Suchergebnisse

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.

Summary When Lithuania joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, the law of European Communities became an integral part of law of the Republic of Lithuania. While the system of criminal law sources is expanding, whereby one legal norm complements or replaces another or there is a competition between them, objective and subjective reasons which cause the occurrence of potential judicial errors tend to arise. In this respect, the official doctrines of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania and the formation of uniform judicial practice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania become increasingly important. The aim of the present thesis is to review in principle the established system of criminal law sources in a systematic manner by expanding it with new forms of kinds of legal sources, presenting the concept of the EU acquis and certain peculiarities of co-operation between courts and the police in the European Union, inter alia the paper reveals: 1) the semantic importance of the use of legal terminology and criteria for distinguishing sources of legal norms and sources of legal thought; 2) specifics of criminal law sources of the Republic of Lithuania and ideas reflected in them during various stages of the evolution of the state and legal sources and priorities of changed protected legal values in the new Criminal Code of the Rpulic of Lithuania; 3) subornation and correlation of standard sources of criminal law; 4) the content of different forms of criminal law sources and relationship with others sources, examples of judicial practice, potential problems and their solutions, the significance of alternative legal sources and their relation to criminal law through the logical structure of criminal law norm as well as examples when sources of other branches of law become ad hoc and criminal law sources; 5) concrete examples aimed at proving the application of generally accepted principles in criminal law and their constitutionalised recognition as Lithuanian criminal law sources; 6) the issue of independence of courts, the significance of recognition of court judgements and official doctrine as criminal law sources in the context of enforcing justice by emphasising the growing importance of the Constitutional Court in the negative and positive legislation process; 7) attention is paid to active participation of criminal law scholars by amending, supplementing or repealing norms of criminal law sources in the processes of criminalisation and decriminalisation, penalisation and depenalisation in order to avoid chaotic criminal law source replacement procedures initiated by the legislator. The conclusions formulated at the end of this thesis reflect the key aspects of results achieved during this study

Summary When Lithuania joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, the law of European Communities became an integral part of law of the Republic of Lithuania. While the system of criminal law sources is expanding, whereby one legal norm complements or replaces another or there is a competition between them, objective and subjective reasons which cause the occurrence of potential judicial errors tend to arise. In this respect, the official doctrines of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania and the formation of uniform judicial practice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania become increasingly important. The aim of the present thesis is to review in principle the established system of criminal law sources in a systematic manner by expanding it with new forms of kinds of legal sources, presenting the concept of the EU acquis and certain peculiarities of co-operation between courts and the police in the European Union, inter alia the paper reveals: 1) the semantic importance of the use of legal terminology and criteria for distinguishing sources of legal norms and sources of legal thought; 2) specifics of criminal law sources of the Republic of Lithuania and ideas reflected in them during various stages of the evolution of the state and legal sources and priorities of changed protected legal values in the new Criminal Code of the Rpulic of Lithuania; 3) subornation and correlation of standard sources of criminal law; 4) the content of different forms of criminal law sources and relationship with others sources, examples of judicial practice, potential problems and their solutions, the significance of alternative legal sources and their relation to criminal law through the logical structure of criminal law norm as well as examples when sources of other branches of law become ad hoc and criminal law sources; 5) concrete examples aimed at proving the application of generally accepted principles in criminal law and their constitutionalised recognition as Lithuanian criminal law sources; 6) the issue of independence of courts, the significance of recognition of court judgements and official doctrine as criminal law sources in the context of enforcing justice by emphasising the growing importance of the Constitutional Court in the negative and positive legislation process; 7) attention is paid to active participation of criminal law scholars by amending, supplementing or repealing norms of criminal law sources in the processes of criminalisation and decriminalisation, penalisation and depenalisation in order to avoid chaotic criminal law source replacement procedures initiated by the legislator. The conclusions formulated at the end of this thesis reflect the key aspects of results achieved during this study

As human activity in outer space continues to boom, 50-year-old United Nations treaties on space law no longer address all of the current issues of international space law. The commercialization and privatization of outer space, potential harm to the cosmic environment, and a looming arms race in outer space are vital issues which encourage the international community to take serious actions. However, these issues are far more complicated than they appear. States and private companies are rushing to get involved in a new field with enormous potential, which makes reaching a consensus difficult and creates a barrier for international law-makers aiming to create new legally binding agreements for space. Nowadays, the international community addresses these legal issues by issuing non-legally binding recommendations. Meanwhile, nation states adopt laws at the national level. Accordingly, this Master Thesis consists of five main structural parts. The first part analyzes the concept of international space law as well as its history, and explores key UN space treaties and space law principles. The second, third, fourth and fifth parts address the main issues of international space law. These chapters address the legal issues on space commercialization, space resource utilization, space debris, and space militarization and weaponization.

