Introduction

I. History
The constitution of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia of 1963 (Official Gazette of SRM N. 14/63) had established the Constitutional Court, determined its position in the judicial system and its competence; The Law on the Constitutional Court (Official Gazette of SRM N.45/63) had regulated the procedure and the details of the legal effects of its decisions. The Constitu-tional Court had started its work in 1964.
The Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia of 1974 (Official Gazette of SRM N. 7/74) and the Law on the Principles of the procedure and effects of its decisions (Official Gazette of SRM N.42/76) have introduced small changes in the competence and in the legal effects of decisions of the Constitutional Court of Macedonia, but its position in respect of legislative and executive powers has remained the same: the Constitu-tional Court is part of the system of unity of power, and has the task of maintaining the internal harmony of the legal order. Despite a relatively restricted jurisdiction (inter alia, the Constitutional Court did not have the opportunity of abolishing or annulling unconstitutional laws, but only of ascertaining their lack of conformity with the Constitu-tion), the Constitutional Court in that period played a significant role in ensuring the harmony of the legal order in the framework of a political system based on the unity of powers.
According to the new Constitution of 1991, the organisation and functioning of the political system is based on the principle of separation of powers. Under Article 8 of the Constitution, the separation of powers is one of the 11 fundamental values on which the constitutional order has been based. In such a constitu-tional environment, the Constitutional Court has gained a special role of review in respect of the due functioning of the political and legal system. The Court has built upon this role in two principal ways: by expanding its jurisdiction significantly and by strengthening the legal effects of its decisions in respect of evaluation of the unconstitutionality of laws. Under the new Constitution, the Constitutional Court is an independent body of the Republic charged with protecting the constitutionality and legality of general legal acts, as well as with protecting the fundamental freedoms and rights of the individual and citizen. Although it is not a part of the ordinary judiciary, it exercises the highest level of judicial review.

II. Legal bases
The Fourth Chapter of the Constitution (Official Gazette of FM N. 52/91) is dedicated to the Constitutional Court. It consists of seven articles (Articles 108 to 113) in which only the principles concerning the position of the Constitutional Court, its composition, its competence and the legal effects of its decisions are determined. In order not to allow the legislator to influence the conditions under which the power of the Constitutional Court is exercised, the Constitution does not provide for a law on the Constitutional Court but only provides that the mode of work and the procedure of the Constitutional Court shall be regulated by an enactment of the Court. Therefore, the only legal bases of the Constitutional Court are the Constitution and its own Rules of Procedure (Official Gazette of RM N. 70/92).

III. Composition and organisation
Under Article 109 of the Constitution, the Constitutional Court is composed of nine judges. This number includes the president, who is elected among the judges and by the judges themselves for a period of three years without the right to re-election. The judges are elected by the Assembly by majority vote of the total number of Representatives. The term of office for these judges is nine years, without the right of re-election. The Constitu-tional Court judges are elected from the ranks of outstanding members of the legal profession.
Provided for by Article 111, the office of judge of the Constitutional Court is incompatible with the holding of any other public office, profession, or membership of a political party. Judges of the Constitutional Court are granted the same kind of immunity as Representatives in the Assembly. The Constitutional Court decides on their immunity under the procedure prescribed by its own Rules of Procedure. Judges of the Constitutional Court cannot be called up for service in the armed forces.
The Constitutional Court regulates its organisation by its own enactment. Each judge is helped by an assistant and by a secretary. The Court has a centre for documen-tation and a library. The Secretary of the Court supervises the services of the Court.
The procedure is regulated by the Court Rules of Procedures. Each legal or natural person has the right to submit an application. The first procedural stage is the making of a decision on the admissibility of the application. If the application is admissible, the Court gives a formal judgment which designates the start of the procedure. The Court can order temporary measures, which can stand until judgment is made on the merits. Court hearings are open to the public. Judgment is given by a majority vote of the total number of judges. The Court always deliberates in plenary session.

IV. Competence
The constitutional court follows the traditional European model of concentration of the judicial review of constitu-tionality in a sole body. The review of constitutionality and legality is abstract, direct and a posteriori.
The Constitutional Court:
- decides on the conformity of laws with the Constitution
- decides on the conformity of collective agreements and other regulations with the Constitutional and laws
- protects the freedoms and rights of the individual and citizen relating to freedoms of communication, conscience, thought an public expression of thought, political association and activity, as well as in respect of the prohibition on discrimination among citizens on the grounds of sex, race, religion or national, social or political affiliation;
- decides on conflicts of competency among holders of legislative, executive and judicial offices;
- decides on conflicts of competency among State bodies and units of local self-government;
- decides on the accountability of the President of the Republic;
- decides on the constitutionality of the programmes and statutes of the political parties and of associations of citizens.

