Pub Date : 2023-12-21DOI: 10.1163/15730352-bja10086
Kriszta Kovács, Gábor Attila Tóth
The article situates Rosalind Dixon’s Responsive Judicial Review in constitutional legal literature and engages with its central message by introducing the idea of constitutional courts as accessible democratic institutions. It compares constitutional review in a well-functioning and a declining democracy. After considering the relationship between democratic self-government and constitutional review, the article argues that a lawfully established, accessible, yet reasonably self-restraining constitutional court with the power of procedural and substantive review can be understood as a democratic institution. To support this claim, the article offers the example of Hungary, where democratization coincided with the birth of accessible constitutional review and where the decay of democracy has been accompanied by the decline of constitutional review. It concludes that constitutional justices can always have a choice. They can contribute to an autocratic transformation or resist the autocratic government by performing a Herculean task.
{"title":"Constitutional Review as a Democratic Instrument","authors":"Kriszta Kovács, Gábor Attila Tóth","doi":"10.1163/15730352-bja10086","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15730352-bja10086","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The article situates Rosalind Dixon’s <em>Responsive Judicial Review</em> in constitutional legal literature and engages with its central message by introducing the idea of constitutional courts as accessible democratic institutions. It compares constitutional review in a well-functioning and a declining democracy. After considering the relationship between democratic self-government and constitutional review, the article argues that a lawfully established, accessible, yet reasonably self-restraining constitutional court with the power of procedural and substantive review can be understood as a democratic institution. To support this claim, the article offers the example of Hungary, where democratization coincided with the birth of accessible constitutional review and where the decay of democracy has been accompanied by the decline of constitutional review. It concludes that constitutional justices can always have a choice. They can contribute to an autocratic transformation or resist the autocratic government by performing a Herculean task.</p>","PeriodicalId":42845,"journal":{"name":"Review of Central and East European Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139025397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-07DOI: 10.1163/15730352-bja10081
Karolina Bubnytė-Širmenė
The article explores the attitude of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court to the European Convention on Human Rights, revealing its evolution from the establishment of the Court in 1993 until today. It is assumed that the most significant impact of the Convention was perceived in earlier constitutional jurisprudence, while its increased quality and quantity brought changes in the Court’s attitude to the Convention, also influencing its relationship with the European Court of Human Rights. The author undertakes the following tasks: 1) to define the formal legal status of the Convention within the Lithuanian legal system; 2) to reveal the impact of the Convention on Lithuanian constitutional jurisprudence and to identify related changes; 3) to discuss the relationship between the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights as it has evolved and 4) to find out whether there is room for domestic development of the rights guaranteed under the Convention and how this manifests.
{"title":"The European Convention on Human Rights and the Lithuanian Constitutional Court: the echr’s Formal Status, Impact and Interaction Between the Court and the ECtHR","authors":"Karolina Bubnytė-Širmenė","doi":"10.1163/15730352-bja10081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15730352-bja10081","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The article explores the attitude of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court to the European Convention on Human Rights, revealing its evolution from the establishment of the Court in 1993 until today. It is assumed that the most significant impact of the Convention was perceived in earlier constitutional jurisprudence, while its increased quality and quantity brought changes in the Court’s attitude to the Convention, also influencing its relationship with the European Court of Human Rights. The author undertakes the following tasks: 1) to define the formal legal status of the Convention within the Lithuanian legal system; 2) to reveal the impact of the Convention on Lithuanian constitutional jurisprudence and to identify related changes; 3) to discuss the relationship between the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights as it has evolved and 4) to find out whether there is room for domestic development of the rights guaranteed under the Convention and how this manifests.","PeriodicalId":42845,"journal":{"name":"Review of Central and East European Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79602774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-07DOI: 10.1163/15730352-bja10078
Egidijus Kūris
Lithuania’s 1992 Constitution has undergone a series of amendments, including certain structural changes. Besides formal amendments, constitutional regulation is subject to reinterpretation in the Constitutional Court’s case law. As a result, not only the content of specific provisions of the Constitution, but also the very perception of constitutional law has been reshaped by, inter alia, reducing the system of sources of constitutional law to only the Constitution and official constitutional doctrine. Recently the Constitutional Court, in an activist move, undertook modification of the settled new paradigm by introducing the notion of ‘supra-constitutionality’ and by postulating which constitutional provisions, until then deemed amendable, were non-amendable. The article deals with the doctrine in both the historical and the theoretical context and with its effect on the perception of constitutional law, in particular its structure.
