R V R CASE 1992

R v R Case 1992

R v R Case 1992

Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice Systems in Europe are faced with enormous challenges. As the justice system is a mirrorr of modern societies, they are confronted with the societal problems of regulation in matters of state security, social prosperity and environmental protection. This conference wants to establish another perception of these problems.

Criminal Justice Systems in Europe are faced with enormous challenges. As the justice system is a mirror of modern societies, they are confronted with the societal problems of regulation in matters of state security, social prosperity and environmental protection. Judges in Europe in their daily practice, often presiding in small and old fashioned courtrooms, address these problems, are challenged and sometimes overloaded by them.

Globalization is a burden on justice. In particular, criminal justice is not just restricted to fulfill essential social functions such as conflict resolution, but is also subject to crucial principles of law, such as due process, fair trial and equality of arms. The principle of independent and impartial justice makes sure that judicial control is integrated within the rule of law. Thus, the rights of citizens are fully legally protected. The protection of individual rights is the core competence of criminal justice. This is a value as such. Without this value state and society risk losing their normative cohesion, their reliability, their stability and finally the trust of the people and thus their legitimacy Nevertheless, the principle of independent and impartial justice is in danger, especially in the realm of criminal law.

This is due to a series of risks, which follow from the interventions of the other state powers - the legislative and the executive power - but also from the impact of social systems sometimes characterized as "dysfunctional". Usual strategies to overcome these risks might still work on the national level, but are doomed to failure in a European and international context.

Main reason for this failure could be seen in a lack of understanding concerning the problems of judicial cooperation in matters of criminal law. This conference wants to establish another perception of these problems. Usually judicial cooperation in Europe is considered as a matter of legal texts, their coherence and the way rules are applied, with a strict adherence to the letter of the law instead of a nuanced approach addressing more creative approaches to resolve underlying dispute. In order to get an overall understanding, the traditional work on legal texts must be necessarily connected with interdisciplinary knowledge on the functioning of criminal justice in globalized social systems.

The classical technical judicial approach combined with interdisciplinary and empirical knowledge on the reality of criminal justice systems focus also on the strengthening of judicial self consciousness in order to exercise its function as a protector of fundamental rights to a full extent. This again is inevitably linked with external and internal organization of the judiciary.

R v R

The defendant married his wife in 1984. As a result of matrimonial difficulties the wife left the matrimonial home ...