With the opening of the book “The Findings of the Senate of Latvia: Historical Heritage” on March 8, the Supreme Court concluded the centenary events of the Senate of Latvia and, as Ivars Bickovics, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, said: “It is symbolic that the centenary events are concluded with opening of a book in which history connects with the present.”

The book prepared by the Division of Case-law and Research summarizes the judgments of the Senate of Latvia, which are referenced in the rulings of today's Supreme Court, as well as those rulings that have not yet been used, but which may raise legal interest.

“The title of the book could also be: how the Supreme Court comes to aid to document the national succession of Latvia,” said Anita Zikmane, Head of the Division of Case-law and Research. The heritage of the Senate of Latvia is shown in the context of its topicality today, and the use of the findings contained in Senate’s rulings in today's case-law is consistent with the state continuity doctrine and confirms the unity and continuity of the legal system.

The special added value of the book is the comments of senators of the Supreme Court, which reveal that findings of the interwar period of the Senate are still being explored and applied today. One of the authors of comments Edite Vernusa, the senator of the Department of Civil Cases, said “the past holds the present and the future" thus quoting senator Augusts Rumpeters, and also looked back at the time when the judges of restored Latvia gradually became acquainted with the heritage left by the Senate of Latvia, began to apply the findings of Senate’s rulings and found them topical in their work of that time. Still today, many of the opinions that have been expressed a hundred years ago have not lost their topicality.

The book “The Findings of the Senate of Latvia: Historical Heritage” is published in a short run and will not be on sale. It will be sent to the National Library of Latvia and the legal faculties of higher education institutions and will be available in the reading room and museum of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court also opened a new section on the website of the Court, where judgments and extracts from the judgments of the Civil Cassation Department of the Senate of Latvia adopted from 1919 to 1940 are published. The materials were prepared by Zinaida Indruna, consultant on law application issues to the Division of Case-law and Research. Zinaida Indruna gave the participants of the event an explanation on various publications of Senate’s rulings, on the name of the civil law at different times and in different sources, as well as on the role of the General Assembly of the Senate.

At the event, the Supreme Court also presented a book published by the Courthouse Agency “Office of the Senate’s Rulings. The findings of the Senate of Latvia on the application of the provisions of the Civil Law (1938-1940)”, which is also historical heritage of the Senate of Latvia. The book summarizes information about the Office of the Senate’s Rulings and systematised Senate findings on the application of the Civil Law. The author of the idea and description about the Office of the Senate’s Rulings is Zinaida Indruna, and legal editor – Signe Terihova.

This book is available for sale at the Courthouse Agency's places of sale and online store.

 

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