Instructions for Authors

THE REVIEWING PROCESS

“Law Review” stands open to studies, articles, comments, analyses and thorough researches established for private law institutions, but also for public law institutions.

A special place in the editorial policy is hold by studies, comments and articles on new regulations, as well as by those referring to comparative law and to the European Union Law.

Also, the review publishes summaries of legal practice, as well as the Romanian and European jurisprudence accompanied by comments drafted in the form of favorable or critical notes substantiated theoretically and practically.

Similarly, attention is directed to articles and studies developed by foreign authors, personalities of law recognized internationally, in order to inform the Romanian reader of the valuable contributions brought by the aforementioned to the enrichment of law doctrine.

Studies and comments promoting the law doctrine must be based on a solid bibliography which should not be deficient in fundamental works published in the country and, insomuch as these are relevant to those writings, those works published abroad.

In connection with the reviewing process, it should be pointed out that, with no exception, all works submitted for publication in the review undergo in the first phase analysis and approval undertaken by the editors and the draft summary is laid down by the editor in chief. Works and draft summary are submitted in time for consideration to three reviewers - members of the editorial board and highly rated academics. During the meeting of editorial board, the reviewers put forward the content of reports they have been drawing up and jointly with the review’s editors decide upon the table of contents and papers selected for publication. The basic criteria in the editorial process are the scientific value of materials, the scientific prestige of authors, as well as the review’s readers’ interest, which, for the most part, are its loyal subscribers (legal advisers, judges, lawyers etc.).

The evaluation criteria considered by reviewers in preparing reports:

1. The article’s subject matter corresponds to the review’s thematic Yes / No

2. The purposes are clearly defined Yes / No

3. Bibliographic references are properly employed Yes / No

4. Quoting the relevant specialty literature is adequate Yes / No

5. Conclusions are consistent with the purpose of the article Yes / No

6. Scientific arguments are supported in a logical order Yes / No

7. The degree of originality of the work meets set standards Yes / No

8. The article subserves the development of theory Yes / No

9. The abstract meets requirements Yes / No

10. The article complies with the current scientific context Yes / No

Additionally, the scientific editor of the review is the one who finally decides on the scientific character of the works to be published, submitting an expert opinion to that effect.

The author shall be forwarded this expert opinion submitted by the scientific editor, notification that must include - in addition to the evaluation criteria – the following references (the correct answer as indicated by “X”):

1. I recommend the article unconditionally.

2. I recommend the article with some comments. Their implementation in the article stands for the author’s option.

3. I recommend the article with some comments. The author is required to consistently comply with the recommendations.

4. I do not recommend the article for being published.

In compliance with Law no. 8 / 1996 on Copyright and Related Rights, as subsequently amended and supplemented, the acceptance by the editorial board of materials submitted for publication stands for the valid conclusion of the publishing contract; according to this contract, the author assigns the exclusive right of reproduction and dissemination of his work. The publishing contract is terminated by right if, until the final correction date of the review’s issue major legislative changes have occurred influencing the content of issues treated.

Regarding the materials to be published, the editorial board reserves the following rights:

- to modify their headings (so that their content and purpose is more clearly defined);

- to reformulate, retouch and correct some confusing, unclear, incomplete wording, notwithstanding the merits of the author’s ideas;

- to compose groups of articles treating the same subject - but with views partially or totally different -, in order to enable readers to make a choice between different views and / or additional information.

The decision on the publication or non-publication will be notified to the author within 45 days of receipt of the article.

Materials submitted to the editorial staff for publication may not be tender to other publications unless their publishing is declined.

Contributors are asked to observe copyright laws completely keeping away of any form of plagiarism.

The editorial staff does not assume any responsibility in case of plagiarism, the whole responsibility, both legal (civil, pecuniary, criminal, as appropriate), and in terms of professional ethics devolving exclusively on the author.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR EDITING

    Readers wishing to publish in “Law Review” a material of any kind (study, jurisprudential annotation etc.) are strongly advised to comply with instructions given below, with the proviso that their infringement may attract non-publication of the material, without further motivation.

·  Materials for publication shall be submitted by authors exclusively electronically by e-mail: office@internationallawreview.eu

·  The size of materials submitted for publication can not exceed 40,000 characters.

·  Materials submitted for publication should be collected integrally (i.e. both the text and the footnotes), exclusively double line spacing and with the same body of letter (therefore, the notes are not collected with the lower body letter).

·  The right and left margins of each collected page is white space of 2.5 cm.

·  The content of the material, except for its title, text and footnotes are collected with the regular font style and, when appropriate, either italics or underlined font style.
Neither in the text nor in the footnotes are allowed words or phrases collected (written) in bold or UPPERCASE completely (block).

·  Compliance with Romanian spelling rules, imposed by the Romanian Academy (i.e., inter alia, use of â and sunt etc.) is mandatory.

·  In the text and footnotes there are not allowed abbreviations such as: prov.; prov., GD, GO, GEO, D.-L., D., L. etc., but these shall be written in full, i.e.: provided, provisions, Government Decision no.; Government Ordinance no.; Government Emergency Ordinance no.; Decree-Law no., Law no. etc.

