Suchergebnisse

The purpose of the article is to disclose the problems arising from two types of marriage. After the adoption of Christianity, church marriage became obligatory and remained such in Lithuania until the middle of the 20th century. After the re-establishment of the independence, Constitution of Lithuania legally recognized church marriage. But the civil law narrowed the conception of church marriage. The Law on Religious Communities and Associations divides religious communities into traditional and other (non-traditional) ones. Only confessions considered by the state as "traditional" and "recognized" can contract valid marriages. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE ODIHR) does not recognize tradition as a basis for distinguishing between religions and religious movements, but the Constitutional Court of Lithuania states that conventionalism is a constitutional framework for discriminating religions. In order to be valid and have legal consequences, church marriage must be included into the official state register. In 2010, 2/3 of church marriages were not included into the state register, so questions can arise: Where do the church marriages get lost? Why don't couples care about their church marriage and its legal consequences? Is the tradition to contract the same marriage twice – in the church and the civil registration office – still alive? It would be safe to say that people marry twice without making the difference between the church and civil marriage. It can be argued they do not trust their church marriage to be subsequently included into the state register.

The purpose of the article is to disclose the problems arising from two types of marriage. After the adoption of Christianity, church marriage became obligatory and remained such in Lithuania until the middle of the 20th century. After the re-establishment of the independence, Constitution of Lithuania legally recognized church marriage. But the civil law narrowed the conception of church marriage. The Law on Religious Communities and Associations divides religious communities into traditional and other (non-traditional) ones. Only confessions considered by the state as "traditional" and "recognized" can contract valid marriages. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE ODIHR) does not recognize tradition as a basis for distinguishing between religions and religious movements, but the Constitutional Court of Lithuania states that conventionalism is a constitutional framework for discriminating religions. In order to be valid and have legal consequences, church marriage must be included into the official state register. In 2010, 2/3 of church marriages were not included into the state register, so questions can arise: Where do the church marriages get lost? Why don't couples care about their church marriage and its legal consequences? Is the tradition to contract the same marriage twice – in the church and the civil registration office – still alive? It would be safe to say that people marry twice without making the difference between the church and civil marriage. It can be argued they do not trust their church marriage to be subsequently included into the state register.

The purpose of the article is to disclose the problems arising from two types of marriage. After the adoption of Christianity, church marriage became obligatory and remained such in Lithuania until the middle of the 20th century. After the re-establishment of the independence, Constitution of Lithuania legally recognized church marriage. But the civil law narrowed the conception of church marriage. The Law on Religious Communities and Associations divides religious communities into traditional and other (non-traditional) ones. Only confessions considered by the state as "traditional" and "recognized" can contract valid marriages. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE ODIHR) does not recognize tradition as a basis for distinguishing between religions and religious movements, but the Constitutional Court of Lithuania states that conventionalism is a constitutional framework for discriminating religions. In order to be valid and have legal consequences, church marriage must be included into the official state register. In 2010, 2/3 of church marriages were not included into the state register, so questions can arise: Where do the church marriages get lost? Why don't couples care about their church marriage and its legal consequences? Is the tradition to contract the same marriage twice – in the church and the civil registration office – still alive? It would be safe to say that people marry twice without making the difference between the church and civil marriage. It can be argued they do not trust their church marriage to be subsequently included into the state register.

The purpose of the article is to disclose the problems arising from two types of marriage. After the adoption of Christianity, church marriage became obligatory and remained such in Lithuania until the middle of the 20th century. After the re-establishment of the independence, Constitution of Lithuania legally recognized church marriage. But the civil law narrowed the conception of church marriage. The Law on Religious Communities and Associations divides religious communities into traditional and other (non-traditional) ones. Only confessions considered by the state as "traditional" and "recognized" can contract valid marriages. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE ODIHR) does not recognize tradition as a basis for distinguishing between religions and religious movements, but the Constitutional Court of Lithuania states that conventionalism is a constitutional framework for discriminating religions. In order to be valid and have legal consequences, church marriage must be included into the official state register. In 2010, 2/3 of church marriages were not included into the state register, so questions can arise: Where do the church marriages get lost? Why don't couples care about their church marriage and its legal consequences? Is the tradition to contract the same marriage twice – in the church and the civil registration office – still alive? It would be safe to say that people marry twice without making the difference between the church and civil marriage. It can be argued they do not trust their church marriage to be subsequently included into the state register.

