Interim measures are procedural means that allow persons or States to have their rights preserved when a case is pending. Application of these measures especially in environmental cases is very important. In many of these cases (e.g. cases dealing with territorial planning, IPPC permits, environmental impact assessment, etc.) the claims deal with the protection of environment or its components (water, air, soil, etc.) as well as with the protection of public interest. Legal regulation of application of interim measures provided by (...) Lithuanian Law on Administrative Proceedings is not optimal. That is why the first part of the article is dedicated to the analysis of the possibilities and problems of application of interim measures in the administrative proceedings in Lithuania, paying special attention to environmental cases. The second part of the article reflects the findings of a workshop of the Association of European Administrative Judges on „Interim relief in environmental matters” held in Vilnius on 22 September 2011. It briefly describes various national rules on interim relief procedures, especially in the German and the French legislation, with an assessment from the German point of view. This part of the article focuses on provisional legal protection where a permit is challenged by a third party whose rights are allegedly afflicted. In such a constellation the rights of the plaintiff compete with the rights of the operator. The article concludes that, when deciding on the necessity of interim measures, it is vital to ensure the balance of interests: both by ensuring effective access to justice and by protecting the respondent and the third party (in environmental cases - usually the operator) from the violation of their rights and the damage caused by the abuse of the right to request interim measures. In such cases short time limits for procedural steps both of the parties and the court are not advisable and a prima facie prognosis on the outcome in the main proceedings meets the interests of the parties. (shrink)

The right of a person, who is a victim of a criminal act, to access justice (court) according to the criminal legal order, is analyzed in this article. The right to appeal to a court is analyzed as a constituent part of the principle of accessibility to legal defence. Pre-eminently, the general constitutional fundamentals of the right towards legal defence are estimated. The provisions of the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania, i.e. that the right towards legal defence of (...) the infringed rights is absolute, is analyzed while taking into consideration the attitude formed by the international courts, i.e. that the right to justice is not an absolute and can only be restricted by being ruled by the principle of proportionality and the other legal principles. (shrink)

Although the Lisbon Treaty maintained the general exclusion of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) matters from ECJ jurisdiction, it introduced a number of changes into this area, including an explicit statement that the Court is competent to review the legality of the Council decisions imposing restraining measures on persons. The article analyzes the nature and origin of those changes and considers the legal implications for the level of the protection of fundamental rights in the European Union. For this purpose (...) the author firstly considers the context of the exclusion of CFSP matters from the ECJ jurisdiction, including discussions on the issue at the European Convention, and, secondly, takes a closer look at the separate heads of jurisdiction over which the Court is competent to act after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. A conclusion is made that the Lisbon Treaty did not introduce significant changes to ECJ jurisdiction. Similarly to the pattern of previous amendment treaties, the Lisbon Treaty again gave recognition to the practice of the ECJ on relevant questions. Nonetheless, the amendments made by the Lisbon Treaty should be welcome for introducing more clarity into the legal regulation of the matter, thus boosting the legal certainty and protection of fundamental rights in the European Union. (shrink)

The article deals with the constitutional right of a person to apply to court. While construing this constitutionally entrenched right of a person, one analyses the doctrine of the right of a person to apply to court, which was formed in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. The right of a person to court is entrenched expressis verbis in Paragraph 1 of Article 30 of the Constitution whereby the person whose constitutional rights or freedoms are (...) violated shall have the right to apply to court. The doctrine of the Constitutional Court derives this right also from the constitutional principle of a state under the rule of law. The right of a person to court is inseparable from other norms and principles of the Constitution, which are equality of rights, the right to compensation of damage, the right to a proper court process, etc. (shrink)

The application of the state immunity doctrine with regard to the guarantee of access to court in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights has been proved to be a complicated issue. In the ECHR’s case-law before the case Cudak v. Lithuania, the application of the state immunity doctrine had been considered as a proportionate restriction of the right of access to court even in cases of the realization of the protection of the jus cogens norm which was (...) very much criticized by the scholars of international law. Thus, the referral of the case Cudak v. Lithuania to the Grand Chamber could or should change the ECHR’s case-law in this sphere or at least develop certain criteria which would afford ground for a more effective protection to the right of access to court in cases of the application of the state immunity doctrine despite the fact that this right is not absolute. However, the case Cudak v. Lithuania has not fully satisfied these aims. Contrary, the case Cudak v. Lithuania left much obscurity, giving a strong indication that, what regards the realization of the right of access to court, the state immunity doctrine is more a material than a procedural ban, since the argumentation given by the ECHR in this case does not guarantee practical protection of this right. (shrink)

In this article, we explore the concept of African communitarianism and reflect on its potential value for ecojustice education as a localised response to the wider ecological crises that i...

