Landmark Decision of The High Court of Cassation and Justice: Scientific Titles Are Irrevocable, Irrespective of the Form in which They Entered the Civil Circuit

The High Court of Cassation and Justice (“ICCJ”) has recently settled a complex litigation initiated by the law firm Zamfirescu Racoți Vasile & Partners (“ZRVP”) on behalf of an individual client against The Ministry of Education and Research (“MEC”) and The National Council for the Attestation of University Titles, Diplomas and Certificates (“CNATDCU”).

ZRVP’s legal team, composed of Alexandru Iorgulescu, partner, and Alina Munteanu, senior associate, obtained the annulment of an Order of the Ministry of Education and Research issued in 2020, by which the client’s doctoral degree obtained in 2013 was revoked.

The final solution obtained by ZRVP is a landmark in the interpretation of the principle of irrevocability of unilateral legal acts and the legal effects produced by them. By its decision, ICCJ recognizes and protects the non-pecuniary legal effects of obtaining a doctor’s degree and strengthens the right to professional reputation and honor, a right enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights (“ECHR”) case law. Even if it does not result in the acquisition of a new position or dignity, the award of scientific titles has an immediate impact on the reputation and professional standing of the holders of these titles.

Representing its individual client, the ZRVP team of lawyers invoked several grounds for the nullity of the act of withdrawal of the doctoral title, drawing on the case law of the Constitutional Court and the Strasbourg Court. One of the main arguments was the violation of the principle of the irrevocability of administrative acts, given that the order granting the doctor’s degree had already produced legal effects.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal initially dismissed the action as unfounded, considering that the title of doctor produces legal effects only if the holder enters into legal relations distinct from those in which he was in during or before the doctorate period.

In its submission to ICCJ, the ZRVP team criticized this approach and argued that the acquisition of a doctoral degree produces consequences on professional reputation/honor independently of the proof of a distinct legal relationship.

The Supreme Court embraced the ZRVP’s lawyers’ reasoning, upheld the appeal, quashed the impugned decision and annulled the Ministry of Education’s Order withdrawing the doctor’s degree.

In its reasoning, the supreme court emphasized that the scientific title of doctor, once entered the civil circuit, produces effects in the field of personal, patrimonial and non-patrimonial rights. Even if it does not result in the acquisition of a new position or dignity, it has an immediate impact on the reputation and professional stature of the holder of that title.

The solution reached by ZRVP is a landmark in the interpretation of the principle of the irrevocability of unilateral legal acts and the legal effects they produce. The High Court of Cassation and Justice recognizes and protects the non-patrimonial legal effects produced by the title of doctor and strengthens the right to professional reputation and honor, a right enshrined in the case law of the ECHR. The solution is all the more important as it is often difficult to prove non-patrimonial effects, which can block legal action by holders of doctoral degrees against abusive revocation measures by the issuing authorities.