Demokratinės valstybės užuomazgos 1922 metų Lietuvos Valstybės Konstitucijoje ir Prezidentas Kazys Grinius
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Demokratija; Demokratinės valstybės užuomazgos; K. Grinius; Konstitucija; Prezidentas; Constitution; Democracy; K. Grinius; Lithuania; President; The beginnings of the democratic state.
ENThe 1922 Constitution of the State of Lithuania is the only democratically enacted Constitution of pre-war constitutional heritage to have consolidated democratic content and to have put into effect both fundamental principles of statehood – independence and democracy – proclaimed in Lithuania’s Act of Independence of 16 February 1918. Therefore, it is precisely the 1922 Constitution that laid down the beginnings of the constitutional democratic traditions of the modern Republic of Lithuania. From the 1922 Constitution, the 1992 Constitution currently in force adopted the tradition of the parliamentary republic, as well as the most valued elements of the principles of the supremacy of the Constitution, the separation of powers, and respect for human rights. The report takes a more extensive look at the features characterising the consolidation of these three principles in the 1922 Constitution and highlights the merits along with shortcomings of their consolidation in the light of the overall regulation of the 1922 Constitution and the present-day perspective based on the 1992 Constitution currently in force. The report recalls the contribution made to the drafting of the 1922 Constitution by President Kazys Grinius, who can confidently be considered a symbolic figure and founder of the Lithuanian democratic tradition and should receive the most prominent position in the culture of memory fostered by the modern Republic of Lithuania.Having declared his loyalty to the Constitution and democracy, he gave real meaning to these values in his life and work. The report draws the conclusion that the major ideals – such as democracy, freedom, justice, and the rights and freedoms of citizens – upheld and defended by President Kazys Grinius and his fellow compatriots were fulfilled by the 1922 Constitution. These ideals were subsequently once again put into effect by the permanent Constitution only in 1992. Such ideas of Kazys Grinius as the secularity of the state and the prohibition on the death penalty – which seemed to be fairly bold even following the restoration of independence in 1990 – were implemented only by the 1992 Constitution and the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court. The 1992 Constitution also carried out into practice the observations made by Kazys Grinius towards the improvement of the checks and balances of power established in the 1922 Constitution and the strengthening of the institute of the President of the Republic. [From the publication]