·  Reference to any regulation shall be made only by number and year of issue, without mentioning the date of adoption (for example, Law no. 554/2004 on administrative litigation, and not Law no. 554 as of December 2^nd, 2004).

·  Both in text and notes shall be written in abbreviated form exclusively art. (= article); sect. (= section), para. (= paragraph), et seq. (= next) and in the footnotes there shall be written in abbreviated form exclusively p. (= page or pages), t (= tome), vol (volume).

·  In the text and footnotes there shall be written in abbreviated form only some of the codes’ names, namely: the Civ.Code; CodeCiv.Proc.; Cr.Code (Criminal Code), Cr.Proc.Code (Criminal Procedure Code); TC (Tax Code), TProc.Code (Tax Procedure Code); Com.Code (Commercial Code). There shall not be abridged, but written in full: Family Code, Labor Code, Forestry Code, Customs Code, etc.

·  Do not write s., but only see.

·  The names of any Romanian institutions (legal entities) (for example: the Ministry of Public Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the Superior Council of Magistrates) shall be written in full, abbreviations being prohibited (MPF, MJ, SCM, etc.). By way of exception there may be abridged: UNO, EU, NATO.

·  It is forbidden - in text and footnotes – to abridge the name of the following courts: the Constitutional Court, the High Court of Cassation and Justice (Supreme Court of Justice), the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union (Court of Justice of the European Communities). The following categories of courts or rulings are written exclusively in abridged form in footnotes only, for example:   

Bucharest C. (= Bucharest Court);

Brasov Trib. (= Brasov Tribunal);

Cluj Ap. C. (= Cluj Appellate Court);   

Civ.S.; Cr.S.; Com.S.;

Adm.Lit.S. (= Civil, criminal, commercial, administrative litigation section);

Dec. (= decision);

judg. (= judgment); concl. (= conclusion).

Therefore, quotations shall be made as follows (examples):

- Constitutional Court, Dec. no. 312/2004;   

- High Court of Cassation and Justice, Civ.S., Dec. no. 312/2004;    

- Supreme Court of Justice, Joint sections, Dec. no. III/2003;    

- High Court of Cassation and Justice, Panel of 9 judges, Dec. no. 604/2003;

- Bucharest C., Cr. S. II, Dec. no. 312/2004;

- Bucharest Ap.C., Civ. S. IV, Dec. no. 312/2004;

- Buzau Trib., Civ. Judg. no. 312/2004;

- Bucharest Trib. 5^th district, Cr. Judg. no. 312/2004.

·  In footnotes, the authors’ first names shall be written only in initial letter(s), and their last names shall be written in full, but never cursive / italic, underlined or UPPERCASE (excepted, of course, the first letter). For example: M. Eliescu, V. Dongoroz, C. Statescu, C. Birsan, I. T. Stefanescu, C.-L. Popescu.

·  If there are two to four authors of a paper, they shall be all written down, separated by commas (and not with conjunction and). For example: C. Statescu, C. Birsan; S. Ghimpu, I. T. Stefanescu, S. Beligradeanu, Gh. Mohanu. If there are more than four co-authors, there shall be written, as appropriate, only the name of the first one and thereafter et al. or (if any) the name of the coordinating author.

·  The name (title) of books (volumes) or articles published in specialized journals - Romanian or foreign – shall be written in full (no abbreviations or elimination of words allowed) either cursive / italic or underlined. If the title is in a foreign language it shall be written in this particular language (and shall not be translated if in French and English; translation is required in Romanian if written in any other language such as, for example, German, Russian, Spanish , Hungarian, etc.).

·  All publications (scientific journals) shall be collected fully entitled and quoted, any abridged form being strictly prohibited. For example:

- „Monitorul oficial al Romaniei”, partea I, nr. 145 din 17 februarie 2005 (nu M. of. nr. 145/2005) “Official Gazette of Romania”, Part I, no. 145 of February 17^th, 2005 (not Of. Gaz. no. 145/2005);

- “Dreptul” no. 3/2005, p. _(“Law”);

- “Revista romana de drept” no. 6/1985, p. _(“Romanian Law Review”);

- “Pandectele romane” no. 6/2004, p. _;

- “Revista romana de drept commercial” no. 2/2005, p. _(“Romanian Commercial Law Review”);

- “Revista romana de dreptul muncii” no. 4/2004, p. __(“Romanian Labor Law Review”);

- “Curierul judiciar” no. 12/2004, p. ...(“Judicial Courier”);

- “Revue trimestrielle de droit civil” no. 1/2004, p. _;

- “Journal officiel des Communautes Europeennes” L 257 of October 19^th, 1968 (not J.O.C.E.);

- “Jurnalul oficial al Uniunii Europene”; L 15 of  January 20^th, 2009 (“Official Journal of the European Union”).

·  In case of references to the Law Reports of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, for the first quotation (within an article) there shall be written down the full name of the report mentioned, namely: “Recueil de la Jurisprudence de la Cour de Justice”, followed by year and page. In subsequent quotations (within the same article) there shall be mentioned only “Recueil ...”, followed by the report’s year and the page.