{"title":"Doctrinal Experimenting with the Constitution in Lithuania: On the Structure of the Constitution, the Non-Amendability of Constitutional Provisions, and the Legal Force of ‘Pre-Constitutional’ Acts","authors":"Egidijus Kūris","doi":"10.1163/15730352-bja10078","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15730352-bja10078","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Lithuania’s 1992 Constitution has undergone a series of amendments, including certain structural changes. Besides formal amendments, constitutional regulation is subject to reinterpretation in the Constitutional Court’s case law. As a result, not only the content of specific provisions of the Constitution, but also the very perception of constitutional law has been reshaped by, inter alia, reducing the system of sources of constitutional law to only the Constitution and official constitutional doctrine. Recently the Constitutional Court, in an activist move, undertook modification of the settled new paradigm by introducing the notion of ‘supra-constitutionality’ and by postulating which constitutional provisions, until then deemed amendable, were non-amendable. The article deals with the doctrine in both the historical and the theoretical context and with its effect on the perception of constitutional law, in particular its structure.","PeriodicalId":42845,"journal":{"name":"Review of Central and East European Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84995488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-07DOI: 10.1163/15730352-bja10082
Agnė Juškevičiūtė-Vilienė
In 1992, the Lithuanian Constitution created the preconditions for the stable and successful economic development of the state and laid down foundations for regulating economic relationships that ensure the predictability of economic, social, and legal relationships. The article analyzes how the concept of social justice as chosen by the drafters of the Constitution influences Lithuanian economic policy, as well as what foundations are consolidated in the Constitution for the economic system and freedom of individual economic activity. A brief study is presented in order to reveal the patterns of regulation of the Lithuanian economy in constitutional law, as well as the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court in relation to freedom of individual economic activity over the thirty years that the Constitution has been in force. Study of this jurisprudence shows that, in the first decade of restored Lithuanian independence, freedom of economic activity was particularly encouraged by the Constitutional Court, with the aim of creating the foundations for a market economy as soon as possible. Later, the main aim of the state was to ensure Lithuania’s energy independence, while in the third decade of independence constitutional jurisprudence increasingly analyzed the possibilities of finding a balance between environmental protection requirements and economic freedom. The second part of the article examines the constitutional foundations for environmental protection and the constitutional doctrine interpreting them; it is maintained that environmental protection can, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, be recognized as an important public interest, which may justify restrictions on freedom of individual economic activity; however, these restrictions must guarantee a balance between the two constitutional values of environmental protection and freedom of individual economic activity.
