ABA Rule of Law Initiative in Moldova

The American Bar Association's Rule of Law Initiative manages several programs in Moldova -- on anti-corruption and public integrity, criminal law reform and anti-human trafficking measures, legal education reform and civic education, legal profession reform, and women's rights initiatives.

I very much appreciated the opportunity to meet with and to interview several of the attorneys who are working with the ABA ROLI program in Moldova.

The Civil Law tradition does not embrace precedent, or judge-made law, as we do in the Common Law tradition. This puts Moldova in the interesting position in which Moldovan courts are bound to apply international court precedent -- rulings of the European Court of Human Rights -- but not not decisions of their own Supreme Court. 

The ABA ROLI team recently hosted a conference on strengthening precedent in Moldova.  And they solicited the assistance of Moldovan judges and law professors to edit a volume -- Jursipredenta Curtii Supreme de Justitie in materie penala (2008-2010) -- which is a casebook of relevant Supreme Court precedents.

Officially and legally judicial precedent is not a source of law in Moldova.  Yet, the benefit of stare decisis is that it promotes continuity and consistency in the law. Inherent in the concept of stare decisis is a theory of justice:  that similarly situated people should be treated similarly.

With the major Judicial Reform Strategy that is underway in Moldova (more on that in subsequent blog posts), I believe the compendium that the ABA published will be a great start to promote uniformity and consistency in judicial practice in Moldova.  I hope it will be welcomed by practitioners -- judges, prosecutors, law professors -- as they seek to improve the judicial process in Moldova.

I learned a great deal from my meetings with the ABA ROLI team -- and am most grateful for the assistance in arranging additional interviews for me with other judges, law professors, and lawyers.

You can access more information about the ABA ROLIs programs here:

http://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/rule_of_law/where_we_work/europe_eurasia/moldova.html