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The National Judicial Council (Državno Sudbeno Vijece) of the Republic appoints all judges. It is a body consisting of a president and 14 members proposed and elected by the Parliament for 4-year terms, maximum 2 terms.

The record of archdeacon Thomas, as well as the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja from the 12th century, state that the Croats did not arrive the same way that the Byzantine texts say. Instead, these works claim that the Croats were a group of Slavs that remained after the Goths (under a leader referred to as "Totila") had occupied and pillaged the Roman province of Dalmatia. The Chronicle of Dioclea, on the other hand, speaks of a Gothic invasion (under a leader referred to as "Svevlad", followed by his descendants "Selimir" and "Ostroilo") after which the Slavs merely took over.

In the 4th century BC the northern parts of modern-day Croatia were also colonized by the Celts, the Scordisci tribe. Other Celtic peoples may also have been found elsewhere integrated among the Illyrians. The islands of Issa and Pharos as well as the locality of Tragurion became Greek colonies since the same period.

Inflation and unemployment rose and the kuna fell, prompting the national bank to tighten fiscal policy. A new banking law passed in December 1998 gave the central bank more control over Croatia's 53 remaining commercial banks. Croatia is dependent on international debt to finance the deficit. A recently issued Euro-denominated bond was well received, selling $300 million, which helped offset economic losses from the Kosovo crisis.

The official and common language, Croatian, is a South Slavic language, using the Latin alphabet. Other languages are spoken by less than 5% of the population.

The first King of Croatia, Tomislav of the Trpimirovic dynasty, was crowned in the Duvno field in 925 (note that sources vary from 923 to 928). Tomislav, rex Chroatorum, united the Pannonian and Dalmatian duchys and created a sizeable state, including most of today's central Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, and most of Bosnia. The central town of the Duvno field is nowadays named Tomislavgrad (Tomislavtown) in his honor.

The natural growth rate is minute, as the demographic transition is long done. Life expectancy and literacy rates are reasonably high.

With the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, its possessions in eastern Adriatic mostly came under the authority of France which passed its rights to Austria the same year. Eight years later they were restored to France as the Illyrian provinces, but won back to the Austrian crown by 1815. Though now part of the same empire, Dalmatia and Istria were part of Cisleithania while Croatia and Slavonia were under Hungary.

In recorded history, the area was inhabited by the Illyrians, an Indo-European people who spoke the Illyrian language. The Liburn, Iapod and Delmat tribes inhabited various parts of the Adriatic coastline and interior between modern Istria and Herzegovina.