Reversing the Principle of the Prohibition of <em>Reformatio in Pejus</em>: <br>The Case of Changing Students’ Possibility to Complain about their Marks in Denmark

Abstract

Using the recent change in students’ possibility to complain about their marks in Denmark as a case the paper investigates the mechanisms of and the values underlying the principle of the prohibition of reformatio in pejus. The paper argues that the right to complain without fear that is the essence of the principle is seen as a fundamental legal value in Europe even if it is neither absolute nor invariable in time and space. Drawing on the Danish case the paper concludes that changes in principles that reflect fundamental values must to be publicly discussed and not kept clandestine.