The Constitutional Court in Austria: history and modernity

Abstract

It has been found that the organization of the internal political life of the state, as well as nature and direction of its foreign policy is largely determined by the state system and political system of this state. Austria – a democratic legal state based on a principle of the supremacy of the constitution. The foundation of all actions of state authorities – legislative, judicial and executive, including government, – laid down in the constitution, that is, they must correspond to the constitution. In order for the supremacy of the constitution to exist not only on paper, but also to operate in practice, a democratic constitutional state needs institutions, which really ensure the priority of the constitution. The Constitutional Court is the most important from these institutions. It is «a guardian of the Constitution». The most important task of the Constitutional Court is to check the constitutional laws and cancel in case of inconsistency with the constitution. The Constitutional Court in Austria is the oldest one in the world (founded in 1920). Constitution of Austria became the first constitution in the world, which provided for the creation of a constitutional court. The Constitutional Court in Austria deals with issues of compliance of newly issued laws with the country’s constitution, resolves disputes between the region territories and between the region territories and the federal center. The Constitutional Court is the most important guarantor of the observance of the basic rights and freedoms of every citizen in relation to the state. It has been distinguished three stages, during which the responsibilities on formation the Constitutional Court in Austria were fixed. At the first stage, the Constitutional Court formed the Parliament and the reduction of party influence on the Constitutional Court, which achieved independence from the executive power, took place. At the second stage, powers regarding the formation of the Constitutional Court passed to the executive power, which contributed to the establishment of authoritarianism. At the third stage, the balance between the interests of executive and legislative powers was achieved in the formation of the Constitutional Court, which ensured the independence of judges. Comparing methods of formation of the Constitutional court in Austria, there is a noticeable tendency to strengthen the role of the executive power in the formation of the Constitutional Court and the achievement of parity of powers regarding its formation between the executive and legislative powers.