Please note that, since 1990, the report mentioned is named as follows “Recueil de la Jurisprudence de la Cour de Justice et du Tribunal de premiere instance, Part I, and Part II, respectively, followed by year and page (and in this case the following quotations are abbreviated, i.e. “Recueil...”, Part I and Part II, respectively, followed by the report’s year and the page).

·  In case of materials where quotation of Decisions passed by the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg) prevail, the following abbreviations are admitted:

- ECHR = European Court of Human Rights;

- Commission = European Commission of Human Rights;

- Convention = (European) Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms;

- C.E.D.H. = Recueil des arrets et decisions;

- E.C.H.R. = Reports of Judgments and Decisions (ECHR report of judgments and decisions since 1996);

- Serie A: Arrets et decisions

Series A: Judgments and Decisions

(Series A: ECHR judgments and decisions until 1996);

- D.R. = Decisions et rapports - Decisions and Reports

(Decisions and reports of the Commission since 1975);

- G.C. = Grande Chambre (Grand Chamber of the ECHR).

·  The names of Romanian or foreign publishing houses are written in full, not abbreviated. For example: Publishing House (not PH) All Beck, Lumina Lex Publishing House, Librairie Generale de Droit et de Jurisprudence (not LGDJ), etc.

·  The quotation method of volumes (books) is as follows: the initial letter of the first name and the last name, exact and complete title (cursive / in italics or underlined, name of publishing house, place of issue, year, page). For example, V. Stoica, Drept civil. Drepturile reale principale (Civil Law. Main real rights), vol I, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2004, p. 189.

·  For volumes written by several authors and in which every chapter (title, part etc.) mentions the author, quotation shall be made as follows (examples): C. Statescu, Fapta ilicita cauzatoare de prejudiciu, ca izvor de obligatii (Raspunderea civila delictuala) (Illicit action causing injury, as a source of obligations (Tort), in “Drept Civil. Teoria generala a obligatiilor” (“Civil Law. The general theory of duties”) by C. Statescu, C. Birsan, All Beck Publishing House, Bucharest, 1999, p. 121 et seq.

·  Reports of decisions of the former Supreme Court, the former Supreme Court of Justice and the current High Court of Cassation and Justice shall be quoted as follows:

- Reports of decisions (mentioning the year). For example: Reports of decisions 1985, p. 27;

- After 1990 it shall be written Jurisprudence Bulletin 1998, p. 27.

Consequently, decisions shall be quoted as follows:

Supreme Court, Civ. S., Dec. no. 772/1985, in Reports of decisions 1985, p. 103;

Supreme Court Justice, Civ. S., Dec. no. 714/1999, in Jurisprudence Bulletin 1999, p. 105;

High Court of Cassation and Justice, Cr. Code, Dec. no. 6100/2003, in Jurisprudence Bulletin 2003, p. 735.

·  If, for example, author Ion Popescu wishes to underline a text in a quote or to include a parenthesis within a quote, this should be done as follows:

- (s.n. - I.P.), i.e. our emphasis, I. Popescu written in parentheses;

- (our parentheses - I.P.), i.e. our parentheses, I. Popescu.

·  In case of annotations (jurisprudential notes), the author elaborates only the note (without summarizing the annotated decision) and also attaches, in extenso (photocopy), the annotated decision, the latter being also titrated and resumed by the “Law Review” editorial staff. In case of notes, only the last decision rendered in the case shall be annotated (so the one rendered in the appeal or in the recourse, as appropriate). If no appeal is filed, this shall be mentioned in the decision passed by the court of first instance (or in the decision rendered on appeal). If appropriate, there shall be attached, in extenso as well, the decision passed by the court of first instance or the decision of the appellate court (although the annotation concerns the decision rendered on appeal).

The aforementioned in the preceding paragraph shall not apply if the appeal / right of review was rejected (canceled) as belated, unmotivated, unstamped etc. (situation that should result from a mention in this connection within the ruling of the court of first instance or the decision of the appellate court).

·  All quoted works and case law shall be mentioned in footnotes exclusively. No materials shall be allowed (studies, articles, etc.) that mention bibliography and case law at their end.

·  Footnotes shall be numbered consequently (and not starting with footnote 1 on every page).

·  If, after submitting the material (articles, annotations, etc.) to the “Law Review” there occur - in the matter - legislative changes, decisions of the Constitutional Court, of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and / or additional references (books, articles in specialized journals), the author must immediately notify the editorial staff on this situation, indicating exactly where additions, changes, or sometimes even non-publication of the material with the view to be rewritten are required.

·  Along with submission of any material (article, annotation etc.) the author / authors is / are are required to give the following information on a separate page, as enforced by the tax law:

- first name (in full) and last name;

- position and place of employment (where he/she deploys his/her activity);

- exact address (postal code included);

- personal identification number;

- phone number (home, work and mobile).

·  According to Law no. 8 / 1996, acceptance by the editorial board of materials submitted for publication stand for the valid conclusion of the publishing contract; under this contract, the author assigns the exclusive right of reproduction and dissemination of his work.