Source: https://www.mruni.eu/en/mokslo_darbai/jurisprudencija/archyvas/?l=127598
Timestamp: 2020-08-04 11:45:03
Document Index: 140497210

Matched Legal Cases: ['CJEU ', 'Art. 15', 'Art. 3', 'Art. 15', 'Art. 3', 'sui generis', 'sui generis']

Jurisprudence, 2012, No. 19(2)
Mindaugas Maksimaitis. Sources of the Russian Law in Lithuania During 1918–1940
Abstract. The formation of national law in the recovered state of Lithuania in 1918 was started by using foreign sources of law that had been implemented by occupants prior to the First World War. The most important object of acceptance was the old Russian tsar law, i.e. all of the sixteen volumes, which were clearly outdated and incompatible with the democratic form of the Lithuanian state.
The preservation of foreign law, to the extent that it did not contradict the norms of the Constitution, was established by the Constitution as temporary means within limitations to certain areas of regulation that were not regulated by the Lithuanian legislation. The newly issued national laws announced the relationship with the relevant accepted ones by providing specific references to the norms that had been changed or abolished.
In the long run national law reduced the importance of the accepted laws by making them of secondary with a limited purpose to cover the gaps in national legislation.
The complete removal of the accepted legislation was supposed to be accomplished by inventory, evaluation of feasibility, relevant corrections and translations into Lithuanian language. These tasks were undertaken by the Government in between the fourth and fifth decades. However, the Soviet occupation discontinued this effort.
Alfonsas Vaišvila. The Concept and Some Essential Features of Estate Rights in Lithuania
Abstract. In the West, the Estate Rights originated in the eleventh century, whereas in Lithuania they started to evolve only after the Wallachian Land Reform in 1557. The then state conventional rules and manners were gradually transformed into registered Country – seat rights.
In the present rather concise paper an attempt has been made to present a picture of the development of Country – seat rights as a relatively independent law system and define its concept. The author has attempted to prove that the rules of behaviour, introduced and observed in estates should be recognised as legal regulations for the following three reasons: (1) the publicly recognised exclusive Land property right and the right of the ownership of the people living on this land; (2) the rights were publicly registered in the Land, Castle (City) Law or Court books or in the books of the Tribunal. Thus they acquired official status; (3) the above-mentioned established estate rules were to be legally and obligatorily executed. Their realisation was guaranteed either with the help of the local power apparatus or, if needed, state compulsory measures could be applied.
The Estate Rights in Lithuania in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries comprised the following legal acts: (1) the act of inventory; (2) urban regulations and directions; (3) privileges granted to the owners by the rulers and special ordinances for the realisation of the given privileges; (4) the so-called “release papers/cards” (horty wolnosci) ; (5) the verdicts of the local Courts of Law; (6) the ownership of different objects on the estate ( the estate lands, mills, pubs, tar boiling pits, etc., including the people who could not act freely, rent treaties, foundations, wills with foundation forms legally included, by applying which the estates realised their constitutive cultural initiatives.
The Estate Rights were defined as a system embracing the relations of obligatory conduct designed by the estate owner or his authorised institutions or officials. They were meant to maintain the order within the estate, to guarantee and realise the norms of different cultural initiatives as well. Being mostly ad hoc in their form, the Estate Regulations served both the private and public interest.
The Estate Rights in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries in Lithuania were practiced alongside with other existing legal systems, i.e. the Statute Law, Towns and Canon laws, etc. They all reflected the autonomous state of different law subjects and regulated their relations emerging within. At the same time, the estate rules emphasised their relationship with the Statute Law and importance of legality when formulating their own local regulations.
The author presumes that the historical mission of the Estate Rules was more important than the Statute Law for the following two reasons: (1) the estate rules regulated the conduct of the majority of the population (in 1971, 64% of the population lived on estates) and (2) estate rules were carried into effect more consistently and accurately. It was guaranteed by a huge number of estate administration personnel who had the right to immediately apply the local force apparatus measures in respect of the violator. The Statute Law was applied to a rather limited layer of the population (the nobility amounted to only 5 or 6% of the country’s population) . Due to the widespread lawlessness of the nobility and the weak administrative power the State Law was seldom applied. Thanks to its daily labor and obedience, the majority of the population absorbed the destructive effect of the nobility on the state.