This article is a response to the article named "Lithuanian Constitutional Acts of November 2nd, 1918, and April 4th, 1919: Two Separate Constitutions Or Two Editions Of The Same Constitutional Act?" written by professor J. Machovenko published in the Scientific works journal "Teisė", volume No. 104 (2017), where the author declares his opinion stating that judging by the formal features and content analysis the following act should be considered as the new Lithuanian Temporary Constitution rather than the new edition of the firstn one. This article describes the preparation for the reform of Fundamental Laws of Lithuanian Temporary Constitution in 1919 and portrays its course showing that it was iniciated and implemented without any purpose to replace the constitutional act with the new one. Only according to circumstances the temporary constitutional base for the temporary institution of the State President was established, however, not giving it the prominence till the final decision on the government form was to be made by Constituent Seimas. Therefore the approach of prof. J. Machovenko to consider this act as an independent act based on a formal legal argumentation is criticized.

This article is a response to the article named "Lithuanian Constitutional Acts of November 2nd, 1918, and April 4th, 1919: Two Separate Constitutions Or Two Editions Of The Same Constitutional Act?" written by professor J. Machovenko published in the Scientific works journal "Teisė", volume No. 104 (2017), where the author declares his opinion stating that judging by the formal features and content analysis the following act should be considered as the new Lithuanian Temporary Constitution rather than the new edition of the firstn one. This article describes the preparation for the reform of Fundamental Laws of Lithuanian Temporary Constitution in 1919 and portrays its course showing that it was iniciated and implemented without any purpose to replace the constitutional act with the new one. Only according to circumstances the temporary constitutional base for the temporary institution of the State President was established, however, not giving it the prominence till the final decision on the government form was to be made by Constituent Seimas. Therefore the approach of prof. J. Machovenko to consider this act as an independent act based on a formal legal argumentation is criticized.

Lithuanian lawyers allot more and more attention to the analysis of the constitutional status of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. Those examinations reveal the problems of formation of the doctrines of constitutional justice as well as the perspectives of improvement of the activities of the Constitutional Court. And it is not accidental that scientists' attention towards the Constitutional Court increases. While studying urgent problems regarding implementation of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania one may reveal not only the development of constitutional justice but also more general laws of the Lithuanian constitutional system. However, one cannot leave unmentioned that not enough attention is paid to legal phenomena of the Lithuania between two World Wars, and, to be more precise, to development of the doctrine of constitutional review. Politically and legally acknowledging the continuity of the Republic of Lithuania, it is impossible not to look back at the past and not to appreciate those phenomena which influenced the concept of the now functioning Constitutional Court.One of those phenomena was the Statutory Court of Klaipėda region. The Law on the establishment of that institution was promulgated on 13 March 1935. True, while evaluating the legal status of the Statutory Court, one cannot avoid confronting a more general problem, i.e. the urgent issues of the interaction between the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and the Statute of Klaipėda region. In this context one may consider differently the legal origin of the Statutory Court, however, in all cases one has to underline that for the first time in the history of Lithuania a possibility was created to examine the lawfulness of a legal act. The Statutory Court had to determine if legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania and those of the institutions of Klaipėda region were in conformity with the Statute of Klaipėda region. The author assents to the conclusion made by Lithuanian scientists between two World Wars that the Statute of Klaipėda region was a constituent part of the Lithuanian constitutional system. With regard to this there are preconditions to assert that the assessment of legal acts concerning their compliance with the Statute was the constitutional problem of these acts as well. Thus, when examining the urgent problems of constitutionality, one has to take into account that already in the Lithuania between two World Wars there were legal phenomena which were approaching the conception of traditional constitutional justice. Due to political reasons the Statutory Court did not really start functioning. However, passing of the Law on the Statutory Court and the conception of the Court formulated therein meant that in Lithuania of that time the question of constitutionality of legal acts was already urgent.

