Current challenges of sources of law in the Slovak Republic

The article gives a comprehensive overview of the issues of sources of law in the Slovak Republic. It describes the different types of sources of law of Slovak Republic and their constitutional and legal regulation and also focuses on the analysis of the critical moments of constitutional and legislative process. The text explains the basic form of the national legal system, which in the traditional terms takes the form of a pyramid, the top of which are the Constitution and constitutional acts. This traditional concept is confronted with the current development of relations of the systems of international law, European law and national law, on the background of the theory of inter – system legal pluralism. The article is focused on the definition of the status of international treaties in the legal order of the Slovak Republic, with particular emphasis on the status of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European Convention on Human Rights) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of the European Union. For this purpose the relevant case-law of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic is demonstrated, and the issue of the concept of the relationship between the national law of the Slovak Republic and the European Union is raised. The unspoken material core of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic is to be considered as a criterion of recognition of the principle of the primacy of European Union law.

Violations of constitutional rights of the Hungarian minority in the Slovak Republic in the period 1994–1998

The Slovak Republic is a state in which a significant proportion of the population is of Hungarian nationality. The aim of the article is to analyse cases of violations of the constitutional rights and freedoms of the Hungarian minority between 1994 and 1998. Both the constitution of the Slovak Republic, adopted in 1992, and the acts of international law to which Slovakia is a party guarantee the rights and freedoms of national minorities and ethnic groups. Between 1994 and 1998, Slovakia was ruled by a coalition government headed by Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, whose policies led to Slovakia’s isolation in the international arena. During this period, the policy of the Slovak government aimed, on the one hand, at completely marginalising the opposition and, on the other, at restricting the rights of Slovak Hungarians. The study uses the case study method and institutional-legal analysis.

Prosecutor’s Office in the Visegrad Group Countries – History, Comparative Legal Remarks, Cooperation

The public prosecutor’s office is one of the most important state organs responsible for upholding the rule of law and prosecuting crimes. The efficient functioning of the office is one of the guarantees of the implementation of a democratic state ruled by law. After 1989, in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, after independence from Soviet influence, the prosecution authorities began to reform, trying to adapt to the new conditions. The exchange of mutual experiences in this area has a special form in the case of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, i.e. the countries making up the so-called Visegrad Group, within which the prosecutors general meet each year to deepen cooperation. The purpose of this article is to present the principles of the functioning of the prosecutor’s office in the V4 countries and to compare them also from a historical perspective.