As human activity in outer space continues to boom, 50-year-old United Nations treaties on space law no longer address all of the current issues of international space law. The commercialization and privatization of outer space, potential harm to the cosmic environment, and a looming arms race in outer space are vital issues which encourage the international community to take serious actions. However, these issues are far more complicated than they appear. States and private companies are rushing to get involved in a new field with enormous potential, which makes reaching a consensus difficult and creates a barrier for international law-makers aiming to create new legally binding agreements for space. Nowadays, the international community addresses these legal issues by issuing non-legally binding recommendations. Meanwhile, nation states adopt laws at the national level. Accordingly, this Master Thesis consists of five main structural parts. The first part analyzes the concept of international space law as well as its history, and explores key UN space treaties and space law principles. The second, third, fourth and fifth parts address the main issues of international space law. These chapters address the legal issues on space commercialization, space resource utilization, space debris, and space militarization and weaponization.

As human activity in outer space continues to boom, 50-year-old United Nations treaties on space law no longer address all of the current issues of international space law. The commercialization and privatization of outer space, potential harm to the cosmic environment, and a looming arms race in outer space are vital issues which encourage the international community to take serious actions. However, these issues are far more complicated than they appear. States and private companies are rushing to get involved in a new field with enormous potential, which makes reaching a consensus difficult and creates a barrier for international law-makers aiming to create new legally binding agreements for space. Nowadays, the international community addresses these legal issues by issuing non-legally binding recommendations. Meanwhile, nation states adopt laws at the national level. Accordingly, this Master Thesis consists of five main structural parts. The first part analyzes the concept of international space law as well as its history, and explores key UN space treaties and space law principles. The second, third, fourth and fifth parts address the main issues of international space law. These chapters address the legal issues on space commercialization, space resource utilization, space debris, and space militarization and weaponization.

As human activity in outer space continues to boom, 50-year-old United Nations treaties on space law no longer address all of the current issues of international space law. The commercialization and privatization of outer space, potential harm to the cosmic environment, and a looming arms race in outer space are vital issues which encourage the international community to take serious actions. However, these issues are far more complicated than they appear. States and private companies are rushing to get involved in a new field with enormous potential, which makes reaching a consensus difficult and creates a barrier for international law-makers aiming to create new legally binding agreements for space. Nowadays, the international community addresses these legal issues by issuing non-legally binding recommendations. Meanwhile, nation states adopt laws at the national level. Accordingly, this Master Thesis consists of five main structural parts. The first part analyzes the concept of international space law as well as its history, and explores key UN space treaties and space law principles. The second, third, fourth and fifth parts address the main issues of international space law. These chapters address the legal issues on space commercialization, space resource utilization, space debris, and space militarization and weaponization.

In the given work the theme of coexistence of two social regulators of behaviour is investigated: the law and moral. The basic attention is concentrated to the analysis of such situation. In the first part of work the various theories explaining a site of law and moral in sphere of regulation of human behaviour are resulted. The theories which are putting forward various ideas from concurrence of moral and law (E.N.Trubetskoj) before their differentiation by the indication of their distinctions (by S.S.Alexey, etc.) are researched. The critical analysis of each of considered theories is made, weak and their strong sides are specified. The basic attention in the second part of work is concentrated to research of the practical situation which have developed in territory of the Lithuanian Republic. It is possible to allocate three basic directions of this analysis. The first, influence of morals on legislative activity. The second, fastening of moral indications in concrete rules of law. And, the third, influence of morals on the sanction of legal disputes. Also in work the brief historical review of interrelation and interchangeability of concepts of the right and morals is presented. Influence of morals on processes of formation of legal systems is investigated. The third part of work is intended for the analysis of the problems arising at presence of cases of the contradiction of moral and law. In the given part of work arguments for granting of a priority in the specified situation of morals and to the right are considered.

In the given work the theme of coexistence of two social regulators of behaviour is investigated: the law and moral. The basic attention is concentrated to the analysis of such situation. In the first part of work the various theories explaining a site of law and moral in sphere of regulation of human behaviour are resulted. The theories which are putting forward various ideas from concurrence of moral and law (E.N.Trubetskoj) before their differentiation by the indication of their distinctions (by S.S.Alexey, etc.) are researched. The critical analysis of each of considered theories is made, weak and their strong sides are specified. The basic attention in the second part of work is concentrated to research of the practical situation which have developed in territory of the Lithuanian Republic. It is possible to allocate three basic directions of this analysis. The first, influence of morals on legislative activity. The second, fastening of moral indications in concrete rules of law. And, the third, influence of morals on the sanction of legal disputes. Also in work the brief historical review of interrelation and interchangeability of concepts of the right and morals is presented. Influence of morals on processes of formation of legal systems is investigated. The third part of work is intended for the analysis of the problems arising at presence of cases of the contradiction of moral and law. In the given part of work arguments for granting of a priority in the specified situation of morals and to the right are considered.

