A (Not Always) Difficult Balance between Legal Certainty and Legality: The Effects of cjeu and ECtHR Case Law on National Res Judicata

Abstract

This note examines a recent judgment of the Corte di Cassazione, in which the Court rejected an opposition against the enforcement of a final judgment that was purportedly irreconcilable with later rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“cjeu”) and the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) on very similar cases. The impact of judgments rendered by international tribunals on domestic procedural rules concerning res judicata often raises complex issues. This is mainly due to the difficult balance between the principle of legal certainty on one hand, and the principles of legality and effectiveness of European Union (“EU”) law and the human rights protection system, on the other. Nonetheless, in the case under review, the rules and principles developed through the years by the cjeu and the Italian Corte Costituzionale, that will be analysed in this note, provided clear guidance to the Corte di Cassazione.