Constitutional justice reflects the basic principles of building the power bodies of law and order, the activities of which are enshrined in the basic law of the country and by-laws. Its purpose is to exercise control over the work of other bodies.
Functions, Tasks and System
The justice authorities (constitutional, etc.) are a state-level agency that performs a number of tasks assigned to it by higher subjects.
Here is some of them:
- the direct impact on the rule-making work of the ruling type of bodies of the Federation (Government and President);
- control over the issuance of regulatory acts at the local and regional levels;
- checking the legality of documents and their compliance with international-type securities, federal laws and regulations of a by-law nature;
- legal, linguistic and other expertise;
- registration of acts of civil status, assistance in the registration of transactions by state bodies and realization of rights to real estate, its registration;
- regulation of the legal field of service;
- control over the implementation of legislative acts of a regulatory nature;
- providing legal information to citizens, if necessary, and to address important issues.
The bodies of constitutional justice include the following institutions:
- Relevant Ministry of the Russian Federation.
- Institutions and bodies of the penal system.
- Departments of the Ministry in the territories, republics, other regions within the Federation.
Central link of the system
Constitutional justice and other branches of this sphere are subordinate to the Ministry of Russia. The authorities in this area include registry offices, notaries, the Russian Academy of Law, legal information centers, forensic laboratories, editorial offices of official journals, etc.
The Ministry is the central authority, the main work of which consists of coordinating and guiding powers in relation to territorial institutions and bodies included in the specified system.
In the Russian Federation, the minister is vested with the managerial status of the considered element of the state apparatus. His responsibilities include personal legal responsibility for the completeness of the tasks assigned to this body.
The work of the system of ministerial legislation is as follows. The head of the body submits to the head of state or the Government for consideration draft regulatory acts that are directly related to the work that he coordinates, and these entities review and issue a verdict (accept or reject).
The structure of the state ministerial department consists of departments, administrations, departments. For each unit, separate types of activities have been developed, enshrined in regulatory acts.
Currently, the powers of the bodies of Russian constitutional justice and other branches of this sphere belong to the corresponding department, which is engaged in systematization of legislation, management of expert institutions, the department of practice of courts of all instances, etc.
The role of the auxiliary element is played by the Scientific Center for Legal Information, the Center for Judicial Federal Expertise, and the Russian Law Academy.
Constitutional Justice Bodies
The following subjects are included in the group of constitutional bodies in the field of justice:
- Head of the Russian Federation, Government, Parliament, courts of general jurisdiction, administrative courts (they are engaged in constitutional review along with the exercise of other powers or in a separate procedure).
- Bodies of a specialized type that exercise constitutional review. They are divided into two types: judicial and quasi-judicial. An example of the first type of bodies is constitutional justice in many European countries. The quasi-judicial bodies include the Constitutional French Council and similar administrations of other countries with the French constitutional model.
Control of the constitutional type, which is carried out by parliament, the President, the Government and other similar bodies, refers to political oversight, since all the bodies in question exercise political powers.
The election of subjects is carried out for a certain period of time by holding extraordinary or regular elections. After the implementation of the election of citizens periodically, the composition of politicians completely changes and the direction of the work of the body changes.
In this regard, the control of the political type, which is carried out by these persons, is directly related to the tasks assigned to the selected entities. Therefore, its content is often unstable.
The second type of constitutional control is judicial. It is presented in two types: European and American.
United States Justice System
The activities of constitutional justice bodies under the American system are as follows: courts of general jurisdiction verify the compliance of laws and other acts with the Constitution of the country. The verification process is carried out in the process of considering various types of cases and with subsequent concrete control.
If a law is found unconstitutional by a court and the case is brought to a higher level court, the final decision of the last instance will become binding on the judiciary at all levels. Such a legal norm continues to operate in a formal form, but it is not applied by the courts in the process of considering cases.
Laws recognized as unconstitutional are deprived of protection by the court. This is expressed in the fact that, remaining real on paper, these legal acts lose their legal force.
The essence of this process is as follows. The administration of the territory has the right to apply this document, but it will be useless, since the decision of the body can be appealed in court and will definitely be canceled.
In connection with the specified features of the work of the justice authorities, normative legal acts recognized as unconstitutional will soon be canceled due to uselessness.
European system
The peculiarity of the courts of constitutional justice operating on the European system is expressed in the fact that control is carried out by creating specialized bodies.
The subjects exercising constitutional supervision are divided into two types: councils and courts. Constitutional councils are quasi-courts. The main sign of their distinction is procedural activity.
