Abstract: This article seeks to formulate, as a matter of reflection for the criminal law doctrine, an interrogation that has a general-philosophical incidence - in this specific area of ​​law - for a broad area of practical problems (both present and future ones) encountered in the process of interpreting the law, following the submission of a particular case and the author’s vision on the manner in which it was solved. The interrogation may be summed up, essentially, as follows: in case of conflict between them, which method of interpretation of the legal norms should prevail - the one carried out in strict observance to the letter of the law, or the one conducted with more regard to the spirit of the law? The particular case from which this interrogation was extracted concerns an aspect of the mediation procedure, as this can be carried out in criminal cases, in Romania. More specifically, it consist in a critical description of the legislation that gave rise to the legally binding (for the Courts) decision no. 9/2015 enacted by the Panel of judges with authority to solve issues of interpretation of the law, in criminal matters, from the High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania. This decision stated on the issue of determining the legal nature of the mediation agreement in criminal cases, as an independent (sui-generis) cause of removal of criminal liability, and not just as one particular way for the accomplished of another institution, the reconciliation, regulated in the Criminal Code of Romania as a cause of removing criminal liability. In secondary, the decision stated on the possibility of the mediation agreement to take place, in criminal cases (thus removing the criminal liability) at any stage during the trial in front of the Court, and not only to the point when the indictment is read (the moment when the case is referred to the Court by the prosecutor’s office), as it is the case for the institution of reconciliation, according to the new Romanian Criminal Code.

Key words: mediation agreement; the criminal side of some cases; legal general causes for removal of criminal liability; the procedural moment by which the mediation agreement regarding the criminal side of some cases may intervene in order to remove criminal liability; Decision no. 9/2015 (preliminary ruling) pronounced by the Panel of judges with authority to unravel (solve) questions of law, from the High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania.