ON THE ISSUE CONCERNING THE GROUNDS OF STATE LIABILITY FOR A DAMAGE CAUSED BY ILLEGAL AND IRREGULAR WORK OF STATE BODIES

Abstract

Odgovornost države za štetu koju svojim nezakonitim i/ili nepravilnim radom pojedincima prouzroče njezina tijela, već je dugo vremena predmetom interesa pravne znanosti i sudske prakse poredbenog i domaćeg prava. Budući da su o temeljnom pitanju te odgovornosti – samoj vrsti odgovornosti, Vrhovni sud Republike Hrvatske i Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske zauzeli suprotna stajališta, jasno je da trenutno uređenje toga pitanja u našem pravu nije zadovoljavajuće. Iz poredbenopravnog prikaza proizlazi da postoje bitno različita rješenja navedenoga pitanja, koja u posljednja dva desetljeća pokazuju trend postroženja odgovornosti države, dijelom i pod utjecajem prakse Europskog suda za ljudska prava i Europskog suda pravde. Analizirana domaća sudska praksa potvrđuje normativne nedorečenosti i nejasnoće, koje bi svakako trebalo ukloniti. Zbog širine i složenosti problema koji se javljaju u pitanju odgovornosti države za štetu, u središtu je rada pitanje same vrste odgovornosti, dok su druga pitanja uglavnom izostavljena. Predlaže se normativna intervencija u uređenje instituta odgovornosti države za štetu u hrvatskom pravu.State liability for a damage caused to individuals by illegal and/or irregular work performed by state bodies has been for a considerable time an object of interest of legal science and court practice in comparative and domestic law. Having in mind that the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia have taken opposite standings on the basic issue of the liability in question – i.e. on the mere type of liability, it is obvious that legal regulation of this notion is not adequate in national law at present. From the comparative legal overview it can be concluded that there are essentially different solutions for aforesaid issue and that there has been a trend to tighten state liability in last two decades, partially due to the practice of the European Court for Human Rights and the European Court of Justice. The analysis of domestic court practice confirms normative understatements and ambiguities, which should be, without any doubts, eliminated. Due to broadness and complexity of issues arising from state liability for damages, the article focuses on the issue concerning the mere type of liability. Therefore, the other issues are mostly omitted. The normative intervention has been proposed to regulate the institute of state liability for damages in Croatian law