Straipsnyje nagrinėjamas Lietuvos Respublikos darbo ginčų instituto reformavimas ir kaita Nepriklausomybės laikotarpiu atskirų Europos Sąjungos valstybių patirties kontekste. Darbo ginčų reforma Lietuvoje minimu laikotarpiu vyko keliais etapais, iš jų paskutinysis, prasidėjęs 2013 m. sausio 1 d., pakeitė darbo ginčų komisijų organizavimo tvarką, šias komisijas pradėjus kurti teritoriniu principu, prie veikiančių Valstybinės darbo inspekcijos teritorinių padalinių, nustačius, kad į darbo ginčų komisiją su skundu gali kreiptis ne tik darbuotojas, bet ir darbdavys, įvedus kitas naujoves. Tačiau šie pokyčiai vis dar neatspindi (...) europinių tendencijų, kiek įmanoma mažiau institucionalizuoti ikiteisminę individulių darbo ginčų nagrinėjimo tvarką. Straipsnyje akcentuojama mintis, jog darbo ginčų instituto reforma laikytina nebaigta ir, tikėtina, bus tęsiama, remiantis pažangiausia kai kurių ES valstybių praktika šioje srityje, tačiau išlaikant nacionalinį teisinio reguliavimo ypatumą. (shrink)

Hannah Arendt plačiai žinoma kaip filosofė, kuri mėgino reabilituoti senovės graikų politikos sampratą. Remiantis Žmogaus būklės skaitymu, Arendt paprastai laikoma „graikofile“, jai prikišama „Atėnų nostalgija“. Sunku paneigti Arendt simpatijas graikams – ji iš tiesų atsigręžė į atėniečių politikos supratimą, bandydama jame iškristalizuoti kertinius autentiškos politikos elementus. Vis dėlto ši interpretacija yra pernelyg vienpusiška. Didžiausius nuopelnus politikos suvokimo srityje Arendt priskiria ne graikams, o romėnams. Pastarieji žymiai geriau sprendė politikos stabilumo, tęstinumo ir tvarumo problemą. Visą dėmesį sutelkiant į veiksmą, spontaniškumą ir (...) nepaprastus žygdarbius, kyla grėsmė destabilizuoti ir „išcentruoti“ politinės bend­rijos gyvenimą. Romėnai, įvesdami tokias sąvokas kaip tradicija, autoritetas, steigties (įkūrimo) šventumas, teisė (lex), taip pat pabrėždami politinę atleidimo ir pažado reikšmę, atveria graikams svetimą politinės sedimentacijos plotmę. Ši plotmė suteikia būtinus saugiklius, be kurių tvari politinė egzistencija yra neįmanoma. (shrink)

Požiūriai į Lietuvos narystę Europos Bendrijoje (vėliau – Europos Sąjungoje) empiriškai buvo pradėti tirti jau pirmosiose reprezentatyviose visuomenės nuomonės apklausose. Vienas iš pirmųjų, jau 1991 m., šią temą nagrinėjo Viešosios nuomonės tyrimų centras prie Lietuvos mokslų akademijos Filosofijos, sociologijos ir teisės instituto. Nuo to laiko atlikta daug reprezentatyvių tyrimų, keitėsi požiūriai į narystę, kito pritarimo ar nepritarimo narystei motyvai, tematinis diskursas, temos aktualumas visuomenėje. Šiame straipsnyje ir siekiama apžvelgti dinaminius požiūrio į narystę aspektus. Parodoma, kad po itin palankaus narystės palaikymo (...) prieš 25-erius metus prasidėjo skepticizmo periodas, kuris vėliau peraugo į entuziastingą pritarimą narystei. Paskutinieji tyrimai taip pat rodo aukštą narystės palaikymo lygį. Šis palaikymas prieš euroreferendumą buvo nulemtas ne tiek tikėjimosi konkrečios naudos sau, kiek vilties, kad bus geriau vaikams, Lietuvai apskritai. Tai viena iš priežasčių, kodėl vėliau nebuvo fiksuojamas nusivylimas naryste. Pasisakantys už narystę Europos Sąjungoje ir anksčiau, ir dabar yra jaunesni, labiau išsilavinę, kvalifikuoti, didžiųjų miestų gyventojai. Straipsnis parengtas įgyvendinant Lietuvos mokslo tarybos finansuotą projektą „ES valstybių narių elitų ir gyventojų požiūrių į ES raida (2004–2018)“. Sutarties Nr. MIP-025/2015. (shrink)

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. (shrink)

Notwithstanding the expectations related to the ‘invasion’ of human rights into the field of healthcare, the complexity of this field raises some problematic questions about the applicability of such a legal instrument. The present paper analyses the possible limits to the content of the core right to healthcare. These limits are discussed through the examination of two normative pillars of health law: the right to individual self-determination (or the principle of individual autonomy) and the right to healthcare itself. The authors (...) conclude that in the context of the scarcity of resources the effectiveness of the guarantees of the right to healthcare will depend on the narrowing of the concept of the right by choosing the biomedical definition of health as the basis. (shrink)

