Court of Cassation (Belgium)
The Court of Cassation ( Dutch : Hof van Cassatie , French Cour de cassation ) is the highest court of the ordinary courts of Belgium and thus the final instance in civil and criminal proceedings. The French court of cassation , whose responsibilities are similar to those of Belgium, served as a model .
_by_Ignace_Brice.jpg)
organization
The court has three chambers with 16 judges. Each chamber with a president ( voorzitter or président ) has a Dutch and a French-speaking section ( afdeling or section ), each of which has a department president ( afdelingsvoorzitter or président de la section ). A First President is at the head of the General Court.
The public prosecutor's office ( parket-generaal or parquet général ) is headed by a general procurator ( procureur-generaal or procureur-general ), who is a judge but does not negotiate cases himself.
Advocacy
In principle, each party must be represented before the Court of Cassation by a "lawyer at the Court of Cassation" ( advocaat bij het Hof van Cassatie or avocat à la Cour de Cassation ).
Jurisdiction
- The Court of Cassation decides in the last instance on appeals against decisions of the appellate courts , the labor courts or the jury courts . The Court of Cassation can either collect or confirm the decisions , but cannot decide for itself. Partial collection is also possible ( gedeeltelijke cassatie or cassation partial ). After each cassation, the court whose decision was collected decides again. While the Court of Cassation's first or second decision is not legally binding, the third is irrevocable.
- The Court of Cassation also decides in cases of doubt about the jurisdiction of the legal process to the ordinary or administrative courts .
- The Court of Cassation can address submissions to the European Court of Justice on account of EC law or to the Constitutional Court (called the Court of Arbitration until 2007) regarding Belgian constitutional law .