QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES? KONSTITUCINĖS JURISPRUDENCIJOS PLĖTOJIMĄ LEMIANTYS VEIKSNIAI

Abstract

The decisions of institutions responsible for constitutional control are final and not subject to appeal. Constitutional Courts act independently, and the intervention of other state institutions into their activity is strictly forbidden. They are the supreme guardians of constitutions, but it may appear that nobody is guarding the constitutional courts themselves. Therefore, the Juvenal’s quotation in the title of the article indicates the aim to look for some external factors that could influence the development of constitutional jurisprudence, and those which may be considered as certain bounds in regards to the liberty of the judicial construction of constitutional norms.
Universal constitutional values, such as the rule of law, democracy, independence or the protection of human rights, are not only enshrined in national constitutions, but also in legal acts adopted at the international level. There are no doubts today concerning the influence of binding international and European legal acts and the respective court judgments regarding the development of constitutional jurisprudence, especially when it has been foreseen by the Constitution itself. The constitutional doctrine has continues to evolve in a direction favourable to international law. However, along with the legally binding sources of international law, there are also soft law norms, adopted in the constitutional field by international organizations or their structures. These norms begin to receive to receive some attention in the rulings
of Constitutional Courts, and have the potential to gain more and more significant meaning in the nearest future.
The European Commission for Democracy through Law“ (also know as Venice Commission) is the best-known international institution acting in the field of constitutional law. Created as a consultative body to the Council of Europe, the Venice Commission adopts recommendations to the member states, including resolutions, studies and opinions, dealing with different issues of constitutional law. These acts are not legally binding, but knowing that they contain references to the protection of human rights, the promotion of the rule of law and democracy and are based on universally recognized constitutional values, constituting common European constitutional heritage, they could become effective instrumen in ensuring the quality of constitutional jurisprudence and the standard for resolving constitutional justice cases. The jurisprudence of the latter years of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania has proven that in certain cases, soft law norms are indispensable in
order to illustrate or to support a chosen solution and the argumentation of the case.