The problems of efficiency and effectiveness of law The existence, range and problems of efficiency and effectiveness of law as the social value in the legal state determining total or partial non-efficiency/non-effectiveness were the object of this survey. This work tries to name and analyse the problems of efficiency and effectiveness of law, their reasons, as well as to propose the motions and recommendations for solution of these problems. The work begins by the general questions of efficiency and effectiveness of law: clarification of concepts, finding the object of survey and naming the topic of survey – these points are discussed concisely in so far as it is necessary to discuss them further analysing the main subject of work. In the second part of work it is trying to determine the range of efficiency as a legal value and to deny the striving of absolute efficiency. In the third part are analysed the particular problems of efficiency and effectiveness, in the aspect of different law trends and conceptions – law sociology, positive law, law economical analysis. Hereafter are developed the topic of legislation process and it is defined that the quality of legislation as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of law are conditioned by every stage of this process similarly the observance of law language rules and implementation of means to improve the legislation quality. It is performed the survey trying to identify the using of these means in Lithuania, are investigated the covering documents of decrees – travaux preparatoires, are analysed and systemised the notations, the tenders for the projects of laws, is debated the influence of these notations for the law acting in the future. In the last part of work are analysed the problems of efficiency and effectiveness of law rising during the law implementation: complexity of law and its expensiveness, non-competence of institutions, non-privity and a complex bureaucratic apparatus, also non-authoritative and non-appropriate interpretation of rules of law and the factors determining the doubts in the process of court. Finally the efficiency and effectiveness of law are opened as the criteria of choosing the method of law explanation.

The problems of efficiency and effectiveness of law The existence, range and problems of efficiency and effectiveness of law as the social value in the legal state determining total or partial non-efficiency/non-effectiveness were the object of this survey. This work tries to name and analyse the problems of efficiency and effectiveness of law, their reasons, as well as to propose the motions and recommendations for solution of these problems. The work begins by the general questions of efficiency and effectiveness of law: clarification of concepts, finding the object of survey and naming the topic of survey – these points are discussed concisely in so far as it is necessary to discuss them further analysing the main subject of work. In the second part of work it is trying to determine the range of efficiency as a legal value and to deny the striving of absolute efficiency. In the third part are analysed the particular problems of efficiency and effectiveness, in the aspect of different law trends and conceptions – law sociology, positive law, law economical analysis. Hereafter are developed the topic of legislation process and it is defined that the quality of legislation as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of law are conditioned by every stage of this process similarly the observance of law language rules and implementation of means to improve the legislation quality. It is performed the survey trying to identify the using of these means in Lithuania, are investigated the covering documents of decrees – travaux preparatoires, are analysed and systemised the notations, the tenders for the projects of laws, is debated the influence of these notations for the law acting in the future. In the last part of work are analysed the problems of efficiency and effectiveness of law rising during the law implementation: complexity of law and its expensiveness, non-competence of institutions, non-privity and a complex bureaucratic apparatus, also non-authoritative and non-appropriate interpretation of rules of law and the factors determining the doubts in the process of court. Finally the efficiency and effectiveness of law are opened as the criteria of choosing the method of law explanation.

The object of the master work is the analogy in Lithuanian labour law. The theme is always topical because of the dynamic in labour relationship which is much faster than the legislative procedure. Furthermore, the liberalization of labour law is the reason why the analogy will be applied more frequently in the near future. Considering the lack of doctrine and practical material the law applying subjects may face related problems. The master work embraces some practical suggestions, analysis of court decisions and mistakes that were made by courts or is on the risk to be made. The first part is about the general questions of analogy in labour law. The second part embraces the analogy in labour law and its rules of application. In the third part the particular examples of the lack of regulation and way how to solve it is explained. There are several particular questions which are analyzed in the work: the importance of analogy in labour law regulation and application; topical problems of analogy in labour law application; the relationship between analogy in labour law and application of Lithuanian Labour Code; Lithuanian Supreme Court practice on competition restricting agreements between employer and employee; collective agreements as a cause for the lack of labour regulation; the lack of regulation on relationship between the employer and employee when using the internet and e-mail at the work place; the lack of labour procedure rules at the work place as one of the examples when analogy in labour law should be applied.

The object of the master work is the analogy in Lithuanian labour law. The theme is always topical because of the dynamic in labour relationship which is much faster than the legislative procedure. Furthermore, the liberalization of labour law is the reason why the analogy will be applied more frequently in the near future. Considering the lack of doctrine and practical material the law applying subjects may face related problems. The master work embraces some practical suggestions, analysis of court decisions and mistakes that were made by courts or is on the risk to be made. The first part is about the general questions of analogy in labour law. The second part embraces the analogy in labour law and its rules of application. In the third part the particular examples of the lack of regulation and way how to solve it is explained. There are several particular questions which are analyzed in the work: the importance of analogy in labour law regulation and application; topical problems of analogy in labour law application; the relationship between analogy in labour law and application of Lithuanian Labour Code; Lithuanian Supreme Court practice on competition restricting agreements between employer and employee; collective agreements as a cause for the lack of labour regulation; the lack of regulation on relationship between the employer and employee when using the internet and e-mail at the work place; the lack of labour procedure rules at the work place as one of the examples when analogy in labour law should be applied.