Unlawful evidence in litigation

Nezakoniti dokazi u parnici predstavljaju institut koji je prvi put uveden u Zakon o parničnom postupku novelom iz srpnja 2022. Novom odredbom je propisano da sud može u parničnom postupku temeljiti svoju odluku na nezakonitim dokazima. Pritom se mora voditi razmjerom između težine povrede prava do koje može doći upotrebom takvog dokaza u parnici s jedne strane i važnosti da se upotrebom takvog dokaza pravilno i potpuno utvrdi činjenično stanje s druge strane. Takvim pristupom je hrvatski parnični postupak odmaknut od dotadašnjeg restriktivnog pristupa kojim nije bila dozvoljena upotreba nezakonitih dokaza u parnici. Naime, neke europske jurisdikcije ne dopuštaju uopće upotrebu nezakonitih dokaza u parnici, dok neke europske jurisdikcije, kao sada i Hrvatska, dopuštaju upotrebu nezakonitih dokaza u parnici. Zbog takve različitosti u uređenju praksa Europskog suda za ljudska prava predstavlja odlučujući izvor u materiji o pribavljanju i upotrebi nezakonitih dokaza u parnici. Budući da dosad nezakoniti dokazi u parnici i kriteriji za njihovu upotrebu nisu bili zakonski propisani te su stoga bili lošije uređeni u odnosu na kazneni postupak, najveću ulogu u izgradnji tog instituta imao je Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske kroz svoju praksu. Stoga se u ovom radu analizira razvoj ovog instituta u praksi Europskog suda za ljudska prava te u praksi Ustavnog suda Republike Hrvatske. Na kraju se daje osvrt na to koje kriterije, s obzirom na novelu, hrvatski sudovi slijede pri odlučivanju o dopuštenosti takvih dokaza u parničnom postupku.Unlawful evidence in litigation is an institute that was introduced for the first time in the Civil Procedure Act by an amendment from July 2022. The new provision stipulates that the court can base its decision on unlawful evidence in litigation. In doing so, it must be guided by the balance between the severity of the violation of rights that may occur through the use of such evidence in litigation, on the one hand, and the importance of using such evidence to correctly and completely establish the factual situation, on the other hand. With such an approach, Croatian litigation moved away from the previous restrictive approach, which did not allow the use of unlawful evidence. Namely, some European jurisdictions do not allow the use of unlawful evidence in litigation at all, while some European jurisdictions, such as Croatia, allow its use in litigation. Due to such differences in regulations, the practice of the European Court of Human Rights represents a decisive source in the matter of obtaining and using unlawful evidence in litigation. Since until now unlawful evidence in litigation and the criteria for its use were not legally prescribed and therefore were poorly regulated compared to criminal proceedings, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia played the biggest role in the construction of that institute through its practice. Therefore, this paper analyzes the development of this institute in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and in the practice of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia. At the end, a review is given of what criteria, with regard to the amendment, the Croatian courts follow when deciding on the admissibility of such evidence in civil proceedings