This article aims to analyze the legal regulation of performers’ rights in Lithuania. Analysis is divided in two parts: the first part analyses performers’ economic rights by comparing them to the authors’ economic rights and the legal regulation of performers’ rights in foreign countries; the second part of article focuses on the different content of performers’ economic rights due to the mean of fixation of performance (unfixed performance, performance fixed to the phonogram, audiovisual fixation of performance). Analysis of the Lithuanian (...) legal regulation on performers’ economic right has shown that although Copyright Law of Lithuania in general complies with international and EU acts governing performers’ rights, four main fields of legal regulation need to be revised. Firstly, Copyright Law should provide that when concluding an agreement concerning an audiovisual fixation of his performance with a producer of audiovisual work the performer transfers his exclusive rights to the producer, the performer shall retain an unwaivable right to receive an equitable remuneration for every transferred exclusive right. Secondly, the legal definition of phonogram published for the commercial purposes should be provided in the Law on Copyright of Lithuania. (shrink)

Straipsnyje apžvelgiamos Lietuvoje nuo 1992 m. veikiančio nepriklausomo lotyniškojo tipo notariato nūdienos aktualijos, patirtis, iššūkiai bei perspektyvos Lietuvos teisės kontekste, taip pat atsižvelgiant į tarptautines notariato veiklos teisinio reglamentavimo tendencijas. Straipsnyje aptariamas daug diskusijų sukėlęs ir Europos Sąjungos Teisingumo Teismą pasiekęs pilietybės reikalavimas asmenims, norintiems tapti notarais, notarų atliekamų funkcijų įvairovė bei jų spektro pokyčiai skirtingose valstybėse ir laiko požiūriu, e. notaro koncepcija, notarinių paslaugų tarptautiškumo didėjimas bei naujausios Europos Sąjungos notarų veiklos teisinio reglamentavimo iniciatyvos, notariškai patvirtintų autentiškų dokumentų galiojimas.

This article investigates the use of natural law in biolaw from the specific perspective of an attorney practising before the European Court of Human Rights. Starting from an exploration of the question of who is a human and thereby to be protected under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), particular emphasis is placed on the right to life under Art. 2(1) ECHR. It is shown that natural law can – and should – impact the interpretation of the European Convention (...) on Human Rights and that concrete consequences follow from this approach, most notably the requirement to ensure that every human being, including the unborn, is actively protected as concerns the right to life. (shrink)

The principle of solidarity is one of the fundamental legal principles applied in the field of health care regulation. This article analyses EU and Lithuanian legal acts, judicial practice, the doctrine of law and foreign scientific resources in order to reveal the content of solidarity principle and to discuss its role in the legal regulation of health care both at EU and national levels. The article is divided into three parts. The first part of the paper examines the correlation between (...) the right to health established in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (the Charter) and the principle of solidarity as the fundamental value upon which the EU is ‘founded’ and which it seeks to ‘preserve and develop’, as the preamble to the Charter states. It is noticed that the principle of solidarity is one of the principles which characterize the European law on social protection. In the summary of the findings of the article, the author states that this principle can be considered as a tool to achieve a greater social cohesion within the EU Member States in defining and implementing all policies and activities in order to ensure a high level of human physical, mental and social health protection through, first of all, a reduction of health care inequalities. For that it is necessary to tackle the factors which determine health care inequalities among the EU Member States. (shrink)

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. (shrink)

The article deals with the question whether a state might be held liable for the infringement of the European Convention on Human Rights if its national court of last instance fails to implement the obligation to make a reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union under the conditions laid down in Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and developed in the case-law of the Court. Relying on well-established (...) practice that an arbitrary decision not to refer a question for a preliminary ruling theoretically could infringe the right to a fair trial, the author analyses the practical application of the “arbitrariness rule” and discusses whether the European Court of Human Rights has established any specific criteria that national courts are required to bring into play in order to substantiate the decision not to refer. (shrink)

Straipsnyje parodoma, kad valstybės puoselėjamos vertybės (gėris, gerovė) – nėra mūsų, kaip individų, „vidinės vertybės“. Mūsų požiūris į tai, kas yra gerovė, nulemtas vidinės patirties, idealų ir prioritetų. Todėl tas valstybės siūlomas vertybes (gerovės supratimą) mes visada turime „pamatuoti“ pagal savąsias nuostatas, savo vertybių masteliu. Kadangi valstybės siūlomos vertybės yra „išorinės“ individo atžvilgiu, tai privalu jas ne tik aiškiai įvardyti, bet ir kritiškai įvertinti, siekiant išsiaiškinti, kokiu mastu jos eina su prievarta (koks jų „prievartos koeficientas“) ir kokiu mastu jos pripažįsta (...) individo teisę rinktis. Nors valstybės tikslai ir siūlomos vertybės yra išorinės individo atžvilgiu, tačiau norint jas realizuoti valstybei privalu ieškoti būdų, kaip pasiekti, kad žmonės jas priimtų, rasti joms adekvačią išraišką. Kitaip tariant, visi valstybės siekiai turi būti derinami su visuomenės narių siekiais ir optimaliausiu būdu tuos jų siekius išreikšti. Tik tuo atveju valstybės tikslai, puoselėjamos vertybės iš „išorinių“ gali virsti „vidinėmis“ – tapti individui savos ir daugiau ar mažiau priimtinos. O veikdamas sąmoningai ir kryptingai jis tuo pačiu padės valstybei realizuoti ir jos iškeltus tikslus. (shrink)

