Judgement in criminal procedure law

Straipsnyje kai kuriais aspektais analizuojama teismo sprendimo (nuosprendžio) samprata, t. y. gvildenamas teismo nuosprendžio įsiteisėjimo momentas, teismo nuosprendžio teisinės galios požymiai. Šiek tiek analizuojamas ir nuosprendžio turinys, motyvų reikšmė. Skiriama dėmesio teismo sprendimo autoritetui, svarstoma, kokie veiksniai jam turi įtakos (kaip, pvz., minėtas teismo sprendimo įsiteisėjimo momentas).The aim of the article is to reveal the concept of a final court decision in criminal procedure law. A final court decision in the Lithuanian criminal procedure law may be: a judgement of the courts of first instance; a decision of the Court of Appeal; a decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania. The first part of the article deals with an analysis of the presumption "res judicata pro veritate habetur". This presumption that a decision is correct is an expression of the authority of a court decision. A court decision may be: the act of the implementation of legal norms, the specific legal fact, the form of judicial power, and, certainly, the act of justice administration. A final court decision is equated to an act of legislation. Furthermore, the first part of the article includes a description and an analysis of the system and forms of control over a court judgement, the legal nature of these forms as well as the features which characterize ordinary appeal procedures: an appeal can be made by the process participants in all cases; an appeal against a judgement is possible before it comes into effect; an appeal does not have a suspensive effect; an appeal is possible on the grounds provided in law. The features of the extraordinary appeal procedures are: an appeal is possible against an effective court judgement; the grounds for an appeal are provided in law; there often are special selections of complaint. What is more, the author of the article analyses the relation between a final court judgement and the forms of control over a court judgement. A final judgement cannot be annulled at any time and the principle of legal certainty cannot be infringed. What is more, the procedure of appeal cannot minimize the authority of a final decision; therefore, the author of the article suggests a provision establishing that a judgement can be appealed under the procedure of cassation to be included in law. The second part of the article deals with an analysis of the legal power of a court decision. The author describes the main characteristics of the legal power of a court decision: obligation, subjectivity, consistence, stability proper administration of justice etc. The author discusses the meaning of the legal power of a court decision. In the third part the main characteristics of the content of a court decision are examined. Particular attention is paid to the motivation of a court decision as a feature of the decision. In particular, the author analyses what must be motivated in a court decision. In the third part the author presents some examples of criminal cases where criminal procedure law was violated due to insufficient motivation of the decisions. The article ends with conclusion