Respect for the Right to a Fair Trial in the Light of the Case Law of the Court of Justice of the European Union

The notion of the rule of law is one of the defining features of European constitutionalism, whose influence in today's world is undeniable. Through this concept, the state itself restricts the scope of its action in relation to its own system of values. If it itself does not take into account the positive law, which is its own creation, the very legitimacy of the exercise of power is called into question. „Public power that undermines the legal order that it has established itself is pronouncing its own decline†, Ihering said at the beginning of this century. One of the great theorists of French doctrine, Carré de Marlberg, emphasized that „the rule of law is designed in the interest of the citizens and has the special purpose of securing them in advance and defending them against the arbitrariness of the state authorities" and the public institution located at the disposition of the individual is the tribunal: „In order for the rule of law to be achieved, it is indeed essential that citizens be armed with a lawsuit that allows them to attack vicious state acts that would infringe their individual right†. In these circumstances, judicial review appears in this perspective, and even more so than in the past, as an effective guarantee of the rule of law.