Court Departments

Governed by Articles 42, 43 (35-38 and 40) of the Law on Organization of Courts, Articles 15-24 and 27-33 of the Book of Court Rules and Articles 26-41 of the Rules of Organization and Operation of the Supreme Court of Cassation

The Law on Organization of Courts provides that the Supreme Court of Cassation may have departments in accordance with the Rules of Organization and Operation of the Supreme Court of Cassation.

According to the Rules of Organization and Operation of the Supreme Court of Cassation, the court departments are:

  • The Criminal Department,
  • The Civil Department with a panel specialized in administrative matters,
  • The Department for the Protection of the Right to Trial within a Reasonable Time, and
  • The Court Practice Department.

A court department acts in the same legal area.

A court department is managed by the President of the Department, appointed by the President of the Court once he/she has obtained the opinion of the judges of said department. Deputy President of the department is appointed in the annual work schedule.

President of the Department takes care that the activities of a department are performed in a proper and timely manner.

The Criminal Department, the Civil Department and the Department for the Protection of the Right to Trial within a Reasonable Time have preparatory departments that serve to verify compliance with procedural requirements necessary for acting on the requests for the protection of the right to trial within a reasonable time and upon legal remedies in cases within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Cassation.

The Criminal Department consists of judges and court advisors who have been assigned in the annual work schedule to work in the general and specialized panels established for the criminal matter and the misdemeanor matter in misdemeanor offenses in the area of ​​public peace and order, transportation and public safety.

The Civil Department consists of judges and court advisors who have been assigned in the annual work schedule to work in the general and specialized panels established for civil and administrative matters.

Department for Protection of the Right to Trial within a Reasonable Time consists of  judges and court advisors who have been assigned in the annual work schedule to work on the cases of the first and second instance protection of the right to trial within a reasonable time.

The Court Practice Department consists of the President of the Court, Deputy President of the Court, Presidents of the court departments, Editor-in-Chief of the Court Practice Bulletin, Heads of the Court Practice Records in court departments and their Deputies, and advisors to the Court working on tasks related to the Court Practice Records.

In the departments of the Supreme Court, the work is conducted in panels and at departmental meetings.

A panel of the court decides in specific cases from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Cassation.

A session of the court panel is chaired by the Presiding Judge, and the case is presented by the Judge Rapporteur.

In the composition determined by applying the procedural law, the judges in panel confer and rule.

Sessions of all the Judges of a Department of the Supreme Court of Cassation consider issues from the court departments’ purview.

The Session of all the Judges of a Department is convened by the President of the Department or the President of the Court on his/her own initiative or at the proposal of the panel.

The session of a department is also convened if there is greater inconsistency in individual departments regarding the application of the law, or if one department departs from the legal opinion adopted in its practice or a from the legal opinion that has been accepted by all the panels.

A legal opinion adopted at the Session of all the Judges of a specific Department is binding for all the panels within said Department.  

The Session of all the Judges of a court department:

  • Discusses legal issues;
  • Determines legal views on controversial legal issues;
  • Considers ways to improve the work and expertise of judges and judicial assistants;
  • Proposes to the Session of All the Judges initiatives to regulate certain issues and to amend and supplement the existing regulations;
  • Provides initiatives to the Session of all the Judges for the creation of proposals for assessing the constitutionality and legality of laws and other general enactments and considers other issues decided by the Session of all the Judges;
  • Reviews the work of the departments;
  • Provides an opinion on the work of the advisors to the Court for the purpose of performance evaluation;
  • Considers issues important for the operation of the courts;
  • Determines the sentences to be published in the Court Practice Bulletin,
  • Considers other matters within the purview of the department.

A Session of all the Judges of a Department may be held if the majority of the judges of the department are present.

Court advisors who participate in the work of the department are invited to the Session of all the Judges of a Department.

Only the judges can vote at the Session of all the Judges of a department.

At any time, the President of the Court can participate in the activities and decisions of the Session of all the Judges of a department.

A decision is deemed taken when the majority of the total number of judges from a particular department has voted for it.

The voting is open.

A judge is not allowed to abstain in the decision-making process.

A legal opinion adopted at a Session of all the Judges of a Department is binding to all the panels within the department.

The Court Practice Department monitors and studies jurisprudence, initiates reviews of the adopted legal opinions, informs judges and court advisors on legal opinions of the court departments and determines which data and documentation must be monitored in the aim of improving the court practice and the related record-keeping, processing and publishing, to ensure a uniform application of the law.