Konstituciniai ginčai ; Constitutional disputes

Abstract

The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania was adopted by referendum on 25 October 1992. The source of the Constitution is the Nation. The Constitution is a constituent act of the Nation; therefore, it is primary law in terms of both legal force and content, i.e. it is the centre of legal life and determines the directions and content of lawmaking. The Constitution is a social contract: this special legal act establishes public authority, contains an agreement on the composition of public authority and on the procedures for its organisation and functioning, consolidates human rights and freedoms, and provides for the ways of protecting them. At the same time, the Constitution consolidates the state as the common good of the whole of society; the strivings and values of the Nation that are enshrined in the Constitution express the constitutional identity of the State of Lithuania. As an act of a substantive nature, the Constitution is based on universal and unquestionable democratic values, inherent in the tradition of western law; moreover, the Constitution is an anti-majoritarian act, protecting the freedom and innate rights of not only the Nation, but also the individual. [.]