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Birutė Pranevičienė, Agnė Margevičiūtė. The Right to Religious Education in Lithuania
Abstract. The article analyzes preconditions of realization of the right to religious education in Lithuania during the period of compulsory education. The article consists of two parts. The essence of the freedom of thought, religion and conscience and their relation to religious education is discussed in the first part. The second part of the article analyses national legal framework related to compulsory education in the light of freedom of thought, religion and conscience. The states are required to ensure education of children according to religious convictions of their parents and needs of the children themselves. The Lithuanian legal regulation, however, allows certain ambiguities as to how effectively may the right to religious education be realised.
Inga Daukšienė. Recognition of Jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union in International Courts
Abstract. From the point of the EU law, the CJEU has the exclusive competence to interpret the EU legal norms and decide upon validity of the legal acts adopted by the EU institutions because it is the most effective method to ensure the unilateral interpretation of the EU law and to prevent its fragmentation. Thus, it can be presumed that all disputes between the Member States regarding the EU law must be solved by the CJEU. The paper aims at finding the answer to the question whether international courts under the international law must refuse their jurisdiction in cases where disputes of the Member States relate with the EU law. With the view of this aim, arguments arising from the international law (for instance, prohibition of intervening into affairs of another legal system, prohibition of abuse of laws), on the basis of which an international court should decline its jurisdiction, and applicability of such arguments to the situation discussed is assessed and an independent approach is formulated.
Lyra Jakulevičienė. Lessons of the First EU Court of Justice Judgments in Asylum Cases
Abstract. Starting from 2009, national courts of the EU Member States for the first time gained a “real” right to request the EU Court of Justice for preliminary rulings in asylum matters. First judgments of this Court demonstrate equivocal tendencies: some are blaming the Court for incompetence in asylum matters, others believe that the adoption of authoritative decisions at the European level will assist in developing consistent practice of applying asylum law in the European Union, something that failed at international level due to absence of a single authoritative body to provide guidance on interpretation and application of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Considering that the judgments of the EU Court are part of the EU law, the Member States should develop their national asylum law with due regard being taken to those judgments. By the beginning of 2012, the Court has issued eight judgments on the interpretation of various problematic issues of EU asylum law. This Article analyses the jurisprudence of the EU Court in asylum cases, related to the granting of refugee status and subsidiary protection. It also provides a critical evaluation of those judgments. The main objective of the Article is to familiarise the relevant Lithuanian institutions and lawyers with the first judgments of the EU Court in asylum cases and encourage discussions concerning the application of rules established by the Court in the Lithuanian context.
Due to limited size, this Article presents the analysis of two EU Court judgments adopted on interpretation of the 2004 Qualification Directive: Elgafaji v. The Netherlands (2009) dealing with granting of subsidiary protection, and Abdulla and others v. Bundesrepublik Deutschland (2010), dealing with cessation of refugee status. The value of those judgments first of all lies in the guidance they provided to the Member States on such concepts as: protection in a situation of an armed conflict, agents of protection, effectiveness of protection; as well as determination of a relationship between refugee status and subsidiary protection, relationship of the Qualification Directive with the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), also cessation of protection. Elgafaji decision, while quite liberal with regard to persons seeking international protection, is not so liberally applied in the Member States’ practice and does not in itself guarantee positive outcome of the application of a concrete individual fleeing from an armed conflict, or a liberal approach to granting subsidiary protection in the Member States. Based on Elgafaji judgment it is clear that:
Art. 15(b) of the Qualification Directive correspond to Art. 3 ECHR, while Art. 15(c) provides additional protection and in that it expands the Member States’ obligations beyond the ECHR to provide protection to persons fleeing in situations of armed conflict.
While not every person arriving from an armed conflict situation would automatically fall under the granting of subsidiary protection, in certain exceptional situations indiscriminate violence may amount to individual threat without invoking personal circumstances.
The EU Court departed from the individualisation requirement applied by the European Court of Human Rights in Art. 3 cases and did not also rely on international humanitarian law, by introducing a “sliding scale” formula for establishing an individual threat in armed conflict situation instead. This formula addressed the alleged internal discrepancy between “individual threat” and “indiscriminate violence”.
