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Judiciary of the Czech Republic

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The whole of chapter four of the Constitution of the Czech Republic is dedicated to defining the role of judicial power in the Czech Republic. It states the main function of courts of law is the protection of rights in a manner defined by legislation, and gives them sole responsibility for determining guilt and administering penalties for criminal offences. Courts are defined as independent, although their administration is in the hands of the Ministry of Justice.

Czech courts are presided over by professional judges, who are named for life by the President and normally may not be recalled or transferred against their will.

The Czech Republic has a four-tier system of courts and two-instance proceedings.

Most of the higher courts are seated in Brno; this is to counterbalance the concentration of power in the capital (pragocentrismus).

Courts

While the broad strokes are set out in the Constitution and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms, the organization of the judiciary is detailed in the Act No. 6/2002 Coll. on Courts and Judges.

The four tiers of Czech courts are:

  1. 2 supreme courts (nejvyšší soudy) – one for ordinary and one for administrative matters
  2. 2 high courts (vrchní soud) – one in Prague and one in Olomouc
  3. 8 regional courts (krajské soudy)
  4. 86 district courts (okresní soudy)

There are three different jurisdictions:

  • courts of general jurisdiction
  • administrative courts
  • the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic

The latter two are specialised jurisdictions – if a matter is not assigned to them specifically (by legislation), it will be dealt with the courts of general jurisdiction.

The Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic (Ústavní soud České republiky) stands outside the general courts structure. Its status and powers are enshrined directly in the Constitution of the Czech Republic. It is the judicial body responsible for constitutionality and the protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms that arise from constitutional order of the Czech Republic and to guarantee the constitutional character of the exercise of state power.

This it achieves mainly through its power to annul statutes (or parts of them) if they are in conflict with the constitutional order (most important of them, the Constitution and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms). This is because laws that are part of the constitutional order are legislative acts of the highest force, their enactment also requires a special majority in the parliament. Any other legislation is subordinate. This process is called the judicial review. Related to this is the power of the court to decide about the conformity with the constitutional order of an international treaty prior to its ratification.

The seat of the court is in Brno.

Ordinary courts

Both criminal and civil cases can start at either a district court or a regional court; in other words, district and regional courts act as courts of the first instance. For example, in criminal proceedings, the district courts would generally hear cases in the first instance. However, when the penalty for the crime in question exceeds 5 years, the case will be tried by a regional court in the first instance.

Boundaries of the district court jurisdictions are, confusingly, non-conterminous with those of the administrative districts.

Of the two high courts, one is seated in Prague with jurisdiction over Bohemia, and the other in Olomouc with jurisdiction over Moravia and Silesia. These handle appeals of cases heard in the first instance by a regional court.

The Supreme Court of the Czech Republic (Nejvyšší soud České republiky), seated in Brno, is the highest judicial authority both in civil (including commercial) and criminal matters, except for issues that fall within the competence of the Constitutional Court or the Supreme Administrative Court. As a court of third instance it works on the principles of cassation (review) and appeal.

Administrative courts

Czech administrative judiciary (správní soudnictví) has two layers. The lower one consists of specialised administrative chambers within regional courts, which act as courts of first instance. The court of second and last instance is the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic (Nejvyšší správní soud České republiky), seated in Brno, which, as the name suggests, is dedicated exclusively to administrative justice.

Matters falling within the competence of administrative courts include cases relating to elections, registration of political parties and movements and actions for competence issues between government agencies.

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