Number of decisions taken:

Decisions on the merits by the Plenum of the Court: 3 Decisions on the merits by the Panels of the Court: 3 Number of other decisions by the Plenum: 1 Number of other decisions by the Panels: 20 Total number of cases brought to the Court: 195

a) Slovak Republic / b) Constitutional Court / с) / d) 31 May 1994 / e) Decision I. US 20/94 / f) Case of movables belonging to the property of communist parties established in Czechoslovakia / g).

Constitutional justice - The subject of review - Quasi constitutional legislation.

Constitutional justice - The subject of review - Rules issued by the executive.

Institutions - Executive bodies - Powers.

Institutions - Miscellaneous - Political parties.

Obligation to restitute the property.

In 1990, the Federal Assembly of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic adopted the constitutional statute No 496/1990 on the Restitution of the Property of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia to the People of the Czech and Slovak People Federal Republic. According to this constitutional statute, the Communist Party of Czechia and Bohemia, the Communist Party of Slovakia - the Party of left-wing Democrats - and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia were obliged to restitute to the government of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic all real and movable property within 30 days from the entry into force of the constitutional statute No 496/1990 they owned. Movable property in the sense of the law did not cover office assets if the had been bought for less than 5.000 Czechoslovak Crowns. The courts applied the provisions of the constitutional statute in very different ways. The Government of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic in a supplement to its ruling of 30 September 1991 gave its own interpretation of the constitutional statute in order "to unify the application of the constitutional statute." This interpretation extended the application of the statute to movable office assets valued at less than 5.000 Czechoslovak Crowns.

According to Article 130, (1), (a) of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic: "The Constitutional Court shall commence proceedings upon a petition submitted by not less than one-fifth of all members of the National Council of the Slovak Republic". According to Article 73, (1) of the Constitution, the National Council of the Slovak Republic consists of 150 members. On 11 February 1994, a group of 30 members of the National Council had submitted its petition to the Constitutional Court asking for an interpretation of Article 1 of constitutional statute No 496/1990.

The Constitutional Court rule that the Government is vested neither with power to pass rulings for the implementation of laws exceeding the limits defined by generally binding rules, nor with the power to give interpretations on such rules. The Constitutional Court then decided that the obligation provided by the constitutional statute No 496 of 1990 does not extend to the restitution movable office assets owned before December 31, 1989, if they had cost less than 5.000 Czechoslovak Crowns.

a) Slovak Republic / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 15 June 1994 / e) Decision I. US 76/93 / f) Local referendum case / g).

Constitutional justice - Types of litigation - Electoral disputes - Referendums.

Constitutional justice - The subject of review - Regional measures.

Institutions - Executive bodies - Territorial Administrative decentralisation - Municipalities.

Local popular referendum.

Article 30, paragraph 1 of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic provides as follows: "Citizens shall have the right to participate in the administration of public affairs directly or by freely elected representatives. " The citizens of the small town Tatranska Lomnica that is considered to be a part of the town Stary Smokovec, had exercised their right "to participate in the administration of public affairs" directly, via a petition. Through this petition local government authority of Stary Smokovec was asked to announce a referendum at Tatranska Lomnica on its probable separation from the town of Stary Smokovec. This demand was refused by the members of the local government authority. The refusal was adopted in the form of a ruling of the local government authority "uznesenie" in Slovak. The citizens of Tatranska Lomnica asked the Constitutional Court to review this decision.

Under Law No 369/1990 on Local Self-Government, local government authorities are empowered to regulate life in their district by means of generally binding rules "vseobecne zavasne nariadenia" in Slovak, and by means of regulations. Under Article 127 of the Constitution, the Constitutional Court is vested with the power to review the final decisions of local government authorities. The Constitution does not explicitly provide for either a right or a prohibition on the issue of reviewing regulations passed by local government authorities. Accordingly, the central issue in this case was whether the Constitutional Court is vested with the power to review regulations of a self-government body. The Constitutional Court had previously rules that no legal obstacle could prevent citizens from claiming their constitutional right even if the violation had been committed by a local government authority. Therefore, in the case of the inhabitants of Tatranska Lomnica, the Constitutional Court concluded that the right to participate in the administration of public affairs has been violated.