The Abdulla decision brought in the human rights and law enforcement perspectives to the interpretation of cessation clauses, however it represents a rather superficial approach in the context of the analysed concepts (e.g. towards effectiveness of protection provided by the multinational armed forces) and is likely to be incompatible with the latest legislative trends in the EU asylum instruments (e.g. determination of refugee status and subsidiary protection by means of a single procedure) and the recent jurisprudence under the ECHR (e.g. failure to ensure a minimum standard of living may violate the ECHR).
Laura Gumuliauskienė, Vigintas Višinskis. Procedural Actions Taken by Bailiffs Electronically: Opportunities and Problems
Abstract. The Article presents a study of opportunities and problems related to the procedural actions taken by bailiffs electronically. In the opinion of the authors, the digitalisation of the enforcement procedure seeks to ensure the maximum use of electronic documents: enforcement and procedural documents should function only in the electronic format and thereby should create an effective, transparent and easily accessible information system of electronic enforcement files, which will not only increase the effectiveness of performance of bailiffs and save costs, but will also ensure the protection of the rights of claimants and debtors in enforcement proceedings through reliable and prompt service of procedural documents by electronic means, access to information about the course of the enforcement proceedings by using information technologies, and transfer of certain procedural actions taken by bailiffs into the electronic environment.
Section one of the Article discusses the EU regulation in the area of unification and digitalisation of the enforcement procedure.
Section two deals with the possibilities of issuing electronic enforcement orders, issuance of an enforcement order, technical measures to enable bailiffs access the information systems of the institutions issuing enforcement orders by safe electronic channels and thereby electronic enforcement orders would be transferred from the issuing institution to bailiffs electronically, without using any hard copy enforcement orders. In the opinion of the authors, considering that the majority of enforcement orders are issued by courts, it would be expedient, first of all, to take advantage of the existing information system LITEKO, making it possible to keep not only court judgments but also enforcement orders there as well as providing bailiffs with technical possibilities of access to the LITEKO system and acceptance of the electronic enforcement orders from the system. A similar principle should be followed for designing integrated information systems of bailiffs and other institutions that issue enforcement orders.
Section three focuses on the main procedural documents – arrangements given by bailiffs and property attachment deeds – and on their electronic service on the participants involved in the enforcement procedure.
The last section of the Article offers a study of the measures to secure the rights of participants of the enforcement procedure, namely access of the participants of the enforcement procedure to the enforcement file, possibilities for courts to obtain electronic enforcement files promptly, etc.
Agnė Tikniūtė. The Nature of Investigation Proceedings of Legal Entity under the Civil Code of Lithuania
Abstract. With reference to the Dutch model, which has been adopted by the Lithuanian Civil Code, the possibility to renounce Investigation Proceedings in the Articles of Incorporation or shareholder agreements is analysed in this article. The mandatory nature of the Investigation Proceedings is derived from the provisions of the Code, mainly: from an active role of the court, typical to the cases with the element of public interest, from specific rules for protecting the public interest in the course of the Investigation Proceedings, also taking into account statutory duties of managers, the scope of which may not be narrowed by SHA, and the fact, that the Investigation Proceedings is generally designated to be an instrument to safeguard the interests of minority shareholders against the abuse of their rights by the company, and, finally, acknowledging the extraordinary nature of remedies available in the Investigation Proceedings.
Virginijus Bitė. Agreement on Sale of Close Company Shares: Requirements of Form and Significance of Registration
Abstract. The form and registration requirements applicable for transfer of close company shares differ in various countries. Discussions on separate related aspects take place in the international business transfer theory and practice. The Lithuanian legal regulation of the said requirements is continually improved, taking into account the experience of other countries and business practice needs. Based on the analysis of the European Union, the Lithuanian and foreign legislation, case law and doctrine, this article is designed for the examination of effectiveness and adequacy of current requirements for the form of share sales transactions as well as expedience of fixing the model of public registration of data about shareholders of a close company.