Lithuanian lawyers allot more and more attention to the analysis of the constitutional status of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. Those examinations reveal the problems of formation of the doctrines of constitutional justice as well as the perspectives of improvement of the activities of the Constitutional Court. And it is not accidental that scientists' attention towards the Constitutional Court increases. While studying urgent problems regarding implementation of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania one may reveal not only the development of constitutional justice but also more general laws of the Lithuanian constitutional system. However, one cannot leave unmentioned that not enough attention is paid to legal phenomena of the Lithuania between two World Wars, and, to be more precise, to development of the doctrine of constitutional review. Politically and legally acknowledging the continuity of the Republic of Lithuania, it is impossible not to look back at the past and not to appreciate those phenomena which influenced the concept of the now functioning Constitutional Court.One of those phenomena was the Statutory Court of Klaipėda region. The Law on the establishment of that institution was promulgated on 13 March 1935. True, while evaluating the legal status of the Statutory Court, one cannot avoid confronting a more general problem, i.e. the urgent issues of the interaction between the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and the Statute of Klaipėda region. In this context one may consider differently the legal origin of the Statutory Court, however, in all cases one has to underline that for the first time in the history of Lithuania a possibility was created to examine the lawfulness of a legal act. The Statutory Court had to determine if legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania and those of the institutions of Klaipėda region were in conformity with the Statute of Klaipėda region. The author assents to the conclusion made by Lithuanian scientists between two World Wars that the Statute of Klaipėda region was a constituent part of the Lithuanian constitutional system. With regard to this there are preconditions to assert that the assessment of legal acts concerning their compliance with the Statute was the constitutional problem of these acts as well. Thus, when examining the urgent problems of constitutionality, one has to take into account that already in the Lithuania between two World Wars there were legal phenomena which were approaching the conception of traditional constitutional justice. Due to political reasons the Statutory Court did not really start functioning. However, passing of the Law on the Statutory Court and the conception of the Court formulated therein meant that in Lithuania of that time the question of constitutionality of legal acts was already urgent.

Challenging the Rule of Law in Europe: how the Rule of Law Crises Occur? European Union is suffering from the rule of law deficiencies in the Member States. The master thesis attempts to determine what short-comings in the legal system allow the rule of law crisis happen in established constitutional democracies and what could be the safeguards to prevent that from happening. The thesis argues that the rule of law as a concept can only be identified rather than defined, because of the wide usage in different contexts and its ambiguous nature. The rule of law crisis is defined as a situation when the violation of the principle is so severe that the legal order is fundamentally affected – cannot function properly without the resolution of the breach. Poland and Lithuania are compared based on their legal order linked to the Constitutional Court. The two countries where chosen as subjects because of shared history, similar political-legal systems and the importance of the strategic partnership between the two countries. During the analysis four areas of law where identified as most vulnerable: (1) justices appointment and removal procedures; (2) court and justice independence guarantees; (3) norms that prescribe the constitutional reviews procedure; (4) the provisions that mandate how norms and acts linked to constitutional order can be amended. The rule of law is addressed as a political and legal concept. Any solutions or safeguards must focus on that dual nature of the concept. International safeguards were found to be not sufficient enough without the support of national norms and political will to protect it effectively. Preventive nature of the safeguards that should be placed in the national legal order are emphasised the most.

Challenging the Rule of Law in Europe: how the Rule of Law Crises Occur? European Union is suffering from the rule of law deficiencies in the Member States. The master thesis attempts to determine what short-comings in the legal system allow the rule of law crisis happen in established constitutional democracies and what could be the safeguards to prevent that from happening. The thesis argues that the rule of law as a concept can only be identified rather than defined, because of the wide usage in different contexts and its ambiguous nature. The rule of law crisis is defined as a situation when the violation of the principle is so severe that the legal order is fundamentally affected – cannot function properly without the resolution of the breach. Poland and Lithuania are compared based on their legal order linked to the Constitutional Court. The two countries where chosen as subjects because of shared history, similar political-legal systems and the importance of the strategic partnership between the two countries. During the analysis four areas of law where identified as most vulnerable: (1) justices appointment and removal procedures; (2) court and justice independence guarantees; (3) norms that prescribe the constitutional reviews procedure; (4) the provisions that mandate how norms and acts linked to constitutional order can be amended. The rule of law is addressed as a political and legal concept. Any solutions or safeguards must focus on that dual nature of the concept. International safeguards were found to be not sufficient enough without the support of national norms and political will to protect it effectively. Preventive nature of the safeguards that should be placed in the national legal order are emphasised the most.

Challenging the Rule of Law in Europe: how the Rule of Law Crises Occur? European Union is suffering from the rule of law deficiencies in the Member States. The master thesis attempts to determine what short-comings in the legal system allow the rule of law crisis happen in established constitutional democracies and what could be the safeguards to prevent that from happening. The thesis argues that the rule of law as a concept can only be identified rather than defined, because of the wide usage in different contexts and its ambiguous nature. The rule of law crisis is defined as a situation when the violation of the principle is so severe that the legal order is fundamentally affected – cannot function properly without the resolution of the breach. Poland and Lithuania are compared based on their legal order linked to the Constitutional Court. The two countries where chosen as subjects because of shared history, similar political-legal systems and the importance of the strategic partnership between the two countries. During the analysis four areas of law where identified as most vulnerable: (1) justices appointment and removal procedures; (2) court and justice independence guarantees; (3) norms that prescribe the constitutional reviews procedure; (4) the provisions that mandate how norms and acts linked to constitutional order can be amended. The rule of law is addressed as a political and legal concept. Any solutions or safeguards must focus on that dual nature of the concept. International safeguards were found to be not sufficient enough without the support of national norms and political will to protect it effectively. Preventive nature of the safeguards that should be placed in the national legal order are emphasised the most.

