Last week, a seminar for judges "Topicalities of tort law: guilt as a precondition for civil liability" was organized by the Latvian Judicial Training Centre in cooperation with the Court Administration.

The seminar was the second one of the planned three annual seminars for judges on tort law. It gave the judges of all instance courts an insight into the current issues of the concept of fault in tort law both in Latvia and elsewhere in Europe. The director of the course and moderator of the seminar was Dr. iur. Zane Pētersone, the Senator of the Department of Civil Cases of the Senate.

In the seminar, the lecture "Between the fault liability and the strict liability – shifting the burden of proof" was given by Dr. iur. Rihards Gulbis, the Legal research counsel to the Department of Civil Cases of the Senate. Furthermore, a lecture on the concept, role and assessment criteria of guil, as well as on models of responsibility depending on the criteria of guilt was given by Dr. iur. Jānis Kārkliņš, the Professor of the University of Latvia, the Sworn advocate, and Edijs Brants, the Lecturer at the University of Latvia, the Sworn advocate.

The common and distinct aspects of the Latvian judicial system and other jurisdictions were also considered at the seminar. Professors from Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands shared their experience. The concept of guilt in Italian law and case law was reviewed by Dr.iur. Matteo Nuzzo, the Professor at the University of Naples Parthenope. Dr.iur. Gilles Cuniberti, the Professor at the University of Luxembourg, spoke about the perspective of France and Luxembourg, while Dr.iur. Cees van Dam, the Professor from King's College London and the Maastricht University in the Netherlands gave a reading on the interaction of tort law with business law, thus tackling global corporate liability in British and Dutch courts.

After the seminar, the guests also visited the Supreme Court of Latvia, where they viewed the historical premises of the Palace of Justice and got an insight into the history of the Senate in the Supreme Court Museum.

The seminar was organized within the framework of the "Academy of Justice" project.

 

The information was prepared by the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court, phone: +371 67020396