Dangutė Ambrasienė, Indrė Kryžiūtė. Problems of Liability for Breach of a Preliminary Agreement
Abstract. Due to its specificity, the legal institute of preliminary agreement poses a number of questions. This pre-contractual agreement is not yet a contract. Therefore, the form and scope of legal protection will not be the same as that guaranteed to contracting parties. However, the European legal systems would claim that the relationships between the parties during pre-contractual negotiations have to be regulated and protected by the law.
The first part of this article deals with the legal nature of pre-contractual liability: tort, contractual or sui generis. The question of determining the type of applicable civil liability for breach of a preliminary agreement still remains a matter under debate in the Lithuanian legal doctrine as well as in legal practice. Taking into account the specific interest that may
be infringed and the fact that the aggrieved party cannot recover the expectations it had in profit of the sought contract, including the remedy of the right of performance, there is nosufficient reason to apply contractual legal regime for breach of the preliminary agreement either. Hence, the special nature of the pre-contractual phase merits special treatment. In the Lithuanian legal system, liability for breach of a preliminary agreement should therefore be qualified as a separate sui generis kind of liability.
In fact, the biggest problem is the scope of damages recoverable under the preliminary agreement. As far as the tendencies of a legal doctrine and jurisprudence of Lithuania and other countries are concerned, the aggrieved party should be compensated not only the direct expenses incurred during the negotiations, but also the value of lost opportunity, which must be based on real, proven, unavoidable income or expenses. It is not possible to claim the profit which would have resulted had the main contract been concluded (the so-called expectation damages). Recent tendencies show that the Lithuanian courts are prone to make no distinction between the concept of the lost opportunity to conclude a transaction with a third party (as reliance damages) and lost profits as expectation damages. The reason for such an interpretation is the fact that the value of lost opportunity can be determined by applying the principle of price difference provided in Article 6.258(5) of the Lithuanian Civil Code, which is used for contractual liability. This principle should be applied in accordance with the Commentary on the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts and in the context of the nature of the preliminary agreement. Therefore, the aggrieved party may claim compensation for damages in the amount of difference between the price of the contract that has not been concluded with a third party and the price of the replacement contract. Such an interpretation reflects the compensatory function of the recovery of the value of the lost opportunity.
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Raimundas Moisejevas, Ana Novosad, Virginijus Bitė. Costs Benchmarks as Criterion for Evaluation of Predatory Pricing
Abstract. Predatory pricing is one of the forms of the abuse of a dominant position. Judicial institutions of the European Union and Commission during analysis of predatory pricing devote main attention to the relationship between costs and prices of the dominant undertaking. Moreover, attention is paid also to various cost benchmarks: average variable costs, average avoidable costs, average total costs and long run average incremental costs. European judicial institutions should pay less attention to the costs of a dominant undertaking than to evaluation of the effect of the actions of a dominant undertaking to consumers and competition in the market. Moreover, proposition of the Commission to use average avoidable costs in predation cases does not correspond to the practice of the Court of Justice and the General Court. The Commission should stipulate more clearly how average avoidable costs and long-run average incremental costs should be calculated in order to increase legal certainty of the undertakings. Establishment of prices higher than average total costs by the dominant undertaking should not be recognized as predatory pricing.
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Saulius Katuoka, Eglė Leonavičiūtė. Goals of Concentration Control and the Main Legal Tests for the Evaluation of Concentrations
Abstract. The main goal of concentration control and basic legal tests applied worldwide for the evaluation of concentrations, such as “dominance”, “significant impediment of competition” and “substantial lessening of competition” are analysed in this article.
Every control, whatever its nature, is implemented in order to reach certain goals. In the first part of this article we analyse the goals of concentration control in different jurisdictions – mostly in the European Union, the USA and Lithuania. Four basic market security standards are excluded: economic efficiency, protection of consumers, protection of competitors and protection of effective market competition. At the end we make a conclusion that the same standard, namely that of consumer protection, is applied in all those jurisdictions and that more attention should be paid for the protection of competitors and competition as a whole.
