Grands colloques - Les Cours constitutionnelles, garantie de la qualité démocratique des sociétés ? - 28

LITUANIE - GEDIMINAS MESONIS

constitutional dimension. The reality, however, tends to overrule this
approach.
The identified challenging aspects to the rule of law evidently already
are (or, without any doubt, will be) also witnessed while implementing
constitutional justice in the Republic of Lithuania: they determine the
subject matter of constitutional justice cases, i.e. hereby to certain extent
influencing the substance of constitutional doctrine of the rule of law.
This presupposes certain polemic discourse on the boundaries of this
influence. The underlying question here is whether there are any limits
within constitutional justice for the impact (in this case - rather negative)
of modern developments.
Though the question may seem somewhat intricate, the answer lies in
the Constitution itself. The Constitution is supreme law20, as the act of
supreme legal power and as the social contract, the Constitution is based
on universal and unquestionable values - inter alia the attribution of sovereignty to the nation, democracy, the recognition of and respect for human
rights and freedoms, respect for law, the rule of law21. The Constitution
may not have, nor does it have any gaps or internal contradictions22.
Thus the Constitution itself provides for the ultimate boundaries for any
attempts of ineligible changes originated by the modern developments.
However, viability of the Constitution may not be forgotten. The
viability of constitutions is a result of the interaction of different factors,
both external (i. e. historical circumstances, stability of the political environment) and internal (such as explicit and implicit constitutional provisions,
operating as safeguards of viability of a constitution, including the so-called
"eternity clauses" and the provisions establishing institutions of constitutional review)23.
Thus, though the constitutional boundaries limit the impact of modern
challenges, it does not mean that changes to the constitutional doctrine of
20. The ruling of 25 May 2004 of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania
(On the Law on Presidential Elections).
21. Inter alia the ruling of 24 September 2009 of the Constitutional Court of the Republic
of Lithuania (On the constitutionality of the legal acts related to the reorganisation of the
armed forces); decision of 19 December 2012 of the Constitutional Court of the Republic
of Lithuania (On dismissing a case); ruling of 24 January 2014 of the Constitutional Court
of the Republic of Lithuania (On the Law Amending Article 125 of the Constitution).
22. The ruling of 28 March 2006 of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania
(On the powers of the Constitutional Court to review its own decisions and dismiss the
instituted legal proceedings, as well as on reviewing the financing of courts).
23. Žalimas, D. Viability of the Constitution and the role of the Constitutional Court.
Presentation in Round Table „Theoretical and Practical Problems of the Constitutional
Justice in Ukraine", Lviv, 16 May 2015. [Interactive]. [Accessed 12-06-2018]

http://http:// http://www.lrkt.lt/data/public/uploads/2015/10/viability-of-theconstitution-lvivroundtable.pdf

Grands colloques - Les Cours constitutionnelles, garantie de la qualité démocratique des sociétés ?

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