{"title":"Bridging Between an Effective Economy and Environmental Protection Under the Lithuanian Constitution","authors":"Agnė Juškevičiūtė-Vilienė","doi":"10.1163/15730352-bja10082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15730352-bja10082","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In 1992, the Lithuanian Constitution created the preconditions for the stable and successful economic development of the state and laid down foundations for regulating economic relationships that ensure the predictability of economic, social, and legal relationships. The article analyzes how the concept of social justice as chosen by the drafters of the Constitution influences Lithuanian economic policy, as well as what foundations are consolidated in the Constitution for the economic system and freedom of individual economic activity. A brief study is presented in order to reveal the patterns of regulation of the Lithuanian economy in constitutional law, as well as the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court in relation to freedom of individual economic activity over the thirty years that the Constitution has been in force. Study of this jurisprudence shows that, in the first decade of restored Lithuanian independence, freedom of economic activity was particularly encouraged by the Constitutional Court, with the aim of creating the foundations for a market economy as soon as possible. Later, the main aim of the state was to ensure Lithuania’s energy independence, while in the third decade of independence constitutional jurisprudence increasingly analyzed the possibilities of finding a balance between environmental protection requirements and economic freedom. The second part of the article examines the constitutional foundations for environmental protection and the constitutional doctrine interpreting them; it is maintained that environmental protection can, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, be recognized as an important public interest, which may justify restrictions on freedom of individual economic activity; however, these restrictions must guarantee a balance between the two constitutional values of environmental protection and freedom of individual economic activity.","PeriodicalId":42845,"journal":{"name":"Review of Central and East European Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86657858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-07DOI: 10.1163/15730352-bja10079
Dovilė Pūraitė-Andrikienė
This article deals with the role of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court in ensuring the effectiveness of the Constitution. This research is based on the assumption that the success of constitutional review in a given state is determined (and at the same time characterized) by the following key preconditions: the social, political and legal environment of the state; the scope of powers of the constitutional court; and the presence of a jurisprudential or living constitution. Therefore, in order to achieve the aim of this research, the following tasks are undertaken and dealt with: (1) to discuss the challenges and achievements of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court in the broader context of constitutional justice institutions of Central and Eastern European states; (2) to overview the Lithuanian constitutional justice model and its development; (3) to analyze the emergence of the jurisprudential or living constitution in Lithuania.
{"title":"Towards an Effective Constitution in Lithuania: the Role of the Constitutional Court","authors":"Dovilė Pūraitė-Andrikienė","doi":"10.1163/15730352-bja10079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15730352-bja10079","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article deals with the role of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court in ensuring the effectiveness of the Constitution. This research is based on the assumption that the success of constitutional review in a given state is determined (and at the same time characterized) by the following key preconditions: the social, political and legal environment of the state; the scope of powers of the constitutional court; and the presence of a jurisprudential or living constitution. Therefore, in order to achieve the aim of this research, the following tasks are undertaken and dealt with: (1) to discuss the challenges and achievements of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court in the broader context of constitutional justice institutions of Central and Eastern European states; (2) to overview the Lithuanian constitutional justice model and its development; (3) to analyze the emergence of the jurisprudential or living constitution in Lithuania.","PeriodicalId":42845,"journal":{"name":"Review of Central and East European Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81665993","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-07DOI: 10.1163/15730352-bja10077
Egidijus Kūris, Dovilė Pūraitė-Andrikienė
{"title":"Thirty Years of the Constitution of Lithuania – Introduction to the Special Issue","authors":"Egidijus Kūris, Dovilė Pūraitė-Andrikienė","doi":"10.1163/15730352-bja10077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15730352-bja10077","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42845,"journal":{"name":"Review of Central and East European Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75686868","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-07DOI: 10.1163/15730352-bja10080
Haroldas Šinkūnas, Dovilė Pūraitė-Andrikienė
The principle of separation of powers is one of the most important constitutional principles underlying the organization of public power. In interpreting this principle, the Lithuanian Constitutional Court has defined it is a fundamental principle of the organization and functioning of a democratic state governed by the rule of law, which requires not only separation of the branches of government but also ensuring a balance between them. The constitutional rule stating that ‘in Lithuania, State power is executed by the Seimas, the President of the Republic and the Government, and the Judiciary’ is the starting point for revealing the content of the principle of separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution. This article discusses the exercise of legislative, executive and judicial powers by the public authorities specified in the Constitution and presents some cases of violation of the constitutional principle of separation of powers that have been examined by the Lithuanian Constitutional Court. These issues are analyzed in the context of challenges to the principle of separation of powers in other Central and Eastern European countries.