Secondly, “dominance” test, applied in the EU under Regulation 4064/89, is analysed in detail. Moreover, the article discusses the meaning of a “dominant position”. We uphold the clarification of “dominance” provided by the Court of Justice, according to which dominance means the ability “to act to a considerable extent independently of their competitors, their customers and, ultimately, of consumers”. It is argued that “dominance” test is not sufficient for contemporary economics. The main disadvantage of this rule is that it is inapplicable for concentrations that do not create or strengthen dominant position.
Furthermore, the new European Union rule of “significant impediment of competition” can be named as a smart European decision that tackled several problems: the practice of the Court of Justice remained applicable for future cases, because no serious changes to the wording of the rule were made. The detection of “dominant position” became only an alternative means to impede competition.
In addition to this, the USA, the UK rule of “substantial lessening of competition” is compared to the two rules referred above. The concept of “monopoly” used in the wording of the rule, as well as the practice of the USA courts concerning the evaluation of market concentrations is analysed. We conclude that literally the phrases “significant impediment of competition” and “substantial lessening of competition” are different, but the content of these rules is the same. Different decisions taken in the same or similar cases on both sides of the Atlantic depend not on a certain rule but on the means of its application and some other circumstances (social, political factors, etc.).
Finally, it is argued that practice of the evaluation of concentrations in the Republic of Lithuania is extremely poor. According to the present findings of the Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania, it is hard to say the kind of approach the Council follows or, in other words, what kind of a rule the Council applies. Despite the fact that competition law in Lithuania was updated in conformity with the changes made in the EU competition law, we state that the test of “dominance” is further applied in certain concentration cases.
Ana Novosad, Raimundas Moisejevas. Novelties of Method of Setting Fines Imposed for Infringements of the Lithuanian Law on Competition
Abstract. Imposition of sanctions for violations of competition law rules is an important instrument of the European Union (EU) and Lithuanian competition enforcement authorities and is an inevitable part of the EU and Lithuanian competition law policy. The fining policy of the Lithuanian Competition Council for breaches of the Lithuanian and EU competition rules has recently been changed by the new 2012 Government resolution and has been aligned with the 2006 Commission Guidelines on the method of setting fines. The new Lithuanian fining rules set exactly the same basic principles for setting the amount of fines and are very similar to the Commission’s Guidelines, however some peculiarities may and shall be distinguished. The new Lithuanian fining rules in some aspects are even stricter than the EU fining rules established in the Commission’s Guidelines. The aim of the article is to analyse the main changes in the Competition Council’s fining policy and identify the discrepancies in national and EU fining rules, analyse advantages and disadvantages of the new fining policy.
Birutė Pranevičienė, Kristina Mikalauskaitė-Šostakienė. Guarantee of Principles of Legitimate Expectations, Legal Certainty and Legal Security in the Territorial Planning Process
Abstract. The article discusses the issue of realisation of the principles of legitimate expectations, legal certainty and legal security in the specific area of administrative activity – detailed territorial planning process. During this long and complex process, it is very important to ensure the protection of personal constitutional rights and guarantee the security of legitimate expectations, legal certainty and other essential principles.
The article analyses the circumstances conditioning violation of the principles of legitimate expectations, legal security and legal certainty and provides suggestions on the improvement of legal framework in order to avoid these violations.
Aurelija Pūraitė. Origins of Environmental Regulation
Abstract. During the last twenty – thirty years there has been unprecedented demand for new legal regulation in the field of environmental protection, which influenced the immense growth in both the body of environmental legislation and in re-thinking the idea and principles of the environmental protection itself. The provisions of environmental law are passed, accepted and obeyed with a great resistance in the society. On the one hand, environmental law may be defined as a value system that seeks to induce humans to act as stewards of nature rather than only its exploiters, and therefore the environmental provisions are construed in a manner that the main instruments are limitations of different activities in order to prevent the disruption of natural systems. On the other hand, by doing so the environmental law places nature and future generations (those categories commonly do not have any legal personality) and not the human (the sole addressee and the beneficiary of the traditional legal system) in the centre of environmental regulation. This concept radically transforms the relationship between nature and mankind by subordinating the initiative to benefit from legal regulation. By doing so, the environmental provisions make the opposite and evolve tension in respect of such rights as the right to property, the right to personal life, or individual welfare. In the present research the aim is to disclose the origins and the most important principles of international and regional legal regulation of environmental protection, and to analyse the essence of environmental law in the context of public interest. The environmental law is analysed in the context of such human rights as the right to property and the right to personal life.
