Law of Romaia
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The law of Romaia is the system of law across Romaia. The Romaia legal system has a plurality of sources of production. These are arranged in a hierarchical scale, under which the rule of a lower source cannot conflict with the rule of an upper source (hierarchy of sources).
The Constitution of 1967 is the main source. The Romaian civil code is based on codified Roman law with elements of the Napoleonic civil code and later statutes. The civil and penal code of 1962 replaced the original codes of 1871.
Both the civil code and the penal code have been modified in order to be in conformity with the current democratic constitution.
Legislative power
Article 139 of the Constitution of Romaia shares legislative power, according to the concerned matters, between Parliament of Romaia and regional councils. While a law ratified by the national Parliament is simply called νόμος and is enforced on the whole country, laws ratified by regional councils are named νόμος περιφεριακός (regional laws) and can be applied only in the concerned region. Parliament is competent to legislate for the matters expressly indicated in the second paragraph of Article 139, while the Regions are competent to legislate for the remaining matters (residual competence).
There is also a second list of matters contained in the third paragraph of article 139 called matters of concurrent legislation, in which the Regions have legislative power, except for the determination of fundamental principles (framework laws), reserved to the State.
The Government can also issue an act having the force of law (called διάταγμα, "decree"), but this must be confirmed later by Parliament, under penalty of forfeiture of the decree. Furthermore, the Parliament can delegate the Government (through a law called κατ' εξουσιοδότησος νόμος, "delegation law", which must precede government regulation) to legislate on a certain subject, but at the same time establishes the margins within which the Government can move in legislating. The power of legislative initiative is attributed to each parliamentarian, to the people, through the institution of the popular law proposal, carried out by collecting at least 50,000 signatures, and to the Council of Ministers.
Still in the sphere of legislative power, there are some cases in which it belongs to the sovereign people: through the institution of the abrogative referendum and, in constitutional matters, through the institution of the confirmatory referendum of constitutional laws.
Sources of law
In Romaia the legal norms originate from the following sources:
- Internal sources:
- Constitution, which regulates the formation of laws and determines the discipline of regulatory acts;
- National or regional laws, as well as decrees (government acts issued when there is an urgent matter that requires timely intervention) and legislative decrees (acts issued by the government as delegated by the Parliament which establishes basic principles and indications that the government must follow to propose the law);
- Government regulation, issued by the Government, ministers and other administrative authorities;
- Customary law, a source subordinated to the law and which can operate only within the limits permitted by the law itself.
- International sources: norms adopted by a group of states on the basis of one or more international agreements, united in a supranational organization, which stand above the individual laws of each member state but which have no direct effect on citizens. They are called treaties or agreements. In addition to written conventions, international customs must be included among the international sources.
With regard to external sources art. 139 of the Romaian Constitution: "Legislative power is exercised by the State and by the Regions in compliance with the Constitution, as well as with the constraints deriving from the community order and international obligations".
Private law
Private law is that part of a civil law legal system which is part of the jus commune that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law of contracts and torts (as it is called in the common law), and the law of obligations (as it is called in civil legal systems). In Romaian law, the main regulatory body for private law is the Romaian civil code, which governs both civil and commercial law. The Romaian civil code was approved with Royal decree no. 347 of 26 June 1962 and entered into force on 1 July of the same year. The Code deal respectively of people and family, heritage, property, bonds, working and protection of rights.
Public law
Public law is the part of law that governs relations between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that are of direct concern to society. Public law comprises constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law.
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary. The Constitution of Romaia is composed of 157 articles and arranged into ten main parts.
It is important to note that the Constitution primarily contains general principles; it is not possible to apply them directly. As with many written constitutions, only few articles are considered to be self-executing. The majority require enabling legislation, referred to as accomplishment of constitution.
Administrative law
Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of executive branch agencies of government. In Romaian law, the main regulatory body for private law is the Romaian administrative process code.
Criminal law
Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Criminal law includes the punishment and rehabilitation of people who violate the penal laws. In Romaian law, the main regulatory body for criminal law is the Romaian penal code, which is one of the sources of Romaian criminal law together with the Constitution and special laws. The Romaian penal code is organized into three books, which are in turn divided into titles, chapters, sections, paragraphs and articles. The three books deal respectively of the crimes in general, of the crimes in particular and of the misdemeanors in particular.