{"title":"The Principle of Separation of Powers: the Case of Lithuania","authors":"Haroldas Šinkūnas, Dovilė Pūraitė-Andrikienė","doi":"10.1163/15730352-bja10080","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15730352-bja10080","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The principle of separation of powers is one of the most important constitutional principles underlying the organization of public power. In interpreting this principle, the Lithuanian Constitutional Court has defined it is a fundamental principle of the organization and functioning of a democratic state governed by the rule of law, which requires not only separation of the branches of government but also ensuring a balance between them. The constitutional rule stating that ‘in Lithuania, State power is executed by the Seimas, the President of the Republic and the Government, and the Judiciary’ is the starting point for revealing the content of the principle of separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution. This article discusses the exercise of legislative, executive and judicial powers by the public authorities specified in the Constitution and presents some cases of violation of the constitutional principle of separation of powers that have been examined by the Lithuanian Constitutional Court. These issues are analyzed in the context of challenges to the principle of separation of powers in other Central and Eastern European countries.","PeriodicalId":42845,"journal":{"name":"Review of Central and East European Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74971597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-28DOI: 10.1163/15730352-bja10075
K. Beran
An opinion long prevailed in the Czech Republic that a judge is bound, in his decision-making, only by statutory law and by international treaties which, according to the Constitution of the Czech Republic, have priority over statutory law. The fact that a judge is bound by statutory law was mostly understood in that the judge is bound by the “word of the statutes”. A judge thus could not be formally bound by someone else’s interpretation of the statutes, i.e. by case law. However, both these basic assumptions began to change radically in the Czech Republic, especially following the adoption of the new Civil Code in 2012. This article therefore aims to present the transformations in the binding effect of case law in the Czech Republic at the beginning of the 21st century and, in doing so, it will concentrate on the yet insufficiently examined question of limits to judicial law-making in the sense of constructive interpretation of statutory law by courts. When a judge applies the law, and thus necessarily also interprets it, he must ask two fundamental questions: (i) Whether he/she is bound by interpretation of the statutory law which has already been provided by someone else, and the judge is thus obliged to adhere to this line of interpretation. (ii) How should he/she proceed in the interpretation, which comprises the question of what methods of interpretation he/she should use, in what order and what significance should be attached to these methods? The ambition of this article is to show why a “discursive” or “conditional binding effect of case law”, on the one hand, and a judge’s competence to interpret the law, on the other hand, can lead to fragmentation of the Czech legal order and contribute to transformation of the law from an order to a disorder, and how these unfavourable tendencies can be eliminated, or at least mitigated.
{"title":"How can legal interpretation change the legal order into legal disorder? (Lessons from the Czech Republic)","authors":"K. Beran","doi":"10.1163/15730352-bja10075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15730352-bja10075","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000An opinion long prevailed in the Czech Republic that a judge is bound, in his decision-making, only by statutory law and by international treaties which, according to the Constitution of the Czech Republic, have priority over statutory law. The fact that a judge is bound by statutory law was mostly understood in that the judge is bound by the “word of the statutes”. A judge thus could not be formally bound by someone else’s interpretation of the statutes, i.e. by case law. However, both these basic assumptions began to change radically in the Czech Republic, especially following the adoption of the new Civil Code in 2012. This article therefore aims to present the transformations in the binding effect of case law in the Czech Republic at the beginning of the 21st century and, in doing so, it will concentrate on the yet insufficiently examined question of limits to judicial law-making in the sense of constructive interpretation of statutory law by courts.\u0000When a judge applies the law, and thus necessarily also interprets it, he must ask two fundamental questions: (i) Whether he/she is bound by interpretation of the statutory law which has already been provided by someone else, and the judge is thus obliged to adhere to this line of interpretation. (ii) How should he/she proceed in the interpretation, which comprises the question of what methods of interpretation he/she should use, in what order and what significance should be attached to these methods?\u0000The ambition of this article is to show why a “discursive” or “conditional binding effect of case law”, on the one hand, and a judge’s competence to interpret the law, on the other hand, can lead to fragmentation of the Czech legal order and contribute to transformation of the law from an order to a disorder, and how these unfavourable tendencies can be eliminated, or at least mitigated.","PeriodicalId":42845,"journal":{"name":"Review of Central and East European Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81813471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-28DOI: 10.1163/15730352-bja10076
Alena Kozlová
Judicial independence and rule of law in Poland have been increasingly under challenge before national and European courts. Departing from a case study of Judge Żurek, an emblematic figure of the Polish judicial community prosecuted for criticizing the post-2015 judicial reforms, this article assesses how the European Human Rights framework can play out in a particular case of a judge defending the rule of law in his country. After having outlined the circumstances of his prosecution, it follows his journey to Luxembourg and Strasbourg. Namely, it lays out the legal issues before the Courts and examines the standards they establish, commenting on how they translate into prospects of redress. It finds that, while both the cjeu and the ECtHR establish standards on court transfers, judicial nominations, premature termination of office or the link to freedom of expression, the level of judicial independence required for their successful implementation creates a paradox.
