2. Instituţia decăderii: repere teoretice şi practice
2. The institution of forfeiture: theoretical and practical references

Summary/Abstract: The characterization of certain time limits as time bars, of procedural or substantive law, must be made with care, after establishing the exact purpose for which they were established by the legislator, the parties or the judge and after assessing the effects produced in the event of their disregard. If the effects of forfeiture are contrary to the purpose for which the time limits were set, it is a clear sign of misqualification. The judge, arbitrator, bailiff, insolvency administrator or liquidator need not formally refer to the disqualification because its order or finding is not an end in itself. In the case of the judge and the arbitrator, the application of the disqualification sanction is mainly a means to streamline the path leading to the truth, without such a procedural manifestation being dissociated from the disciplinary function, the punitive function and the preventive function. The procedural time limits within which a procedural right must be exercised shall not be suspended or interrupted, and the exceeding of such time limits for duly justified reasons shall allow, under the conditions of the law, the filing of a request for the re execution of the time limit. The incidence of substantive limitation periods is and must remain a matter of substance, not of procedure. The limitation periods under civil law do not start to run or, if they have started to run, are suspended in the event of force majeure, such an event having to be proven under ordinary law, without the need for a formal request for a time limit to be reinstated. The rules of prescription do not apply to forfeiture time limits, except when the legislator has expressly provided for this, art. 10 Civil Code imposing such an interpretation. In application of the principle of accesorium sequitur principale, the forfeiture of the subjective right as a result of lapse has effects on all the interests which are not autonomous.

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