LTPastangą metų Lietuvos konstitucinėje ir politinėje terminijoje, matyt, nėra kito žodžių junginio, keliančio tiek daug kreivų šypsenų ir užgaulių replikų, kaip „Konstitucijos dvasia". Šiuos žodžius Konstitucinis Teismas pirmą kartą pavartojo 2004 m. gegužės 25 d. nutarime, lyg tyčia persmelktame išskirtinio visuomenės dėmesio ir politinio rezonanso: pašalinto Respublikos Prezidento Rolando Pakso pakartotinio kandidatavimo į valstybės vadovus kontekste. Tokio kandidatavimo nerašytą ribojimą Teismas išvedė iš atitinkamų Konstitucijos formuluočių esmės ir paskirties, t. y. jų dvasios. Ši metodologija ir kartu tarsi nauja Konstitucijos šaltinio samprata įžiebė atvirą tam tikrų politikų (ir, deja, netgi teisininkų) nepasitenkinimą. Esą Konstitucinis Teismas ėmėsi vadovautis... dvasiomis! Tokia kritika atitinkamais būdais reiškiama iki šiol. Atsižvelgiant į tai svarbu konceptualiai įsigilinti į Konstitucijos dvasios idėją, analizuoti ją teisinių (teisminių) aiškinimo metodų požiūriu ir pagal „pritaikymo" galimybę... CK ar BK atžvilgiu! Pastarasis aspektas verčia gilintis, ar bendrosios kompetencijos teismai gali remtis „kodekso dvasia", t. y. ar Konstitucijos dvasiai analogiška idėja atsispindi civilinių, baudžiamųjų ir administracinių bylų nagrinėjimo praktikoje. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Konstitucijos aiškinimas; Konstitucijos dvasia; Konstitucinis Teismas; Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucija; Lietuvos Respublikos konstitucinis teismas; Teismo jurisprudencija; Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the Constitutional Court, Constitutional Interpretation; Constitutional Court if the Republic of Lithuania; Court jurisprudence; Spirit of Constitution.
ENOne of the most vivid and controversial aspects in the current development of the Lithuanian constitutional law is the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, which started in May 2004 and has since been based on the activistic application of the "Spirit of Constitution" prism. In this way, the Court makes an attempt to discern in the written ("cxplicitist") provisions of the Constitution (i.e. to derive from them) the following: a) "the Spirit of Constitution" as a substance of normative regulation or a connective in the profuseness of aspects in this regulation; b) unwritten ("implicit") rules that ensure the vitality and dynamism of the Constitution text of 1992. Such methodology of the Constitutional Court was met with criticism on the part of statesmen and, regrettably, lawyers. In essence, this criticism cannot be justifiable as the spirit of the written law is an old and universal idea. It may in retrospect be linked with Montesquieu or the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland and the Great Duchy of Lithuania of 3 May 1791, and systcmically - with the modern civil or administrative law of the Republic of Lithuania. Even in the criminal law system (in the wordings of the Criminal Code) it is possible to discern certain (though, undoubtedly, far less significant) possibilities to apply the pursuit for the spirituality of the norms as promoted by the Constitutional Court.In general, the analysis of the court practice of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court suggests that courts, even without resorting to the philosophical term "the Spirit of a Norm", would repetitively clearly move to the level of methodology defined by this term in creatively applying a systemic and teleological interpretation, thus creating the "law of courts" which is formally (verbatim) different from the text of a legal act determined by the legislator. However, it could be said that the Constitutional Court, which since the start of its activity thirteen years ago (in 1993), never mentioned the Spirit of Constitution, should not have started talking about the profound (non-linguistic) source of the Constitution namely in the case of May 2004, where it was decided on the right of Mr Rolandas Paksas, removed from the post of the president of the Republic in accordance with the procedure of impeachment, to repeatedly stand for the election to the post of the Head of the State. Nevertheless, the official jurisprudence of the Spirit of Constitution is not an idée fix or some "black" technology for manipulations with the text of the Constitution. This should be acknowledged by politicians, not to mention the specialists in administrative or civil law. [From the publication]