Challenging the Rule of Law in Europe: how the Rule of Law Crises Occur? European Union is suffering from the rule of law deficiencies in the Member States. The master thesis attempts to determine what short-comings in the legal system allow the rule of law crisis happen in established constitutional democracies and what could be the safeguards to prevent that from happening. The thesis argues that the rule of law as a concept can only be identified rather than defined, because of the wide usage in different contexts and its ambiguous nature. The rule of law crisis is defined as a situation when the violation of the principle is so severe that the legal order is fundamentally affected – cannot function properly without the resolution of the breach. Poland and Lithuania are compared based on their legal order linked to the Constitutional Court. The two countries where chosen as subjects because of shared history, similar political-legal systems and the importance of the strategic partnership between the two countries. During the analysis four areas of law where identified as most vulnerable: (1) justices appointment and removal procedures; (2) court and justice independence guarantees; (3) norms that prescribe the constitutional reviews procedure; (4) the provisions that mandate how norms and acts linked to constitutional order can be amended. The rule of law is addressed as a political and legal concept. Any solutions or safeguards must focus on that dual nature of the concept. International safeguards were found to be not sufficient enough without the support of national norms and political will to protect it effectively. Preventive nature of the safeguards that should be placed in the national legal order are emphasised the most.

Based on archival documentary materials and current information sources as supplemented by various opinions of scientists and practitioniers, this article investigates the efforts of the government to implement the 1933 judiciary reform. The Temporary Law on Lithuanian Courts and the Order of their Work of 1918 had been criticised even at the moment it was enacted by its creators. However, in real life it had proven sufficiently robust and acceptable to the masses. There was no rush to revise it, while attempts were made to soften the emerging deficiencies of court system procedures by making separate amendments to existing legislation. The judiciary system was marginally improved based on needs and circumstances as they arose. Only certain isolated areas relating to organisational procedures were affected by those changes. However, this proved insufficient in the long run. The coming reform meant a great deal of work involving legislative creation that required a decade of efforts from many specialists and people in the government. The first solid draft of the Law on Order of the Courts was completed in 1924. The creators of the draft identified the supplementation of the existing three-tier generalpurpose court system with two new tiers as the most important change in a bid to balance workloads between courts. The draft reached the Seimas, but was subsequently retracted by the government for further improvements. Several successive governments with different political views, representing different political parties that existed at the time, demonstrated various levels of care for the reform. Alongside those changes in power, several different versions were proposed for the coming legislation. Upon establishment of the State Council in 1928, preparation of the relevant legislation was handed over to it. With the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers, the president of the Republic enacted the draft as a law on 11 July 1933. The courts of Lithuania managed to become a reliable, qualified and moral constitutional establishment during the time of independence.

Based on archival documentary materials and current information sources as supplemented by various opinions of scientists and practitioniers, this article investigates the efforts of the government to implement the 1933 judiciary reform. The Temporary Law on Lithuanian Courts and the Order of their Work of 1918 had been criticised even at the moment it was enacted by its creators. However, in real life it had proven sufficiently robust and acceptable to the masses. There was no rush to revise it, while attempts were made to soften the emerging deficiencies of court system procedures by making separate amendments to existing legislation. The judiciary system was marginally improved based on needs and circumstances as they arose. Only certain isolated areas relating to organisational procedures were affected by those changes. However, this proved insufficient in the long run. The coming reform meant a great deal of work involving legislative creation that required a decade of efforts from many specialists and people in the government. The first solid draft of the Law on Order of the Courts was completed in 1924. The creators of the draft identified the supplementation of the existing three-tier generalpurpose court system with two new tiers as the most important change in a bid to balance workloads between courts. The draft reached the Seimas, but was subsequently retracted by the government for further improvements. Several successive governments with different political views, representing different political parties that existed at the time, demonstrated various levels of care for the reform. Alongside those changes in power, several different versions were proposed for the coming legislation. Upon establishment of the State Council in 1928, preparation of the relevant legislation was handed over to it. With the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers, the president of the Republic enacted the draft as a law on 11 July 1933. The courts of Lithuania managed to become a reliable, qualified and moral constitutional establishment during the time of independence.