Europe
European nations regard legal certainty as a fundamental quality of the legal system and a guiding requirement for the rule of law. The concept can be traced through English common law and is recognised in all European legal systems. The concept is recognised in Germany as Rechtssicherheit, in France as sécurité juridique, in Spain as seguridad juridica, in Italy as certezza del diritto, in the Benelux countries as rechtszekerheid, in Sweden as Rättssäkerhet, in Poland as do obowiazujacego prawa, and in Finland as oikeusvarmuuden periaate. Legal certainty is now recognised as one of the general principles of European community law and "requires that all law be sufficiently precise to allow the person - if need be, with appropriate advice - to foresee, to a degree that is reasonable in the circumstances, the consequences which a given action may entail". The principle of legal certainty, and as such the rule of law, requires that:
- laws and decisions must be made public
- laws and decisions must be definite and clear
- the decisions of courts must be regarded as binding
- the retroactivity of laws and decisions must be limited
- legitimate interests and expectations must be protected.
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Famous quotes containing the word europe:
“Of one thing I can assure you with comparative certainty, whoever wins, Europe will be economically ruined. This war is America’s great opportunity.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“The people of Western Europe are facing this summer a series of tragic dilemmas. Of the hopes that dazzled the last twenty years that some political movement might tend to the betterment of the human lot, little remains above ground but the tattered slogans of the past.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“...I think the Americans are the only people who have good beds. I consider the American bedroom unparalleled for freshness, comfort, and cleanliness. It is worth going all over Europe in order to come home to one’s own bed.”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)