Verification of the constitutionality of normative legal acts (based on the practice of the Russian Сonstitutional Сourt)

About the author:

Aleksey A. Petrov, Dr. Sci. (Jur.), Professor, Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, Baikal State University (Irkutsk); petrov-a-irk@mail.ru; ORCID: 0000-0002-2009-0627

Abstract:

This article examines the practice of the RF Constitutional Court in the cases on verifying the constitutionality of laws and other legal acts. Such cases formed the main content of the activities of the Constitutional Court in the field of judicial constitutional normative control at the first stage of its history (1992–1993), but then they became a rarity. The reasons for such dynamics are revealed. It is concluded that the criteria related to the issues of competence of public authorities and officials are subject to exclusion from the list of criteria for verifying the constitutionality of legal acts established by the Law on the Constitutional Court, since the constitutional judicial assessment of legal acts according to these criteria should be given as part of the consideration of disputes on competence by the Constitutional Court. Special attention is paid to the issues of verifying the constitutionality of legal acts in terms of the norms’ content; practical examples show the variety of situations in which such verification becomes possible. The possibility of restoring normative regulation is indicated if it was present in a legal act that was recognized as inconsistent with the Constitution on criteria not related to verifying the content of such act.

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