Egidija Puzinskaitė, Romanas Klišauskas. Tax Law System and Charging Principles
Abstract. Relying on the systematic, logical, and analytical methods, national legislation and some internationally accepted guidelines, as well as on the research conducted by the Lithuanian scientists and law practitioners, this article consistently and comprehensively deals with the problems arising in the areas of interpretation and application of tax law. The article examines the relevant tax concepts, studies the tax law system, deals with the relevant issues arising in the field of application of legal regulations on taxation, and provides a particularly detailed analysis of court jurisprudence within the context of the relationship between tax and law. On the basis of the analysis conducted, it was established that the basis for the Lithuanian tax law system consists of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania; the Law on Tax Administration; tax laws that lay down specific taxes and of by-laws adopted on their basis; national legal regulations that contain a consideration attribute and set mandatory payments to the State budget; the Law on Customs; ratified international agreements; the European Union legal regulations to the extent they are related to the duties, import excise duty, and value added tax; and the European Union directives in respect of direct and indirect taxes and the extent to which they are related to tax administration. When relationships in public law are directly regulated by the relevant public law regulations, it is not private law regulations, but the corresponding public law regulations that must be applied. In order to determine the need for tax authorities to rely on the regulations of the Civil Code, it is necessary to state the necessity to assess legal relationships from the point of view of private law or to identify a gap in legal regulation of public law due to which the norms of the Civil Code are subsidiary. Prior to establishing the tax base, the tax authority does not have to rebut transactions in civil procedure. The taxpayer’s obligation to fulfil tax liabilities that are properly prescribed by tax laws is not called into question by unlawful acts of other persons which constitute grounds for their civil (non-contractual) liability for the damages caused. The factual circumstances of tax relations established in the court cases heard in criminal and/or administrative procedures, do not need to be proved again – they are relied on in the course of tax inspections or when hearing tax disputes. The principle of equality of taxpayers requires tax administrators to give equal treatment to the facts with respect to all participants regarding the same tax relationship and obliges taxpayers to pay taxes honestly, because non-payment of taxes is a breach of public interest and therefore of this principle. In accordance with the principle of general applicability and equality, each taxpayer has an obligation to pay taxes as prescribed in tax legislation observing the calculation and payment procedures stipulated in the tax legal regulations, whereas the amount payable as established by the tax administrator shall be regarded as well-founded to the extent that it does not exceed the criterion of equality and reasonableness. The principle of clarity of taxation requires the tax administrator to adopt clear and comprehensive decisions with respect to the taxpayer and therefore to ensure their rights and legitimate interests. In the calculation of tax by applying the principle of primacy of content over form, it is necessary to establish that a transaction, an economic deal or indeed any group thereof has been concluded for the purpose of obtaining tax benefits.
Tomas Bagdanskis, Paulius Sartatavičius. Workplace Privacy: Different Views and Arising Issues
Abstract. This article discusses the problematic aspects relating to the employee privacy in his workplace and its limits reacting to employer‘s interests. It contains analysis of National, European and transatlantic legislation of privacy in the workplace and concentrates on the electronic privacy (e-mails, communications, etc.). The article is based on legal acts and judgements of the Supreme court of Lithuania, European Court of Human Rights and other countries courts judgements in order to provide the legislative execution practice as well as reveal the problems in this field of labour law.
Oleg Fedosiuk. Criminal Liability as a Last Resort (Ultima Ratio): Theory and Reality
Abstract. The modern Lithuanian legal doctrine recognises that criminal liability is a last resort (ultima ratio) protecting the society from various law violations. This idea has got deep roots in criminology and is obviously based on the position of rational approach towards the state criminal policy. However, it is not clear whether it is of obligatory legal status to the legislature and the courts. This article attempts to present the idea of a last resort as a concept based on the constitutional principles of the rule of law, justice, proportionality and rationality in the legislation and case law. The author concludes that the main precursors of the ultima ratio principle are the German legal doctrine of protection of legal goods
(Rechtsgüterschutz) and Harm principle respected in the common law tradition, as well as the need for protection of human rights in the democratic world. These concepts raise the duty of the legislator to justify the act of criminalisation by legitimate purpose and to comply with certain constitutional limits of application of criminal law.
