The Croatian Constitutional Court: From a potentially powerful court to a court of rejections

Monika Glavina*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter/Conference proceedingChapterAcademic

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Abstract

The creation of the Croatian Constitutional Court (CrCC) in 1990 marked a new era in Croatian constitutional history. Giving the newly established Court the power of judicial review changed its relationship vis-à-vis the legislator and paved a way for an ‘independent and potentially powerful court’. The present chapter explores empirically and systematically the decisions of the CrCC from the period of its creation in 1990 until 2020 to assess to what extent the decisions of the CrCC constrained the room for manoeuvre of the legislative power in Croatia. The analysis shows that while the Court has moved from a careful, self-restraining approach that dominated its practice in the 1990s to a more activist approach, the influence of the Court over the legislator has been, at best, only average. With as much as three-fourths of all the Croatian Constitutional Court’s rulings ending in rejection and with the Court leaving the legislator considerable room to manoeuvre, it seems that the CrCC has not lived up to the expectations to become ‘a potentially powerful court’. Yet, as I discuss in the chapter, the growing trend of dissenting opinions in recent years and greater ideological differences among the judges could potentially change the Court’s position vis-à-vis the legislative branch in the future.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationConstitutional Review in Central and Eastern Europe
Subtitle of host publicationJudicial-Legislative Relations in Comparative Perspective
EditorsKálmán Pócza
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherTaylor and Francis AS
Pages28-56
Number of pages29
Edition1
ISBN (Electronic)9781003849537
ISBN (Print)9781032506609
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 selection and editorial matter, Kálmán Pócza; individual chapters, the contributors. All rights reserved.

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