A lie, and legal certainty

The paper analyzes the principle of legal certainty and compares it with one aspect of it – res judicata. The author argues that legal certainty is a broader concept and the principle aims to guarantee stability and is, in its turn, part of the rule of law. However, the principle of legal certainty, rooted in the axiom of Roman law that judgment must be made for the truth, has no purpose of turning lies into the truth. Therefore, if the decision is based on a lie – deliberate misrepresentation of facts and the presentation of falsified evidence, one should consider it an abuse of law and the court should deny the protection of such a right. Lying creates no legal certainty. A person who hides information from a court or distorts it must understand that uncovering this fact will in itself prevent him from invoking res judicata. The author concludes that where the court has failed to restore the violated right by believing lies, there can be no legal certainty.