{"title":"Poland’s Rule of Law Breakdown Continued: Judge Żurek’s Battle for Judicial Independence Within the European Human Rights Framework","authors":"Alena Kozlová","doi":"10.1163/15730352-bja10076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15730352-bja10076","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Judicial independence and rule of law in Poland have been increasingly under challenge before national and European courts. Departing from a case study of Judge Żurek, an emblematic figure of the Polish judicial community prosecuted for criticizing the post-2015 judicial reforms, this article assesses how the European Human Rights framework can play out in a particular case of a judge defending the rule of law in his country. After having outlined the circumstances of his prosecution, it follows his journey to Luxembourg and Strasbourg. Namely, it lays out the legal issues before the Courts and examines the standards they establish, commenting on how they translate into prospects of redress. It finds that, while both the cjeu and the ECtHR establish standards on court transfers, judicial nominations, premature termination of office or the link to freedom of expression, the level of judicial independence required for their successful implementation creates a paradox.","PeriodicalId":42845,"journal":{"name":"Review of Central and East European Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86608925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-28DOI: 10.1163/15730352-bja10074
P. Köker
The Presidency plays a central role in the functioning of the Czech political system. Among others, the President convenes the first sitting of the Chamber of Deputies after elections and must appoint the Government before it can seek parliamentary confidence. Therefore, the emergency hospitalization of President Miloš Zeman after the 2021 parliamentary election presented politicians with a hitherto unprecedented dilemma. Although a full-scale constitutional crisis was eventually averted, the incident still demonstrated the ambiguity and limitations of constitutional provisions on presidential inability and the temporary transfer of presidential powers in the Czech Republic. This article discusses the respective constitutional provisions and assesses their expedience in light of recent events. Drawing on historical precedents and political debates from the last 30 years, the article proposes options for reform and argues that constitutional crises will remain a real possibility unless political actors agree on at least a minimum of procedural requirements and codify these in organic law.
{"title":"The Temporary Transfer of Presidential Powers in the Czech Republic","authors":"P. Köker","doi":"10.1163/15730352-bja10074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15730352-bja10074","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The Presidency plays a central role in the functioning of the Czech political system. Among others, the President convenes the first sitting of the Chamber of Deputies after elections and must appoint the Government before it can seek parliamentary confidence. Therefore, the emergency hospitalization of President Miloš Zeman after the 2021 parliamentary election presented politicians with a hitherto unprecedented dilemma. Although a full-scale constitutional crisis was eventually averted, the incident still demonstrated the ambiguity and limitations of constitutional provisions on presidential inability and the temporary transfer of presidential powers in the Czech Republic. This article discusses the respective constitutional provisions and assesses their expedience in light of recent events. Drawing on historical precedents and political debates from the last 30 years, the article proposes options for reform and argues that constitutional crises will remain a real possibility unless political actors agree on at least a minimum of procedural requirements and codify these in organic law.","PeriodicalId":42845,"journal":{"name":"Review of Central and East European Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80726472","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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