Danubius International Conferences, 7th International Conference on European Integration - Realities and Perspectives

Legal System as a Determinant of Economic Performance:

Raluca Irina Clipa, Flavian Clipa, Dumitru Filipeanu
Last modified: 2012-03-29

Abstract

The role of the legal system in generating economic performance is enjoying increased attention in literature. Our scientific endeavour tries to underline, from an original perspective, the incoherence which characterises the Romanian law and judicial system; at the same time, it also offers a few solutions meant to restore and reconsider the role of public institutions in the legislative and judicial process. Considering the facts presented in our study, the existence of efficient legal institutions, who enforce contracts ex post while using the judicial infrastructure (courts and judicial procedures), is more than critical for the formation of an agreement of will between contracting parties, thus generating economic performance for private organisations by reducing transaction costs and by limiting the opportunism of economic agents. Equity, predictability, transparency and reduced costs are advantages deriving from the legal enforcement of contracts, which stimulate competition and trade, while reducing the risks associated with different types of transactions. Thus, it is necessary to implement an anti-corruption policy, to enhance the predictability of the law-making process, to reconsider and restore the attributions of institutions involved in the Romanian legislative and judiciary process, in order to promote proper civil and commercial judicial procedures, together with the analysis of the possibility to acknowledge jurisprudence as a source of law.