2024
Roxana STANCIU, PhD student, Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest, A history of in absentia judgement – from the default judgement to the voluntary stay of proceedings
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.31178/AUBD/2024.19
Abstract: The judgment given in the presence of the parties is a guarantee of a fair
trial, while their absence from the debates no longer entails the loss of the
trial. However, the waiver of due process guarantees, including hearings being
conducted before both parties, must be express or must clearly result from the
party's conduct. Otherwise, the court cannot continue the trial, a fact to
which the law attaches the effect of an imperative norm.
The "presumption of discontinuance" on which the case of voluntary suspension of judgment is based, provided by art. 411 para. (1) point 2 C.civ.proc., has recently been combated by the theory that the party seeking a justified adjournment actually intends to prevent the voluntary stay. The implications and shortcomings of this theory will be discussed below, in contrast to the history of default judgments.
Keywords: civil procedural law, suspension of judgment, voluntary suspension
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