Constitution of the Czech Republic
The Constitution of the Czech Republic is the supreme law of the Czech Republic. The current constitution was adopted by the Czech National Council on 16 December 1992. It entered into force on 1 January 1993, replacing the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia and the constitutional act No. 143/1968 Col., when Czechoslovakia gave way to the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic in a peaceful dissolution.
The constitution is a constitutional act, and together with other constitutional acts constitutes the so-called constitutional order of the Czech Republic, or the constitution. While the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms, an equally important constitutional act, asserts human and civil rights, the Constitution is concerned with state sovereignty and territorial integrity, and defines the institutions governing the state.
The is divided into a preamble and 8 chapters. The fundamental provisions are followed by long chapters on the legislative power, the executive power, and the judicial power, and shorter chapters on the Supreme Audit Office, the Czech National Bank, and territorial self-government, concluding with interim provisions.
As of December 2022, the constitution has been amended eight times. The most important amendments are Act No. 395/2001 Coll. providing the legal framework for the accession to the EU in 2004, and Act No. 71/2011 Coll., which came into force on 1 October 2012, and provided for the election of the president by popular vote.
History
The federalization of Czechoslovakia
At the 28th meeting of the National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic on 27 October 1968, a bill called the Constitutional Act on the Czechoslovak Federation was introduced jointly by the Czech National Council, the Slovak National Council, and the Czechoslovak Cabinet. The bill was enacted the same day as Constitutional Act No. 143/1968 Coll.On its entry into force on 1 January 1969, it created the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic, both of them on an equal footing within the federation. The Act stipulated in article 142, paragraph 2, that both republics would in due course enact their own constitutions, and also envisaged the creation of three constitutional courts. The plan, however, was not followed through due to the onset of the period of normalization.
In fact, Czechoslovakia only functioned as a federation until the enactment of Constitutional Act No. 125/1970 Coll. in December 1970. Its explanatory notes clearly and openly articulate the need for "strengthening of the structural role of the central government of the federation". This act introduced 37 direct changes and additions, which undid the original plan for federation and took away most of the powers of the federal republics. Consequently in 1970 Czechoslovakia became essentially a centrally governed country, with only prima facie attributes of a federation.
The need for a new federal constitution was first announced officially at the 17th Congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in spring 1986. A working group fronted by Marián Čalfa was set up in 1987 to draft this, and in November 1988, a 153-strong committee of the Communist Party and the National Front was created, led by Miloš Jakeš. The constitution was expected to be enacted after the 18th Congress of the Communist Party, during the course of 1990. In its last draft, it was to be a single constitution serving both the federation and the two republics and, in contrast with its predecessor, did not include the leading role of the Communist Party, and somewhat expanded the list of basic human rights.
In autumn 1989, a group of members of the Federal Assembly proposed the Constitutional Act on the Mode of Enactment of the New Constitutions of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the Czech Socialist Republic, and the Slovak Socialist Republic. Despite not having seen the drafts of the constitutions themselves, on 31 October 1989, the national assemblies of both countries approved this proposal. The resolution of the Czech National Council was promulgated as Act. No. 123/1989 Coll. and the resolution of the Slovak National Council as Act No. 124/1989 Coll. These constitutional acts were intended as a prerequisite for the enactment of a single 'three-in-one' constitution, serving the federation and both republics. Through the consent of both national councils, both republics waived their entitlement to their own constitutions.
However, the events of the Velvet Revolution in 1989 quickly changed everything. As early as the plenary session of the Slovak National Council on 30 November 1989, deputy Majer asked whether it would be necessary to re-enact the provision on the way of enactment together with the new constitution, or whether the resolution of the Slovak National Council from the end of October would stay intact. In its next session on 6 December 1989, the Slovak National Council had withdrawn its consent of 31 October 1989 in Resolution No. 167/1989 Coll. The Czech National Council enacted a similar provision as Resolution No. 166/1989 Coll. on 19 December 1989. Subsequently, several constitutional acts were enacted, which were supposed to pave the way towards the creation, or rather restoration of the federation. Both republics had passed constitutional acts on their symbols, and had had a number of powers devolved to them, which were hitherto vested in federal bodies. However, neither the Constitution of the federation, nor the constitutions of either of the republics had been enacted prior to the election of 1992.
