The book “Summary of Supreme Court Plenary Session Decisions on Criminal Law with Comments in Today’s Perspective” published by the Courthouse Agency has been issued. In this book Uldis Krastiņš, an experienced legal scholar and author of several books on criminal law, has summarized the decisions of the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court on criminal law issues.

“This book, from a historical point of view, reflects the activities of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia in the development of case law in the field of criminal law at different historical stages of our country's existence, showing both commonalities and differences. What is common here is that the task of the courts has always been much the same – to create a uniform and stable case law in the application of the criminal law provisions in the country. “The decisive role in this field has always been played by the highest judicial institution that has carried out this work continuously,” the author points out in the introduction to the book.

The book contains the decisions of the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court both before the restoration of Latvia's independence in 1990 and in the period after that, until the narrowing of the area of responsibility of the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court regarding the interpretation of legal provisions. As the decisions of the Plenary Session have been made at another stage of Latvia's historical development, Uldis Krastiņš, in accordance with the principles of today’s case law, has provided his own comments on the issues addressed in the decisions.

The decisions of the Plenary Session contained in the book cannot be considered only as historical evidence of the case law of that time. The author emphasizes that the interpretation of criminal law provisions discussed in these decisions has been inherited and consolidated in the later decisions of the General Meeting of Judges of the Department of Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court, in summaries of case law, in Senate’s rulings, in comments on the Criminal Law, in textbooks and publications.

The book also includes the decisions of the joint sitting of the judges of the Department of Criminal Cases and the Chamber of Criminal Cases of the Senate of the Supreme Court, as well as the decisions of the general meeting of senators of the Department of Criminal Cases of the Senate. The list of case law summaries of the Department of Criminal Cases of the Senate of the Supreme Court in separate categories of criminal cases, the list of invalid Plenary Session decisions in criminal cases, the list of Plenary Session decisions amending previous decisions, as well as the decisions of the Plenary Session, the validity of which is limited by the subsequent decisions of the Plenary Session are given for a more comprehensive insight.

The publishers point out that the book will be mainly useful for judges, legal scholars, students, as well as anyone who is interested in tracing the succession of the Supreme Court Plenary Session, which has been reflected in the case law of application of Latvian criminal law provisions.

The book can be purchased at the points of sale of the Courthouse Agency: https://tnagramatas.tna.lv/lv/product/581 (in Latvian)

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211