ROLE AND STATUS OF JUDGES IN CROATIA Dr. Alan Uzelac I. A Historical Background – System of Justice before 1990 .............................................................. 1 II. Constitutional position and legal regulation of judiciary 1990-1995: rules and reality .............. 3 1. Christmas Constitution of 1990: the unfulfilled promise of an independent and autonomous judiciary .................................................................................................................................................... 3 2. State of Emergency – War on Balkans and its Consequences for the Status of Judges ........ 5 3. Courts Act of 1993: Legitimizing the Tacit Removal of “Unsuitable” Judges ........................ 7 4. A Challenge of Constitutionality: Constitutional Court v. SJC ................................................ 12 III. Some Features of the Crisis of Croatian Judiciary in the Second Half of 1990’s ................... 16 1. Forging a Presidential Oligarchy: Court Presidents as Political Disciplinarians.................... 16 2. The “Olujić case”: appointment and removal of the President of the Supreme Court ....... 18 3. Second Mandate of M. Vuković: the Continuation and the Peak of Judicial Crisis ............. 23 4. The last days of party judiciary: cosmetic reforms and lame-duck appointments ................ 25 5. Post scriptum: Parliamentary elections 2000 and their impact on the system of justice ..... 27 IV. Current State and Future Prospects of Croatian Judiciary.......................................................... 28 1. Introductory remark ........................................................................................................................ 28 2. Courts and Judges: Numbers and Perspectives .......................................................................... 28 3. An Insight into the Future: Some Obstacles of the Reforms to Come.................................. 31 4. Conclusion: Trials and Tribulations of the Justice in Transition ............................................. 32 I. A Historical Background – System of Justice before 1990 System of justice in the Republic of Croatia has roots in the common traditions and fate of the systems of justice in Central and Eastern Europe. Significant role in its formation may be assigned to the period of mid-XIX century – a period of consolidation of bureaucratic and centralist state apparatus. This was a period during which the feudal and patrimonial elements in the organization of state bodies in this part of Europe were finally abolished and surmounted, and modern centralist elements of the organization of the state administration were introduced. This also apply to judiciary, that was organized on the same premises as the judiciary in the surrounding countries – as well as the judiciary in many other states of the continental Europe – i.e. as a hierarchical system of professional office-holders, closely tied with the state and the centers of political power. 1 Since Croatia was in this period a part of the Habsburg (from 1867 – Austro-Hungarian) monarchy, much was inherited from the legislative and judicial reforms of the enlightened Austrian absolutism that brought models and patterns of behavior, as well as a certain overall “touch and feel” of the system of administration of justice. These common traits may be followed with regard to legislation and legal education: e.g., some pieces of legislation relevant for judicial organization and process at the territory of present Republic of Croatia were taken literally from Austrian sources. However, the prevalence of similarities should not lead to neglect of significant differences. Namely, although tied to various governments, Croatia had a substantial level of autonomy, to the 1 For typology of the systems cf. Merryman, The Civil Law Tradition, Stanford, 1985; Damaška, The Faces of Justice and State Authority, New Haven, 1986; for a historical genesis of the Continental judicial systems cf. van Caenegem, Judges, Legislators and Professors, Cambridge, 1993.