Visuomeniniame gyvenime „gerovės valstybės“ sąvoka vartojama nevienareikšmiškai. Dėl to kyla įvairiausių konceptualių painiavų. Straipsnyje išskiriamos ir aptariamos įtakingiausios gerovės valstybės sampratos tikintis, kad tai padės pasiekti skirtingas politines pažiūras ar nuostatas ginančių tyrėjų tarpusavio supratimą. Tomis įtakingiausiomis gerovės valstybės vizijomis laikoma klasikinio liberalizmo ar libertarizmo siūloma procedūrinio gerovės modelio teorija, pagal kurią laisvė, laisvosios verslininkystės sistema ir privati nuosavybės teisė laikoma pagrindinėmis priemonėmis gerovei pasiekti. Antrasis gerovės valstybės modelis yra tas, su kuriuo dažniausiai tapatinama gerovės valstybė. Tai paternalistinis paskirstomosios (...) gerovės modelis, kuris paprastai siejamas su socialdemokratine politine doktrina. Straipsnyje parodoma, kad šis modelis susiduria su loginio nuoseklumo problemomis. Trečiojo gerovės valstybės modelio šiais laikais laikosi krikščioniškasis socialinis mokymas, nors pagrindinius jo principus suformulavo dar Aristotelis. Šis modelis remiasi bendruoju gėriu kaip esminiu valstybės tikslu ir gali būti vadinamas tiksliniu gerovės valstybės modeliu. Išoriškai jis panašus į skirstomosios gerovės modelį, tačiau jo esmė yra kita. Jis yra logiškai nuoseklus, nors ne visiems priimtinas dėl savo filosofinių principų. (shrink)

Straipsnyje nagrinėjamos bioetikos ir sociologijos tarpdalykinio diskurso galimybės sprendžiant šiuolaikines moralės dilemas. Apžvelgiant bioetikos ir sociologijos disciplinų raidą, atskleidžiami paradigminiai šių disciplinų skirtumai ir joms atstovaujančių mokslininkų požiūriai į etines sveikatos priežiūros problemas. Tradicinėmis laikytos klasikinės biomedicinos etikos temos, kaip, pvz., pacientų teisės medicinoje, eksperimentinių biomedicininių tyrimų su žmonėmis pagrįstumas, eutanazija ar klonavimas, vis dažniau yra analizuojamos empiriniu požiūriu pasitelkiant socialinių tyrimų metodus. Tačiau bioetikos diskurse socialinių tyrimų rezultatai (pvz., visuomenės nuomonės apklausos) yra ignoruojami, ir atvirkščiai – medicinos sociologijos tekstuose (...) vengiama normatyvinės etikos vartojamų teorinių nuostatų ar tuo labiau filosofinės sąvokų analizės. Straipsnyje aptariamos naujos tarpdalykinės nišos – bioetikos sociologijos ir sociologijos bioetikos teorinės perspektyvos. Nagrinėjama, kaip bioetikos ir socialinių mokslų tyrėjų bei ekspertų naudojami problemų sprendimo instrumentai galėtų būti integruojami į bendrą konstruktyvią mokslinę diskusiją ir kokios galimos (medicinos ar sveikatos) sociologijos ir bioetikos (ar medicinos etikos) bendradarbiavimo išdavos. (shrink)

Lyčių lygybė ir atitinkamai moterų teisės – vienas esminių demokratijos principų. Atskleidus tam tikros šalies gyventojų lyčių lygybės suvokimą, galima svarstyti apie demokratizacijos procesų eigą šalyje. Straipsnyje1, remiantis kiekybinių tyrimų duomenimis, siekiama sociologiškai įvertinti Lietuvos demokratizacijos procesus lyčių lygybės principo taikymo atžvilgiu atskleidžiant moters teisių bei lygybės atspindžius bendroje demokratijos sampratoje, visuomenei būdingą lygių teisių ir galimybių garantų vertinimą, lyčių teisių svarbos ir jų įgyvendinimo lygio supratimą bei lyčių diskriminacijos suvokimą.Teigiama, kad nors Lietuvos gyventojų požiūriu šalyje dideliu mastu įgyvendinta lyčių (...) lygybė, vis dėlto viešajame diskurse padėtis vyrų teisių įgyvendinimo srityje dažniau suvokiama esanti geresnė nei moterų. Pažymima, kad beveik trečdalis Lietuvos gyventojų suvokia lyčių lygybės principo ir žmogaus teisės į lygybę pažeidimus bei diskriminacijos dėl lyties egzistavimą. (shrink)

