeasor", to use the English legal expression) with a System which more closely resembles the French regime outlined above.

Starting from the features specific to labour jurisdiction and the distinct elements of labour disputes, the study analyses the development in time of the regulations of the labour jurisdiction in Romania in the context of the main Systems known under comparative law. The research on the legislation worked out previously as well as the practice of comparative law allows the author to state that in the current stage of development of labour relations in Romania a specialised jurisdiction, able to ensure a social harmony in this field is extremely necessary. One reminds that the specialised labour jurisdiction System, which existed in Romania between the two World Wars, established through the 1933 Law on establishment and organisation ofthe labour jurisdiction, functioned very efficiently, imposing, due to the specificity of labour disputes, a coming back to that System by way of an institution, with certain improvements.