Justice as the limit of res judicata

Abstract

Justice and legal certainty are two sides of the same coin; two desires that complement each other. Nevertheless, in certainly exceptional cases it is necessary to choose giving precedence to one of them. In other words: giving priority to legal certainty and consequently not allowing to modify what have been decided with the force of res judicata, despite being aware the provisions of mandatory regulations have not been respected in this resolution; or alternatively, giving priority to the principle of justice and admit that, res judicata should not prevail in such a hypothesis. In this difficult dilemma, where outstanding arguments can be put forward in favour of both positions, the Court of Justice of the European Union has opted in different resolutions to give precedence to European Community law and, therefore, to make prevail the rights recognized to the individuals in these regulations, which forces us to reflect on the inherent effects of judicial decisions and the true meaning of the so-called material res judicata.