This article, while disclosing the conception of rights, their relation to law and their nature, presents the constructive criticism and motivated support of legal personalism, i. e. the original theory presented by prof. A. Vaišvila. This article presents the criticism of terms “positive law” and “natural law”. It emphasizes that the term “natural rights,” while historically very important and common, is rarely used of late. The primary reason for its fall from favor seems to be that it was used in (...) too many different ways and therefore ceased to be useful. So, the author, while defending the indispensable relation between law and morals, offers the term “good morals” instead of “natural law” and also offers to refuse the usage of terms “positive law” and “natural law”. This article represents the view that morality is the source of law. The author accepts a position asserting that the terms “human rights”, “natural rights” and “fundamental moral rights” are synonymous. However, some institutional rights (for example, social rights) flow from statutes, but not morals. (shrink)

Šio straipsnio tikslas – identifikuoti stigmos apraiškas asmeniniu, struktūriniu ir visuomeniniu lygmeniu, jos poveikį Lietuvos psichikos sveikatos priežiūros sistemai, sutrikusios psichikos asmenims ir šioje srityje priimamiems politiniams sprendimams. Pristatomi 2015–2016 m. tyrimų duomenys: žiniasklaidos diskurso analizė, psichikos sveikatos centrų pacientų subjektyvaus požiūrio į gautą gydymą tyrimas ir ekspertų nuomonės apie Lietuvos psichikos sveikatos priežiūros sistemos padėtį tyrimas.Rezultatai parodė, kad paslaugų vartotojus su stigma sieja išmoktas bejėgiškumas, taikstymasis su mažesnėmis galimybėmis, stigmos suvokimas skatina atsitraukti nuo aplinkinių, neįvardyti ligos. Žiniasklaidos analizė taip (...) pat išryškino šios asmenų grupės sumenkinimo tendencijas, ribotas jų galimybes dalyvauti formuojant diskursą. Ekspertų tyrimo rezultatai atskleidė stigmos poveikį psichikos sveikatos sistemai – dominuojantys diskursai padeda palaikyti stigmos poveikį instituciniu lygmeniu. Atskirus stigmos lygmenis sieja nekonstruktyvios įveikos schemos, grindžiamos psichiatrų mėginimais išlaikyti turimą galią, sutrikusios psichikos asmenų pastangos išsaugoti privatumą, žiniasklaidos reakcija į kritiką argumentuojant visuomenės teise žinoti.Asmeninės, visuomeninės ir struktūrinės stigmos analizė leidžia suvokti stigmos reiškinio daugiasluoksniškumą, identifikuoti paraleles tarp individualių patirčių ir pesimizmu bei stereotipais persmelkto požiūrio į visą psichikos sveikatos priežiūros sistemą. (shrink)

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama kūrybinė klasė. Kritikuojama R. Floridos samprata, pasak kurios, tai – visuomenės grupė, gaminanti ekonomines vertes savo kūrybine veikla. Anot straipsnio autoriaus, ne visi kūrybininkai įsitraukia į ekonominę veiklą ir ne visi kūrybos produktai dalyvauja ekonominėje apyvartoje. Demokratija kaip daugumos valdžia pati savaime nesuponuoja nei kūrybos visuomenės, nei jos kūrybinės raidos, o medijuota visuomenė netgi stabdo kūrybos sklaidą nepaisant atsivėrusių neribotų komunikacinių perspektyvų. Apie kūrybinę klasę galima kalbėti tik tuo atveju, jeigu nuo jos atskiriame kažkokias kitas mažiau kūrybingas ar (...) nekūrybingas klases. Straipsnyje keliami klausimai: ar kitos – mažiau kūrybingos (nekūrybingos) – klasės yra kūrybos visuomenės dalis; koks jų vaidmuo ne tik apibrėžiant kūrybinę klasę, bet ir formuojantis kūrybos visuomenei; kuo remdamiesi neigiame šių klasių teisę į kūrybingumą, kuri neatsiejama nuo žmogaus veiklos apskritai; koks sąmoningo tapatinimosi su kūrybos klase vaidmuo apibrėžiant kūrybininką; ar kūrybinė klasė nėra priedanga plėtoti tam tikru išskirtinumu paremtą politiką; ar kūrybinėje aplinkoje gali tarpti ir nekūrybingi individai; ar mažiau kūrybingos (nekūrybingos) klasės apibrėžtinos tik neigiamai (kaip stokojančios kūrybingumo); ar kūrybos visuomenėje mažiau kūrybingų (nekūrybingų) klasių laukia neišvengiama ekspropriacija? (shrink)

