The Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic. Vaclav Joachim

the official announcement of the final result of the election: the appeals must bear the signature of a lawyer.

      Appeals are conducted under a system of proceedure in which the parties participate by question and answer, and in general a full ​bench of the Electoral Court delivers judgment after the case has been conducted orally and in public. (Plaints, however, relative to the lists of candidates may be decided on the motion of the President of the Electoral Court, by a Commission consisting of the President, 3 assessors and a permanent official).

      The Electoral Court in its finding states to what extent the election is annulled and, according to circumstances, designates the person who is elected in place of the member whose election has been declared invalid.

      The presenting of plaints and documents relative thereto as well as all procedure is exempt from the payment of fees and stamps.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT.

       Table of Contents

      (Act of Parliament of 9 March 1920. No. 162 in the Code of Laws and Regulations.)

      Laws promulgated either by the National Assembly or by the Diet of Russinia, which are in conflict with the Charter of the Constitution or with laws amending or supplementing it, are invalid. The decision as to whether a law is valid or not in this sense pertains exclusively to the Constitutional Court. Furthemore this Court is competent to decide whether measures adopted by the Standing Commission under § 54 of the Charter of the Constitution are in conflict with constitutional law (or whether or not they modify the competence of the civil service departments except where it is a matter of enlarging the competence of an office already set up, by imposing new duties upon it).

      The Constitutional Court is composed of 7 members, three of whom are nominated by the President of the Republic as follows: the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, and the Diet of Russinia each propose three of their members and the President of the Republic choses one member from each group. The President at the same time nominates one of the three members to be President of the Constitutional Court. Of the remaining 4, two each are taken from the ranks of the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Supreme Administrative Court.

      For each member a substitute is nominated to sit when necessary and the procedure of nomination is the same as in the case of that of the original member.

      The members of the Constitutional Court as well as the substitute members must be persons well versed in the law, eligible for membership of the Senate, and who are neither members of parliament nor civil servants.

      The members of the Constitutional Court are nominated for a term of 10 years.

      ​The question whether a particular law is in conflict with the Charter of the Constitution is decided by the Constitutional Court exclusively on the motion of the Supreme Court of Justice, or the Supreme Administrative Court, the Electoral Court, the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate or the Diet of Russinia. A resolution to carry such a motion must be passed by a majority in the above-mentioned bodies in each case.

      It must be made within 3 years at least of the date on which the law in question was promulgated.

      Such an application is made under a system of procedure in which the parties participate by question and answer, and in the presence of the legislative assemblies and the government. Exact limits are fixed to the duration of the proceedings. They may not last longer than 10 months. The proceedings are public and oral. Should any of the parties fall to send their representatives to the hearing, the proceeding shall not be thereby in any way prejudiced. Five votes at least are always necessary for finding against the validity of a law.

      The finding of the Constitutional Court is reported by the President of that Court to the Government. It is the duty of the Minister of the Interior to publish the finding within eight days and without comment in the official Code of Laws and Regulations. At the same time the finding is to be published in the official press with detailed grounds for the decision.

      The publication of the finding in the official Code of Laws and Regulations has the effect of making it binding, from the date of its publication, upon the legislative bodies, the Government, all public offices, and on the Courts.