La responsabilità del giudice nel diritto europeo

The essay deals with the important subject-matter of the State’s liability for violations of EU law attributable to the last instance judges of a Member State. Apart from the fact that according to the Court of Justice, the national competent court should take into account “the specific nature of the judicial function”, in reality that statement sounds more like a sort of lip service, being rather clear that “State liability for loss or damage caused by a decision of a national court adjudicating at last instance which infringes a rule of EU law is governed by the same conditions”(Köbler C-224/01). The confirmation of such a thesis (no special regime for the responsibility of judges in line with Francovich doctrine) in a certain way comes out as a result of a subsequent case in which the ECJ, in evaluating the compatibility of Italian Law n. 117/88 (“Risarcimento dei danni cagionati nell'esercizio delle funzioni giudiziarie e responsabilità civile dei magistrati”), makes it clear that “Community law precludes national legislation which excludes State liability, in a general manner, for damage caused to individuals by an infringement of Community law attributable to a court adjudicating at last instance by reason of the fact that the infringement in question results from an interpretation of provisions of law or an assessment of facts or evidence carried out by that court” (Traghetti del Mediterraneo).