Neonatūralisto Josepho Rouse’o kultūrinių mokslinio žinojimo studijų filosofinė programa yra natūros ir kultūros, taip pat mokslinio ir nemokslinio žinojimo radikalios atskirties kritika, inicijuojanti autonomiško mokslo sampratos suspendavimą. Dimitrijaus Ginevo kognityvinio egzistencializmo (hermeneutinės fenomenologijos atmainos) požiūriu, kultūrinė mokslo autonomija yra pamatinis demokratijos ramstis, o natūralistinis „postmodernus“ mokslo „nuvietinimas“ vertinamas kaip kultūros ir visuomenės scientifikacijos grėsmė. Tad ginti kultūrą, visuomenę, demokratiją, o kartu ir savo teises į mokslo tyrimus yra hermeneutinio naratyvo akademinė-pilietinė priedermė. Kultūrinių mokslinio žinojimo studijų požiūriu – atvirkščiai – mokslo (...) autonomijos idėjos (modernybės naratyvo relikto) propagavimas tolygus kultūrinei mokslo stigmatizacijai, o hermeneutinė fenomenologija pati ją skatina. Straipsnio tikslas – palyginti neonatūralistinę ir hermeneutinę-fenomenologinę mokslo topologijas iš „metafilosofinės“ perspektyvos ir įvertinti jų bendradarbiavimo galimybes. (shrink)

In recent years consumer law has come more and more into the focus of legislation within the EU. One of the EU’s key objectives, completing the final stage of the internal market, is to place consumer rights in the centre of it. Following the adaption of various consumer law measures for some decades, the EU has undertaken a thorough review of its consumer acquis. After years of consultations, the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/ EU, which was supposed to set new standards (...) of consumer protection, came into force and will have to be implemented by the Member States by 13 December, 2013. Renouncing its principal practice of minimum harmonisation in the area of consumer law, i.e. allowing Member States on the basis of Directives to adopt more protective rules, the EU legislator now turned to a targeted full harmonisation approach by means of the Consumer Rights Directive, aiming at increasing the consumer protection across the EU by bringing together the currently distinct laws for distance selling and off-premises contracts as well as other types of consumer contracts in a single instrument. The article briefly introduces the background of the Directive and discusses the shift in means of harmonisation concepts. Then, it analyses the scope, concepts and content of the Directive, which mainly brings considerable reforms in the areas of information requirements and the right of withdrawal. Taking into account the Directive’s improvements and shortcomings, conclusions are drawn that further harmonisation and a uniform and universally applicable set of European consumer rights are needed. (shrink)

There are several reasons, according to which it is worth analyzing European administrative law. First, this is a rather new branch of law. Second, the European administrative law is treated in different countries from different legal traditions positions, consequently, any effort to unify the approach to it can provide a basis for a unified European administrative law model. Third, there are no works dedicated to the analysis of the phenomenon of the European administrative law in Lithuania. Therefore, this article deals (...) with the concepts of the European administrative law. It is stated that the comprehensive image of the European administrative law reveals three European administrative law concepts. The first concept of the European administrative law characterizes it as the European Union (hereinafter – EU) administrative law, the validity of boundaries of which can be based on three aspects – functional, institutional and procedural. The second concept of the European administrative law identifies it as the law of administrative cooperation., whereas the third concept allows the European administrative law to be seen as the law common to various public administrations of European countries – ius commune. The article focuses on the analysis of the above-mentioned three approaches and the EU set of administrative procedures as an instrument to promote the development of the EU administrative law. The author comes to the conclusion that the concept of the ‘European Administrative Law’ is broader than the concept of the ‘EU Administrative Law’. The European administrative law can be perceived not only as a part of law that establishes the EU administration’s administrative legal status, its’ activity principles, forms and methods, but also as a law of administrative cooperation between states, governmental and non-governmental organizations and various corporations, based on a wide range of multilateral treaties or conventions, which cross the limits of the EU. Moreover, the European administrative law can be understood as a law with common concepts, general principles characteristic to different European countries’ public administrations as well as a science, with the help of which diverse administrative legal systems of various countries could be compared. Taking into account the content of various working documents, the author draws the conclusion that for the further development of the EU administrative law the establishment of uniform operating rules for the EU administration in its’ relations with the society is of exceptional importance. There are a number of important reasons to develop the Law on administrative procedure of the EU. First, it is generally recognized that the EU needs common binding legislation that sets out clear operating rules of the EU administration in its’ relations with legal and natural persons, and that would increase the transparency of the EU administration and its’ accessibility to citizens. Second, the drafting of the law on administrative procedure of the EU lies in the legal framework as well; the importance of the article 298 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union, the articles 41 and 42 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU as well as “soft” law (i.e. codes of good administrative behavior) are obvious here. (shrink)

The article deals with the question whether a state might be held liable for the infringement of constitutional law if its national court of last instance violates the obligation to make a reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union under the conditions laid down in Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and developed in the case-law of the Court. Relying on the well-established practice of the European Court (...) of Human Rights, which accepts that in theory an arbitrary decision not to refer a question for a preliminary ruling could infringe the right to a fair trial established in the ECHR, the author analyses whether constitutional courts of Germany, Czech Republic, Spain and Lithuania have elaborated the equivalent practice and if so, whether they have established any specific criteria that national courts are required to bring into play in order to substantiate the decision not to refer. (shrink)

