TEMPORAL APPLICATION OF PROCEDURAL RULES AND ADMISSIBILITY OF APPEAL ON THE POINTS OF LAW IN CIVIL PROCEDURE: CONFLICTING LEGAL OPINIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AND THE SUPREME COURT OF CASSATION

The plaintiff filed a lawsuit under the Public Information and Media Law, and the High Court of Belgrade and the Court of Appeal have ruled against him. He tried to challenge the judgment of second instance court by filing an appeal on the points of law. The Supreme Court of Cassation applied Public Information and Media Law that was in force at the time of publication of disputed information instead of the Law that was in force when the second instance judgment was passed and dismissed the appeal on the points of law. This decision has been quashed by the Constitutional Court, because it violated the plaintiff’s right to fair trial. In its ruling the Constitutional Court explicitly stated that admissibility of appeal on the points of law has to be determined in accordance with procedural rules that were in force at the time the second instance judgment was passed.