Reasoned Decision In Criminal And Civil Courts
WHAT IS A REASONED JUDGEMENT?
A reasoned decision is a detailed decision explaining the issues, facts, evidence, demands, defendant’s defence, complainant’s complaints and the legal grounds on which they base their judgement at the end of the trial in criminal courts, and in civil courts, it is a detailed decision explaining the plaintiff and defendant claims and demands and the legal grounds on which they base their judgement.
In practice, courts generally explain the referral clause of the judgement they rendered in the last hearing by recording it in the minutes of the hearing in the form of a short decision. The reasoned judgement, on the other hand, is not contrary to the short judgement and is notified to the relevant parties within the legally prescribed period of time.
According to Article 141/3 of the Constitution, all decisions of the courts must be written with reasons. In the decisions of the Court of Cassation, justification is defined as the explanation of the grounds of the judgement in accordance with reason, law and material facts. The justification must be valid, legal and sufficient to show that the information and documents in the file have been properly evaluated. Making a judgement without such a justification will not be in accordance with the purpose of the legislator.
WHAT IS A REASONED DECISION IN A CIVIL COURT?
According to Article 297 of the CCP, the decisions rendered as a result of the cases involving private law disputes such as compensation, divorce, inheritance and receivables, which fall within the jurisdiction of the civil courts, must be reasoned. According to the Court of Cassation, the mandatory elements that must be written in the reasoned judgement are as follows
– Summary of the claims and defences of both parties,
– Points of agreement and disagreement,
– Evidence collected on contentious issues,
– Discussion of the evidence,
– Reasons for rejection and favouritism,
-The established facts and the conclusions drawn from them,
– The legal reason must be clearly shown.
WHAT IS A REASONED JUDGEMENT IN A CRIMINAL COURT?
The elements that must be included in the reasoned judgement of the conviction in the proceedings falling within the jurisdiction of the criminal courts are set out in Article 230 of the Code of Criminal Procedure;
– The claim and defence, the evidence on which they are based and the evidence collected by the court,
– Discussion and evaluation of the evidence and the reasons for rejecting or favouring and accepting the evidence,
– The act of the defendant which is accepted to constitute an offence, its legal elements and qualification, the applicable article of law,
-The reasons aggravating and mitigating the penalty, whether there are legal grounds for abolishing the penalty, the reasons for the acceptance or rejection of the requests related to them and the reasons for determining the basic penalty,
– Grounds for the postponement of the sentence, the conversion of the sentence to one of the measures or the application of additional security measures, or the acceptance or rejection of the requests in these matters shall be shown.
In addition, in the decisions taken as a result of the criminal case, it must be clearly shown whether there is the possibility to apply for legal remedies and compensation at the end of the judgement, and if there is the possibility to apply, the duration, form and authority.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT THE REASONED JUDGEMENT HAS BEEN WRITTEN?
The phrase “reasoned decision has been written” means that the case has been concluded and the decision given by the court has been prepared with justification. It is possible to see the statement that the reasoned decision has been written in the query you make about your file on e-government. When you see this expression, you can understand that the file you are on trial has reached its conclusion and a decision has been made. After the reasoned decision is written, it will be notified to the parties and the application period for legal remedies will start from the notification of the reasoned decision.
WHEN IS THE REASONED DECISION WRITTEN?
When the reasoned decision will be written varies according to which court the case falls under the jurisdiction of. In criminal cases, the reasoned decision must be prepared within 15 days from the date of the judgement. In cases falling within the jurisdiction of civil courts, the preparation period of the reasoned decision is one month. This period is also set as one month in administrative and tax courts.
WHEN IS THE REASONED DECISION FINALISED?
The finalisation of the reasoned decision is in two ways.
-Firstly, if no legal remedy is applied against the reasoned decision within the period defined in the law, the decision becomes final.
Secondly, the decision becomes final if a legal remedy is applied against the reasoned decision and the higher-ranking courts examining the appeal and appellate review find the judgement in accordance with the law and approve it.
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