There are various notions of capital, but in this article movement of capital is being analysed from the perspective of international investment law – a country has an asset, which it cannot exploit or do so efficiently and there is a foreigner who possesses financing, technology or know-how, which allows to develop such asset. Lithuania is a net importer of capital, thus this article analyses on what might be the asset that Lithuanian government is interested in developing through foreign investment (...) and why Lithuania does not develop such asset through other means, i.e. borrowing. As China is one the biggest capital exporters and becomes one of the biggest outward investors, this article also analyses driving factors behind such increase of outward investment from China – the Going Out policy and various instruments used by China to encourage such policy. Finally, the article analyses the possible underlying reasons Chinese company CAMCE has in Kaunas free economic zone and what such interest means under international investment law. (shrink)

The Article analyses how one of the basic consumer rights – the right to information – is regulated in the European Commission Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on consumer rights (hereinafter referred to as the Proposal): the article analyses trends of regulation of the consumers’ right to receive information; problems related to the scope of provided information and the issue of consumer standard that should be used in evaluating the sufficiency of provided information (...) and transparency of contract terms. Furthermore, additional possibilities to improve the consumer right to receive information at the national level are shortly discussed. The regulation of the consumer right to receive information established in the Proposal may imply a new era in the regulation of the B2C relations, where the aim to ensure high common level of consumer protection is opposed against the aim to ensure the balance of interests of consumers and business. Such „slight“ conversion of the aims may impact the application of legal norms regulating consumer right to information and the scope of the disclosure obligation of the business, while reducing the level of the consumer protection. (shrink)

In the twenty-first century, human rights play a very important role in modern society. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, released on 10 December 1948th was thought to become an everlasting source of fundamental human rights and freedoms. The Declaration corresponds to the situation that global community was facing 60 years ago. Today it is a collection of articles that is the cornerstone of the whole system of human rights protection. However, gross human rights atrocities, the dynamic process of legislation, (...) technological progress and changing social values have prompted many to revise the concept of human rights. Today many areas of life have changed: we have untraditional marriages and families, the individual enjoys a completely different social status than 60 years ago. These factors have prompted the creation of an entirely new dimension to human rights and freedoms based on personal autonomy, dynamics and self-regulation. Nowadays, the realization of rights and the aspiration to personal happiness are closely connected with personal autonomy. Autos and nomos—these two terms describe the ability of an individual to initiate one’s actions, to realize them by making independent decisions. This article analyzes whether this ability is a natural right or a privilege, what factors determine the exercise of this right, and what is the role of the state in this process. (shrink)

In international arbitration, timely application and enforcement of interim measures can have a substantial effect on the possibility of the enforcement of final arbitration award, especially when issues relating to the protection of assets or evidence arise before or during the course of arbitration proceedings. Though the substantive amendments to the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration concerning the application and enforcement of interim measures in international arbitration were made in 2006, the legal regulation of these matters in Lithuania (...) by the Law on Commercial Arbitration remained as previous. Hence, the purpose of this article is to provide a brief analysis of the contemporary universal legal doctrine and international practice regarding the availability, application and enforcement of interim measures in international arbitration; to examine and evaluate the Lithuanian law and court practice, their compliance with the analyzed contemporary universal legal doctrine and international practice on the application and enforcement of interim measures in international arbitration. (shrink)

The Civil Code of Lithuania (1964), in force until 2000, did not regulate the objects of civil rights, thus Chapter V of Part III of Book I of the Civil Code of Lithuania is a significant novelty. Several approaches to an abstract definition of the objects of civil rights still exists in the legal doctrine: whether the object of civil rights and the object of the civil relationship coincide; is the object of civil rights an element of the civil relationship (...) and can separate objects (e.g. actions) be considered as the objects of civil rights. Some authors consider such discussion useless to the practical implementation of the law, however, other authors emphasise that the lack of attention of the theory to this subject causes methodological problems while analysing the functional and systemic links among different types of civil relationships. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to analyse the link between the concepts of the object of civil rights and the object of civil relationship, the link between the objects of civil rights and property objects and the types of objects of civil rights in order to reveal the system of objects of civil rights. The subject-matter of the research is the analysis of legal regulation and legal doctrine of the objects of civil rights and their types and their interrelation with the property objects in order to identify the abstract definition of the object of civil rights and examine the system of objects of civil rights. (shrink)

This article analyses implementation of freedom of assembly within Lithuania and in some other States of the European Union. Attention is paid to the differences in the implementation practices for this freedom while analysing probability of restriction of freedom of assembly in the light of legal, political and social factors. The article aims to substantiate that the quality of decision while adopting spreading ideas and expressed views during peaceful meetings, or adopting them later, or dismissing in general, is determined by (...) the democratic society being formed in the state during a particular period. On the other hand, although physical restriction of diffusion of ideas while implementing freedom of assembly is legitimate, it should not become the main control tool, since the development of the state in this direction is absolutely opposite to the expansion of democratic ideas in the society. Legal education should become the priority area of the policy conducted by the state. Particularly since this priority provides the security for the spread of best practices in democratic states, thus laying the grounds for effective prevention of expression of illegal behaviour. Such illegal behaviour may occur in the form of incitement of hatred and aggression in respect of persons who have different faith, race, nation or sexual orientation. The article substantiates that the real challenge faced by the modern democracy is security for practical implementation rather than the formal recognition and regulation of rights and freedoms. It has been found in practice that the implementation of freedom of assembly can be faulty restricted by the procedural justice. After evaluating experience of the States of the European Union and the way in which their national legal system is structured, the recommendations are made enabling a timely dispute settlement concerning the right of assembly, i.e., in order to prevent decision making process from becoming an obstacle for the implementation of freedom of assembly. It is pointed out that settlement of the dispute concerning the permission to hold a peaceful assembly after the date of the assembly is pointless and denies social importance of right of the assembly. (shrink)