Constitutional courts - bodies that implement the principles of publicity and competition in the process of considering various categories of cases. The Council is a body that practically does not use competitiveness in its activities.
Despite the differences in the order of formation of these organs, there are a number of common features. The main way to build a structure is parliamentary. The Federal Constitutional Court in Germany elects eight members by both houses of Parliament (the Bundesrat and the Bundestag), and judges and members of this body by the Landtags.
Most countries form constitutional councils by state supreme bodies, which represent different power branches, acting jointly or independently. For example, the president in France appoints three people to the Constitutional Council, the chairman in the National Assembly - three, the leader in the Senate - three.
Each of the three branches of constitutional courts is appointed independently. Therefore, judges are not entitled to focus on one of the bodies that appointed them and must make independent decisions.
The number of members of constitutional justice bodies in the Russian Federation and other countries
The number of people in constitutional courts is small: Romania, France - nine, Greece and Portugal - thirteen, Austria - fourteen (and six - in reserve), Russia - nineteen.
The powers of members of constitutional courts are as follows: Portugal - six years, Greece - two years, Germany - twelve years, Russia - fifteen. Some countries (for example, Austria, Brazil) do not set a time limit for judges.
Separate requirements are set for candidates for constitutional justice bodies in the Russian Federation and countries of the world. The main point is the impossibility of combining work in a court of the appropriate type with other public posts and entrepreneurial activities.
The next important aspect is the presence of increased moral requirements. In addition, the age limit is set for judges: Germany - from forty to sixty eight, the Russian Federation - from forty to seventy. Work experience in the legal profession also varies: Romania - eighteen years, Russia - fifteen.
Procedure for the appointment (election) of chairpersons of courts of constitutional type
An important issue in the organization of constitutional courts (councils) is the procedure for the election (appointment) of their chairpersons. Many countries, when creating the appropriate body, form a special council.
For example, the vice president and president of Germany are elected in turn by the Bundesrat and the Bundestag. The period of powers exercised by the chairman and deputy is sometimes unlimited (if they remain in the status of judges).
Constitutional justice in foreign countries establishes the principle of equality between all members of a court of constitutional type, which is reflected in the fixation in the legal acts of a short term of their powers.
If the period of work of a judge is not limited, the head of the relevant collegial body gains excessive weight in the political sphere, becoming the first among equals.
Constitutional proceedings
The implementation of legal proceedings by the courts of constitutional justice of the Russian Federation is a procedure for the investigation and resolution of cases by the relevant authorities. Some principles of legal proceedings are found in the basic laws of the state. The main aspects of constitutional rules are regulated by the relevant legal normative acts and regulations of the work of these bodies.
The procedure for conducting cases in the field of constitutional justice in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation includes the following points:
- the procedure for sending petitions to a court of constitutional type by authorized entities;
- representation of a procedural nature;
- consideration of written and oral appeals in a preliminary manner to resolve questions about their rejection or acceptance;
- rights of rapporteurs;
- the procedure for collecting the necessary information;
- procedure for inviting experts and witnesses;
- court proceedings;
- voting procedure and decision-making meeting;
- procedure for reading out the drawn up act;
- procedure for the resumption of proceedings in special cases;
- raising questions on the recovery of legal costs, consideration of other provisions.
Specialty Procedures
Constitutional justice in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation provides for the following types of procedures:
- determination of the circle of persons who are authorized to initiate proceedings in cases of relevant categories in court;
- fixing the features of the process;
- establishment of legal consequences of various possible outcomes of cases and decisions made on them;
- development of regulations on the execution of binding acts.
Constitutionality Review Procedure
One of the powers of the constitutional system of justice is the procedure for verifying the compliance of normative legal acts with the basic law of the state. This process is the main activity of the relevant authorities.
Constitutional control is carried out in two forms: abstract and concrete. The first type is expressed in the possibility of applying to the inspection bodies of any state authorities (or filing a collective appeal). Citizens are not entitled to send such documents.
Control of a specific type is expressed in the possibility of filing a constitutional complaint by private individuals and government bodies (including courts).
In some countries, complaints about the unconstitutionality of normative legal acts can be submitted to the highest authority only if they are considered by a lower judicial authority (this is practiced, for example, in Germany).
The concept of constitutional justice and its organs reveals the features of the entire system for verifying the legality of legal normative acts and the compliance of these documents with the basic law of the corresponding state. In different countries, the functions of organs are similar. Differing features of the work of all parts of the structure and their officials.