V. Nature and legal effects of judgments
The judgments of the Constitutional Court are compulsory for each State body, court, legal and natural person. They are final and self-executory. If the Constitutional Court determines that a law does not conform to the Constitu-tion or that other general acts do not conform to the Constitution or to the law, it shall repeal or invalidate that law or other general act. The kind of order depends on the gravity of the breach of constitutionality and legality and on the legal and factual consequences. The decisions of the Constitutional Court are published in the "Official Gazette of RM" and they become legally effective from the day of publication. The effect of a repealing judgment (ex nunc effect) is to prohibit the application of the repealed act. The effect of a invalidating judgment (ex tune effect) besides erasing the law or other regulation from the legal system, implies the right of affected persons to require the elimination of the consequences of any application of unconstitutional norms.

Statistical data: 1 January 1996 - 30 April 1996

• New cases in mentioned period: 118
• Procedures pending: 67
• Cases resolved: 51
- Invalidated: 0
- Repealed: 18
- Rejected: 20
- Inadmissible: 13
• Structure of the cases
- Laws:49
- Other regulations given by State authorities: 19
- Regulations given by municipal authorities: 16
- Enactments given by public enterprises: 16
- Application concerning the protection of human rights: 2
- Others: 6

Important decisions

Identification: MKD-96-1-001
a) "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" / b) Constitutional Court / с) / d) 17.01.1996 / e) U.br. 293/95, U.br. 323/95 / f) / g) Sluzben vesnik (Official Gazette), 6/96 and 17/96/h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Right to property - Expropriation.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Inheritance, right / Property, private.

Headnotes:
The constitutional guarantee of the right of ownership of property and of the right of inheritance includes the prohibition on any restriction and deprivation of property or of the rights deriving therefrom except in cases justified by the public interest as determined by law. An expropriation which is based on a public interest determined by a regulation other than a law (in this case based on a municipal assembly's decision on urban plans) is not in conformity with the Constitution.

Languages: Macedonian

Identification: MKD-96-1-002
a) "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" / b) Constitutional Court/c)/d) 13.03.1996/e) U.br. 337/95 / f) / g) Sluzben vesnik (Official Gazette), 16/96 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Constitutional justice - The subject of review – Acts issued  by  decentralised  bodies  -  Sectoral decentralisation.
Institutions - Legislative bodies - Powers.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Collective agreement.

 Headnotes:
The right to notice in cases of dismissal belongs to the group of rights which are to be regulated by law and by collective agreements. In this framework, the manner of regulating the minimum period of notice of dismissal provided for by law cannot be changed by a collective agreement. The changes in the length of the period of notice made by the collective agreement was not in conformity with the Constitution and the law.

Languages: Macedonian.

Identification: MKD-96-1-003
a) "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 20.03.1996 / e) U .br. 343/95,
 U .br. 344/95, U.br. 10/96 / f) / g) Sluzben vesnik (Official Gazette), 17/96/h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Non-retrospective effect of law.
Fundamental rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Commercial and industrial freedom.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Freedom of entrepreneurship / Non-retroactivity of law.

Headnotes:
Any statutory obligations on the register court to automatically erase from the register companies which had not communicated a contract of employment to their employees is not in conformity with the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of the market and entrepreneur-ship, because the activity of such companies in question produces credit-debt relationships which can be solved only through regular procedures in question provided for by the law on bankruptcy and liquidation. The provisions of the law are not in conformity with the constitutional prohibition on the retroactivity of laws and other regulations because they extend their effects to companies which were registered before the entry into force of those provisions.

Languages: Macedonian.

Identification: MKD-96-1-004
a) "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" / b) Constitutional Court / с) / d) 20.03.1996 / e) U.br. 355/95, U.br. 356/95 / f) / g) Sluzben vesnik (Official Gazette), 16/96/h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Linguistic freedom.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Official language / Public school.

Headnotes:
Laws which provide for the keeping of pedagogical evidence and documentation only in the language of instruction, and not in addition in the Macedonian language, are not in conformity with the Constitution.

Summary:
In the course of its examination of the issue, the Court recalled that the Constitution allowed for the instruction in primary and secondary education to be given in the language of the national minorities, as well as that the Constitution identified the Macedonian language and its Cyrillic alphabet as the official language in "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", and that in the units of local self-government, where the majority or a considerable number of inhabitants belong to a national minority, in addition to the Macedonian language and its Cyrillic alphabet the language and alphabet of those minorities are also in official use.

Languages: Macedonian.