Description of the Court

Introduction

   The Constitution of the Czech Republic, adopted on 16 December 1992, made provision in Chapter 4 for the establishment of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic (hereinafter the "Court"). The statute regulating its operations in detail (Act No. 182/1993 Coll., on the Constitutional Court) was adopted on 16 June 1993.

  The Court does not form part of the system of ordinary courts.

Basic texts

- Chapter Four, Articles 83 - 89 of the Constitution

- Act No. 182/1993 Coll., on the Constitutional Court

COMPOSITION AND ORGANIZATION

  The Constitution provides that the Court consist of 15 Justices, and there are currently 15 sitting Justices. All members are appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate. The Senate was not yet established when the first 15 Justices were appointed, so the Assembly of Deputies approved them in its stead; the last three Justices of the current number were appointed with the approval of the Senate. The Chairperson of the Court and two Vice-Chairpersons are appointed by the President from among the Justices. The Justices are appointed for a 10-year term of office, and there is no restriction on reappointment.

  The minimum qualifications for appointment as a Justice of the Court are that the person have a character beyond reproach, be eligible for election to the Senate (which means have reached the age of 40 and be eligible to vote), have a university legal education, and have been active for at least ten years in the legal profession. While holding office, a Justice may not be a member of a political party. In addition, a Justice is restricted from holding any other compensated position or engaging in any other profit-making activity with the exception of managing her own assets and engaging in scholarly, teaching, literary, or artistic activities.

Justices assume their office upon taking the following oath of office administered by the President: "I pledge upon my honor and conscience that I will protect the inviolability of natural human rights and the rights of citizens, adhere to constitutional acts, and make decisions according to my best convictions, independently and impartially."

Justices enjoy a general immunity from criminal prosecution: they may be prosecuted for felonies only if the Senate consents to the prosecution (failing which, they are forever exempt from prosecution for the act at issue). They may be arrested only if caught in the act of committing a felony (flagrante delicto) or immediately afterwards. A Justice has a privilege to refuse to testify concerning matters about which he learned in connection with his judicial duties and otherwise has a positive obligation to maintain confidentiality about such matters.

A Justice may be deprived of his seat only in a very limited number of cases: resignation from her office, loss of eligibility for the Senate, final conviction for an intentional criminal offense, or a decision by the Court's Plenum to terminate his office due to a disciplinary infraction. 

The Court administration is directed by the Chairperson and two Vice-Chairpersons. Each Justice has her own staff made up of legal assistants and a secretary. More detailed rules are contained in the Act on the Constitutional Court.

PROCEDURE

The Court acts in its Plenum or in four three-Justice panels . Only the Plenum may decide e.g. to annul an Act of Parliament or another generally applicable enactment, or make decisions concerning the impeachment or incapacity of the President or the dissolution of a political party. Other matters are heard by panels: e.g. constitutional complaints by persons or municipalities, electoral or eligibility disputes concerning a Member of Parliament, and conflicts of competence between central state authorities and local autonomous bodies.

The Plenum shall be composed of all Justices. For the Plenum to make a decision, at least 10 Justices must be present. A supermajority of 9 Justices is required to vote in favor of a decision to annul an Act of Parliament, as well as for decisions concerning the impeachment or incapacity of the President and a decision adopted on the basis of a legal interpretation different from a legal interpretation announced by the Court in an earlier judgment.

Unless the Act on the Constitutional Court provides otherwise, oral hearings are not mandatory if parties agree to dispense with them and if further clarification of the matter cannot be expected from such a hearing. Oral hearings before the Court shall be public; the Court may limit attendance by the public altogether only if such is required by important interests of the state or of the parties to the proceeding, or by morality.

POWERS

The Court has jurisdiction over the following matters:

I.  Abstract constitutional review of enacted norms (ex post facto or repressive control)

1. Petitions Lodged as a Prerogative of Office (ex officio)

1.a) Acts of Parliament or individual provision thereof - if proposed by the President or a group of either 41 Deputies or 17 Senators;

1.b) other enactments or individual provision thereof - if proposed by the government or a group of either 25 Deputies or 10 Senators.

II. Concrete Constitutional Review (Petitions Lodged Incidental to a Dispute)

Within the context of a specific dispute, an ordinary court hearing a case, a panel of the Court when deciding a constitutional complaint, or a person in conjunction with his submission of a constitutional complaint may submit a petition to annul an Act of Parliament or another enactment.

III. Proceeding on the compliance of international treaties under Art. 10 and Art. 49 of the Constitution with constitutional lawsThe proposal shall be submitted by the Chamber of Parliament before pronouncing its approval of  the international treaty, by a group of deputies or senators before the ratification of the international treaty by the President, or by the President after the treaty has been submitted to him for ratification. The Constitutional Court shall decide by its judgment on the compliance of an international treaty with constitutional order. Provided the conflict is ascertained, the Constitutional Court judgment prevents the ratification of international treaty until the conflict is removed.

IV. Constitutional complaints (Constitutional Review of Decisions and Official Acts)

1. a natural or legal person submitting a complaint must claim that their constitutionally protected rights have been violated as a result of official decision, of a measure, or some other action by public authority. A constitutional complaint is inadmissible if the complainant failed to exhaust all procedural remedies afforded him by law for the protection of his rights.  Citizens do not have a general right to complain of unconstitutionality (actio popularis). A petition to annul an Act of Parliament or other enactment may be attached only if it formed the basis of the violation;

2. a representative body of municipality or self-governing region must claim that the state has encroached upon its right to self-government;

3. a political party or movement must claim that the decision relating to dissolution of political party, or other political party activity, has violated the constitutional acts or other laws.

V. Cases concerning impeachment of the President or his incapacity to hold office

VI. Disputes concerning a Member of Parliament's election or eligibility for office

VII. Jurisdictional disputes between state bodies and self-governing regions

 VIII. Proceedings concerning measures necessary to implement a decision of an international tribunal

The Court has no power to give advisory opinions.

NATURE AND EFFECT OF JUDGMENTS

  The Court decides the merits of the matter by a judgment and all other issues by a ruling or a resolution. Judgments are always decided publicly in the name of the Republic. A judgment shall present justifying the decision and shall include the notice that no appeal from a decision of the Court is permissible.

  If the Court finds that a petition proposing the annulment of a statute, other enactment or individual provision thereof is well-founded, it annuls it in whole or in part. Generally, the provision shall be annulled on the day the judgment is published in the Collection of Laws, unless the Court decides otherwise. Judgments concerning the impeachment or incapacity of the President or a Member of Parliament's election or eligibility for office are enforceable when announced by the Court. Other judgments are enforceable when an official copy of it has been delivered to the parties.

  Article 89 of the Constitution states that all judgments of the Court are binding on all governmental bodies and persons (erga omnes effect). If the judgment annulled a provision on the basis of which a person was criminally convicted, the case may be reopened. Otherwise, legal decisions made or legal relations created on the basis of an unconstitutional statute remain unaffected if they arose prior to the statute being declared unconstitutional.

  Judgments annulling an Act of Parliament, other enactment, or concerning the impeachment or incapacity of the President must be published in the Collection of Laws (Sbírka zákonù Èeske republiky). Other judgments containing legal principles of general significance may be published in the Collection of Laws. The Court publishes generally twice a year its own Collection  (Sbirka nalezu a usneseni Ustavniho soudu), which contains both all of its judgments (including concurring and dissenting opinions) and chosen resolutions.

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