The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic is a specialized type of court

Court

A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...

 which primarily works to protect the people of the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 against violations of the constitution

Constitution of the Czech Republic

The current Constitution of the Czech Republic was adopted on December 16, 1992. It replaced the constitution of Czechoslovakia , which split into the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic by act of parliament on January 1, 1993, through the so-called Velvet Divorce.The document is organized into...

. In this respect, it is similar in functionality to the US Supreme Court, but is distinct from the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic

Supreme Court of the Czech Republic

The Supreme Court of the Czech Republic is the court of highest appeal for almost all legal cases heard in the Czech Republic. As set forth in the Constitution of the Czech Republic, however, cases of constitutionality, administrative law and political jurisdiction are heard by other courts...

. Of all the various levels of the Czech Judiciary

Judiciary of the Czech Republic

The judiciary of the Czech Republic is an independent branch of government. It has three main divisions, all of which have distinct jurisdictions, defined both by the constitution and subsequent statute....

 it is the one created with the greatest specificity in the constitution. As such, it dates back to 1 January 1993, although it existed in a somewhat different form as a part of the Czechoslovak Federal Republic.

History and predecessors

Conception and tasks of Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic are partly similar to former Constitutional Court of Czechoslovakia which was formally established by The Federalization Act since 1969 but really created as late as in April 1992, then it functioned less than one year. The Federalization Act presumed also creation of Constitutional Courts of both member republics (Czech, and Slovakian) but this intention was never incarnated during the federation, by reasons of normalization

Normalization (Czechoslovakia)

In the history of Czechoslovakia, normalization is a name commonly given to the period 1969 to about 1987. It was characterized by initial restoration of the conditions prevailing before the reform period led by Alexander Dubček , first of all, the firm rule of the Communist Party of...

.

Czechoslovakia has its Constitutional Court also during the First Republic since 1921 (it was since 1931 in vacancy) and during the Second Republic since 1938.

See also

• Judiciary
  Judiciary
  The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
  
  
• Rule of law
  Rule of law
  The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
  
  
• Rule According to Higher Law
  Rule according to higher law
  The rule according to a higher law means that no written law may be enforced by the government unless it conforms with certain unwritten, universal principles of fairness, morality, and justice...