Individual access to constitutional justice in Lithuania: the potential within the newly established model of the individual constitutional complaint

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Collection:
Mokslo publikacijos / Scientific publications
Document Type:
Straipsnis / Article
Language:
Anglų kalba / English
Title:
Individual access to constitutional justice in Lithuania: the potential within the newly established model of the individual constitutional complaint
Authors:
Danėlienė, Ingrida
In the Journal:
Revista de Derecho Político [Rev. derecho polít]. 2021, 111, p. 281-312
Contents:
Introduction. I. The potential of the individual Constitutional complaint. I.1. The right of political actors to initiate constitutional proceedings. I.2. The right of ordinary courts to initiate constitutional proceedings. Indirect individual access to the CCL. II. Direct individual Access to constitutional justice. II.1. Essential elements of the Lithuanian Model of the Individual Constitutional Complaint. II.1.1. Subjects of the individual constitutional complaint. II.1.2. Object of the individual constitutional complaint. II.1.3. Essential admissibility criteria. II.2. First practices of admissibility. III. Preconditions for enhanced protection of constitutional rights and freedoms through the individual constitutional complaint. III.1. Protection of individual constitutional rights or freedoms. III.2. Protection of constitutional rights and freedoms through the development of constitutional jurisprudence. conclusions.
Subject Category:
LT
Konstitucinė teisė. Konstitucija / Constitutional law. Constitution; Politika / Politics; Žmogaus teisės / Human rights.
Summary / Abstract:

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Individualus konstitucinis skundas; Lietuva; Fizinis asmuo. Keywords: Individual constitutional complaint; Lithuania; Natural person.Reikšminiai žodžiai: Konstitucinė teisė; Konstitucijos pataisos; Laisvės; Žmogaus teisės; Jurisprudencija; Politika; Constitutional Law; Constitutional review; Freedoms; Human rights; Jurisprudence; Politics.

ENFollowing the introduction of the individual complaint in Lithuania on 1 September 2019, only three Council of Europe member states remain, having a constitutional court, but not allowing direct individual access to constitutional justice. Just as the majority of European states, Lithuania has opted for the limited model of individual constitutional complaint: the Constitution only allows for the review of constitutionality of legal provisions based on which a decision has been adopted with regard to a natural or legal person, possibly breaching the constitutional rights and freedoms thereof. The institute of the individual constitutional complaint is also of subsidiary nature, i.e. the application to the Constitutional Court is an extraordinary measure of defense of constitutional rights and freedoms. Direct access to the Constitutional Court is only available following the exhaustion of all effective legal remedies (a final and non-appealable judicial decision must be adopted by an ordinary court prior to application to the Constitutional Court). As the Constitutional Court constitutes a separate judicial system and it does not serve as a superior judicial instance for judgments adopted by courts belonging to the two systems of ordinary courts, judicial decisions are not an object of constitutional control. [Extract, p. 307]Direct access to the Constitutional Court qualitatively supplements the possibility of indirect application implemented through ordinary courts, initiated either by the ordinary court itself or by the parties to the proceedings. This is also true because unlike in cases of indirect access to the Constitutional Court, the decision to launch an individual constitutional complaint does not rely neither on the objective capacity of the ordinary court to identify potentially unconstitutional normative acts, nor on its subjective willingness to submit such an application. Therefore, although sustainable conclusions regarding the efficiency of the newly established mechanism will be made in the future based inter alia on its functioning in practice, it is expected that the individual constitutional complaint will become an effective domestic measure of last resort for the protection of human rights and freedom with regard to practices based on unconstitutional acts. [Extract, p. 308]

DOI:
10.5944/rdp.111.2021.31071
ISSN:
0211-979X; 2174-5625
Subject:
Teisė / Law
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https://www.lituanistika.lt/content/94590
Updated:
2022-12-28 15:48:14
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