The idea of criminal liability as a last resort is recognised both in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court (obiter dictum) and in the practice of the Supreme Court of Lithuania reasoning particular decisions in criminal cases, especially delimiting criminal and other types of legal liability. The author concludes that the fact of discrepancy of criminal law to ultima ratio test can be one of the arguments in support of its objection to the Constitution and even the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. At the same time, the author of the article has found that many norms of the Criminal Code are in conflict with the idea of a last resort.
Edita Gruodytė. Legal Aspects of Regulation of Abortion in the Context of Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights
Abstract. Regulatory approach to the right to abortion in Europe is diverse and basically related to the issue of when the right to life begins and how this question is reflected in national legislation. Such an approach and diversity is tolerated by the European Court of Human Rights, but only if some specific standards and criteria formulated in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights are reflected in national legislation. Research of the Lithuanian legal acts conducted in the light of the jurisprudence of the Court shows that they are not in accordance with the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and the solutions are therefore suggested.
The aim of the article is to systematically analyse the Lithuanian legal acts regulating issues of abortion and to identify the existing problems and provide suggestions as to how to solve those problems with the help of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights in abortion cases.
Analysis of the Lithuanian legal acts reveals that the existing legal regulation and practice is confusing and ambiguous. Abortion questions are regulated in Lithuania by means of secondary legislation, namely by order of the Health Minister which is more than 15 years old, and the classification of diseases dangerous to woman’s health and life is based on international classification that is invalid. The order is not in reconciled with the Lithuanian criminal law. Some other ambiguities and problems are identified in the article.
Abortion on a woman’s request in Lithuania is possible by the end of the 12 week of pregnancy and during the entire pregnancy, if it causes danger to woman’s health and life. The Lithuanian legislator requires that both conditions – danger to woman’s health and life – are met in order to terminate pregnancy what is unnecessary and sometimes even confusing. The author suggests providing two separate bases for abortion – danger to woman’s life or health. Foetus problems – if a foetus is irreversibly damaged or suffering from an incurable life-threatening disease, it is not a separate basis for abortion in Lithuania, however those abnormalities of the foetus are related to the health and life of a pregnant woman. In the opinion of the author, looking into the practice of the other EU countries, it is better to provide a separate ground for abortion because of abnormalities of the foetus.
The basic problem in Lithuania that is similar in Poland and in Ireland is that there is no clear procedure in case a pregnant woman is not satisfied with the decision of the medical commission regarding the question of her abortion or if the opinion of members of the commission is diverse – no time guidance or appeal institution is provided.
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Raimundas Jurka, Ernestas Rimšelis. Optimisation of Criminal Procedure: Preconditions and Possibilities for Written Procedure
Abstract. Endeavours of politicians, representatives of law enforcement institutions and courts to create simplified, accelerated and less human and time resources requiring legal procedures in criminal cases prompted the authors of this article to assess the possibilities to develop the written form of procedure in Lithuania. The goal of the authors of this article is to assess the origin and goals of the written form of procedure, as well as to define the main rules and points for discussions on the possibilities to develop the written form of procedure in the Lithuanian criminal procedural law. The conclusion is drawn in this article to the effect that written form of procedure is seen as a condition for simplifying and accelerating the legal
process, and choosing this form of procedure is not considered as denying or restraining the expectations of participants of criminal procedure towards a fair trial. The analysis provides the basis for the authors to make a conclusion on the appropriate limits of applying written or oral procedures for hearing criminal cases:
Oral procedure must be guaranteed in cases where questions of criminal liability and personal guilt are solved at the first instance court hearings;
Oral procedure usually has to be guaranteed in cases where during the procedure at the first instance court hearing the questions of criminal liability and personal guilt are solved, although oral procedure may be limited and the procedure may be conducted in written form if new evidence are not investigated and there is no doubt for deciding whether oral procedure is better for understanding the case;
Oral procedure need not be guaranteed only in cases where questions of application of the law are solved and if oral procedure was guaranteed during the procedure at the court of first instance;
Written procedure may guarantee the right to a fair trial, where the participants of the procedure are allowed to provide various explanations and written documents or a person is allowed to ask for an oral court hearing.
