Constitutional Court of Croatia

Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske
Established	15 February 1964 (in SR Croatia) 25 July 1990 (in Croatia)
Country	Croatia
Location	Zagreb
Composition method	Elected by the Croatian Parliament with qualified majority
Authorized by	Constitution of the Republic of Croatia
Judge term length	Eight years (renewable once)
Number of positions	13
Website	www.usud.hr
President of the Constitutional Court
Currently	Professor Jasna Omejec, PhD
Since	12 June 2008

Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske) is the interpreter and guardian of the Croatian Constitution which monitors the conformity of laws with the Constitution as well as protection of human rights and freedoms of citizens that are guaranteed by the Constitution. It is considered to be de facto the highest judicial authority because it can overturn Supreme Court decisions on the basis of constitutional breaches. It is not considered as part of the judicial branch but a court sui generis, therefore it is often called "fourth power of Croatia", alongside Government, President (executive), Parliament (legislative) and Supreme Court (judicial).

Powers and responsibilities

According to the Articles 126-132 of the Croatian Constitution, Constitutional Court shall:

• decide upon the compliance of laws with the Constitution,
• decide upon the compliance of other regulations with the Constitution and laws,
• decide on the constitutionality of laws and the constitutionality and legality of other regulations which are no longer valid, provided that less than one year has elapsed from the moment of such cessation until the filing of a request or a proposal to institute proceedings,
• decide on constitutional petitions against individual decisions taken by governmental agencies, bodies of local and regional self-government and legal persons vested with public authority where such decisions violate human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as the right to local and regional self-government guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia,
• monitor compliance with the Constitution and laws and shall report to the Croatian Parliament on detected violations thereof,
• decide upon jurisdictional disputes between the legislative, executive and judicial branches,
• decide, in conformity with the Constitution, on the impeachment of the President of the Republic,
• supervise compliance of the platforms and activities of political parties with the Constitution and may, in compliance with the Constitution, ban non-compliant parties,
• monitor whether elections and referendums are conducted in compliance with the Constitution and laws and shall resolve electoral disputes falling outside the jurisdiction of the courts,
• first notify the Government what it finds that a competent body charged with enacting a regulation needed for the application of the Constitution, law or other regulation has failed to do so, and shall notify the Croatian Parliament when the Government has been charged with enacting such regulation and failed to do so,
• repeal a law or annul any other regulation if it finds it to be unconstitutional or illegal,
• perform other duties specified by the Constitution.

Recent influence

A recent ruling by the Constitutional Court was on the legitimacy of the Act of Supplements and Alterations to the Law on Public Gathering (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama zakona o javnom okupljanju) which added an order that no public gatherings could be held within 100 meters of buildings in which the Sabor, President, the Government or the Constitutional Court are located or are in session (the Parliament, Government and Const. Court are all located at Zagreb's St. Mark's square)

The Constitutional Court ruled that this law, which restricts a Constitutional liberty - the right to free gathering, was not passed by the majority necessary to override the Constitution on that matter. The Court's decision was that the law be put out of effect at a date specified by the Court.

The Court also provided Parliament with the necessary number of representatives which must confirm the Act to make it legitimate.

Composition

The Constitutional Court consists of thirteen judges elected by the Croatian Parliament for a term of eight years from among notable jurists, especially judges, public prosecutors, lawyers and university professors of law and elects its President for a term of four years. Before they take the office, judges must take an oath in front of the President of the Republic.

Current composition (as of January 19, 2011)

No.	In office since	Full name	Position
1.	December 7, 2007	Professor Jasna Omejec, PhD	President since June 12, 2008
2.	December 7. 2007	Snježana Bagić, PhD	Vice-President since June 12, 2014
3.	July 21, 2009	Mato Arlović, PhD	Judge
4.	December 7, 2007	Marko Babić, PhD	Judge
5.	May 26, 2008	Slavica Banić	Judge
6.	May 26, 2008	Mario Jelušić, PhD	Judge
7.	July 9, 2007	academician Davor Krapac, PhD	Judge
8.	December 7, 2007	Ivan Matija, PhD	Judge
9.	July 21, 2009	Antun Palarić	Judge
10.	December 7, 2007	Aldo Radolović, PhD	Judge
11.	May 26, 2008	Duška Šarin, PhD	Judge
12.	April 14, 2009	Miroslav Šeparović, PhD	Judge
13.	-	Sede vacante since 19/01/2011	-

Presidents

No.	Image	In office	Full name
1.		1991–1999	Jadranko Crnić
2.		1999–2003	Smiljko Sokol
3.		2003–2007	Petar Klarić
4.		2008-	Jasna Omejec

See also

• Constitution
• Constitutionalism
• Constitutional economics
• Jurisprudence
• Rule of law
• Judiciary
• Rule of law
• Rule According to Higher Law

Sources

• History of Croatian Constitutional Judicature

External links

• Official website