The Administrative Judiciary Reforms in Croatia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to show that the 2010 Croatian administrative judiciary reform did not bring the expected results. As a result of the reform, the characteristic feature of judicial control of administration has changed − instead of resolving legal disputes as to the legality of an administrative act, unlimited judicial competence of administrative courts has been introduced. As a result of the reform, new institutions were introduced, such as: control of the legality of general acts, administrative contracts, judicial protection against actions and inactivity of the administration, etc. Moreover, the administrative judiciary was organized for the first time as two-instance. However, the Croatian administrative judiciary, despite introducing its full jurisprudence (unlimited jurisdiction), is still content with controlling the legality of administrative acts, and the way the courts interpret the provisions in the new legal status largely follows the patterns of the former socialist system – it is narrow, formalistic and purely literal, without taking into account the context or the specific circumstances of a given case. The main reason for this is the inadequate education and training of judges, the lack of their specialization and the reluctance of the Supreme Administrative Court itself to change the established patterns and practices valid in the old system conditions, to accept its new position and interpret the powers granted to it under the new, changed legal status.