Preparations for the dissolution of the federation
On 5 and 6 June 1992, elections were held for the Federal Assembly of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, the Czech National Council, and the Slovak National Council. In the Czech Republic, the Civic Democratic Party won the election; in its electoral programme, the party spoke of either a functional federation, or separation, although keeping the federation was the preferred option. In Slovak Republic, the winner was the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, whose election promise was to acquire international legal subjectivity for Slovakia – although this was clearly inconsistent with the continuation of the shared state, the party convinced voters that it did not rule out the existence of the federation.The Constitution of the Slovak Republic was enacted on 1 September 1992, and came into force on 1 October 1992, three months before the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.
The making of the Constitution of the Czech Republic also commenced soon after the election. Two committees were set up: a government committee, and a committee of the Presidium of the Czech National Council.
The government committee was chaired by Václav Klaus; its other members were Jan Kalvoda, Cyril Svoboda, Filip Šedivý, Jiří Vlach, Vojtěch Cepl, Daniel Kroupa, Václav Benda, Václav Pečich, Jan Litomiský, Miloslav Výborný, Václav Novotný, Miroslav Sylla, Pavel Zářecký, and Dušan Hendrych. The members of the committee of the Czech National Council were Marek Benda, Jiří Bílý, Pavel Hirsch, Antonín Hrazdíra, Ivana Janů, Hana Marvanová, Ivan Mašek, Jaroslav Ortman, Jiří Payne, Anna Röschová, Vítězslav Sochor, Milan Uhde, and Jan Vik. In August 1992, it was agreed that the government committee would be entrusted with drafting the Constitution.
There were several possible starting points for the new constitution. The secretary of the government committee, Cyril Svoboda, summed them up: to take the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920 as a point of departure, to rework the existing Constitution of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, or to draft a brand new one. Svoboda, as well as several other members of the committee, were in favour of the first option, to make use of the Constitution of the First Czechoslovak Republic.
One of the major obstacles seemed to be the status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. It had been declared a part of the legal system by Constitutional Act No. 23/1991 Coll., which required other constitutional acts to comply with it. Václav Klaus was totally opposed to the Charter in any form. In particular, he was against the wording of article 17 of the Charter, concerning a right to information and he also disagreed with the Charter granting a right to organize in trade unions, and a right to reward for work, vested in article 28. Miroslav Výborný proposed a solution to the problem, introducing the idea of the so-called constitutional order, although influential jurists were critical of it.
Between 19 and 24 October 1992, work on the final draft of the constitution commenced in Karlovy Vary. The first few articles were taken from older drafts; the articles on executive power were penned by Miroslav and Jindřiška Syllovi. The articles on the powers of the president were written by Cyril Svoboda, those concerning the powers of the cabinet by Dušan Hendrych, and the articles on the judiciary by František Zoulík. Hendrych also drafted chapters on the Czech National Bank and the Supreme Audit Office, while Pavel Zářecký drafted chapters on territorial self-government.
On 23 October 1992, three experts on constitutional law arrived to review the draft: Pavel Peška, Vladimír Klokočka and Pavel Holländer.
The explanatory notes were written by Cyril Svoboda and Milena Poláková, on the weekend before it was due to be presented to prime minister Klaus.
In all, four different drafts were created during the preparation of the Constitution, written respectively by the government, the Czechoslovak Social-Democratic Party, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, and the Liberal-Social Union. Only the first of these was read in the Czech National Council.
Enactment
The government bill of the Constitution of the Czech Republic was read in the Czech National Council on 16 December 1992. It was introduced by Václav Klaus, the prime minister of the Czech Republic. Out of a number of changes proposed during the reading, only deputy Pavel Hirš's proposal was incorporated, returning into the bill proportional voting system for the Chamber of Deputies and two-round run-off system for the Senate.The result of the vote was announced by the chair of the Czech National Assembly, Milan Uhde: ''" out of 198 deputies present, who registered their vote, 16 were against, 10 abstained, and by 172 votes in its support, the Constitution of the Czech Republic has been enacted."''