Alfredas Kiškis, Aušra Kuodytė. Investigation of the Preparation of Crime Prevention Programmes in Lithuania
Abstract. The article focuses on the analysis of preparation of crime prevention programmes in Lithuania and assesses their level of compliance with the methodological requirements for programme preparation.
Many crime prevention programmes are approved and implemented at national level in Lithuania. If such programmes were prepared in accordance with the principles and methods recommended in the scientific literature, the efficiency of crime prevention programmes would undoubtedly increase. In Lithuania, a number of studies on the efficiency of the existing crime prevention programmes were carried out; however, none of them assessed the level of compliance of such programmes with the methodological requirements for the preparation of such programmes.
The object of the study – crime prevention programmes in Lithuania.
The goal of the study is to analyse the preparation of crime prevention programmes currently available in Lithuania, to identify major problems related to the preparation of such programmes, and to suggest possible solutions to these problems.
In order to achieve that goal, the article lists and defines the main general aspects of crime prevention, and carries out an analysis of the principles and methodological aspects of preparation of crime prevention programmes. Subsequently, the crime prevention programmes available in Lithuania are analysed and their level of compliance with the methodological requirements for such programmes is assessed. Major problems related to the preparation of such programmes are defined.
Research methods. Analysis of scientific literature, comparative analysis, analysis of legal documents, content analysis, statistical data analysis, systemising and generalisation.
• After investigating 49 crime prevention programmes it was found that none of the examined programmes conformed to all of the 16 criteria of the methodological requirements applicable for preparation of such programmes. Most of the crime prevention programmes have the following weaknesses:
o problem-solving is formulated vaguely and inaccurately – the main problem for which the programme is created is not distinguished and its extent and content cannot be determined by objectively measurable indicators.
o Permanence of solving problems is not defined – the programmes did not provide data showing the duration of an underlying problem.
o Unidentified negative consequences of the phenomenon – negative consequences of the problem are not revealed, the damage is not assessed.
o The goals do not correspond to the problem – the results of the goals, which would be expressed in terms of changes to be achieved, describing changes to the extent and/or content of the problem are not determined.
o The goals are not concrete and exact – the objects of impact, their changes and expected results are not defined.
o The goals are incomprehensible – they are vaguely formulated and treated like tasks.
o Non-specific tasks – there are no outcomes measurable by objective indicators, after achieving that the tasks are resolved.
o The potential effectiveness of the selected measures is not specified - there is no indication on the grounds of the conclusion as to the potential effectiveness of each measure.
o The financial costs of implementing measures are not estimated.
o The expected results are not determined - there is no indication as to the changes to be determined by the implementation of the programme.
o There are no criteria provided for the assessment of effectiveness and impact.
o The participation of the non-governmental organisations and individuals in the implementation of the measures is not defined.
• On average, crime prevention programmes meet 6.8 of the criteria (out of the 16 criteria analysed). This means that on average the programmes meet less than half of all the criteria used.
• Only 20 (41%) crime prevention programmes meet half or more of the criteria examined.
Proposal. Given the irrational use of the allocated resources for the implementation of the poorly developed crime prevention programmes, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania should develop and adopt a mandatory and not a guidance methodology for the preparation of programmes, to be used by anyone preparing programmes financed from the state budget.
Viktoras Justickis, Rokas Uscila, Alfredas Kiškis. Two-Rays Approach in the Integration of Victimological and Recorded Data on Criminality
Abstract. Accurate and valid data on criminality are the foundations of any efficient crime policy and crime prevention. However, modern criminal justice and crime prevention has to deal with multiple, often conflicting sources of data.
Our paper considers the prospects of integration of the most important data on criminality:victimological and recorded data. The way of their integration – a two-rays approach (RAS) – has been proposed. A new integrated criminality research tool, able to combine victimological and recorded data has been developed. This tool was used in the nation-wide representative study of criminality in Lithuania.
The outcomes of this study and the integrated (“two-ray”) investigation of criminality are discussed.