The Right to Conscientious Objection as a Constitutional Category: Selected Issues. A Comparative Study of Fundamental Laws and Constitutional Courts’ Jurisprudence

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The article presents the results of a comparative study focusing on the right to conscientious objection in constitutions of modern states. This right is primarily associated with military service. In approximately a dozen constitutions, it stands as an independent, general right to conscientious objection. The constitutional scope of the given right is typically broad, with lawmakers seldom specifying the sources or conditions for its exercise. The contentious nature of the analysed right causes its explicit challenge in several constitutions. Case law, especially that of constitutional courts, reveals that the normative presence and the specifics of the right to conscientious objection within a particular legal system may not necessarily originate directly from constitutional provisions. Court decisions rendered in various countries sometimes attribute a constitutional character to this right, even when the fundamental law does not explicitly articulate it. Conversely, there are occasional restrictive interpretations of unequivocal constitutional provisions regarding conscientious objection.