National <.lt> domain name disputes in Lithuania are the ones which courts must decide without having any specific legal regulation. In such cases courts shall apply analogy of law, customs and general principals of law. Last but not least, the courts must address international legal practice as regards the domain name disputes, i.e. take into account the famous ICANN Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy adopted in 1999 and mostly applied by the panels of WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre while (...) dealing with disputes on generic top level domain names <.com>, <.net>, <.org>, also analyse the practice of ADR cases of Czech Arbitration Court which has the jurisdiction over <.eu> domain name disputes. This article deals with the case-law of Lithuanian courts in <.lt> domain name disputes and analysis the trends of Lithuanian internet law as regards the protection of the owners of intellectual property in Lithuania. The special attention is given to the phenomenon of cybersquatting in Lithuania and the lack of effective means to fight such unfair practices on the net. (shrink)

The extent to which the legal doctrine addresses manifestations of constitutionalism has been constantly growing. However, the majority of research in constitutionalism focuses on the analysis of the power of the Constitution and the fundamental principles entrenched in it whereas ordinary branches of law, including civil procedure, affected by the constitutional law remains outside the scope of a deeper analysis. The author of the present paper is convinced that certain aspects of the impact of constitutional justice on such branches as, (...) in particular, civil procedure deserve deeper interest. The modest scope of the paper precludes an extensive analysis of the role of the Constitution as a fundamental binding Act and today’s abundant doctrine of Lithuania’s Constitutional Court in civil procedure. Therefore, the present paper is confined to an analysis of individual aspects of direct application of the Constitution and the doctrine of the Constitutional Court. The article analyses the power of the Constitution and its impact on the civil procedure as an Act laying down the fundamental principles binding the legislator in adopting procedural instruments and principles to be followed by courts and as a remedy for violations of rights or a tool to address loopholes and collisions of law. Courts of general jurisdiction perform the control of legitimacy of legal Acts by checking their compliance with the Constitution in individual cases and by applying to the Constitutional Court for repeal of anticonstitutional norms or by applying the Constitution as an Act of direct effect to eliminate loopholes, interpret statutes and deal with collisions of legal norms. The author believes that the fact that the courts of general jurisdiction frequently raise questions of incompliance of legal Acts with the Constitution and decisively apply to the Constitutional Court evidences a high level of legal culture and legal consciousness of the judges. That fact may also serve as a precondition for the growth of confidence in the judiciary as judicial procedures may contain no uncertainties as to the constitutionality of the statutes to be followed in litigation. (shrink)

Human rights stem from community values; therefore, even today they may develop only on the basis of the values of a particular community. When the interests of a society change, new threats to the same value originate. A constant scientific dialogue is necessary in order to neutralise these threats effectively. The current socio-cultural context reveals the problems related to the legal protection of human dignity through a contraposition of instrumental and teleological attitude towards the human dignity. The article discusses ideological (...) provisions theological ideas of Judaism, Christianity, natural rights, especially the provisions of the Stoa, and the concept of I. Kant which became the grounds for declaring every person to be equally respectable and for recognising every person as a subject of law. This enabled people to create individual social value under the conditions of dignified existence. The author also discusses the extent to which the ideological excursus allows filling in the gaps of legal protection and serving the present universal consent on the common value human dignity. (shrink)

Regulation No 17: First Regulation implementing Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty set out that in carrying out the duties assigned to it by Article 89 and by provisions adopted under Article 87 of the Treaty, the officials authorized by the EU Commission were empowered inter alia to enter any premises, land and means of transport of undertakings. Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 (...) and 82 of the Treaty has expanded Commission’s powers stating that Commission can by decision order an inspection to be conducted in any other premises, land and means of transport, including the homes of directors, managers and other members of staff of the undertakings and associations of undertakings concerned. Such an expansion of the investigative powers of the Commission raises a question of the balance between effectiveness of the EU competition law and a person’s right to privacy, which is guaranteed to everyone by the Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Nevertheless this right is not absolute and the conditions for the possible limitations of the exercise of it are enshrined in paragraph 2 of the same article. For this reason the aim of this article is to find out whether Commission’s power to carry out searches in private homes meet the requirements set in Article 8(2) of the Convention, i.e., whether the Commission’s power to conduct such searches could be justified under the ECHR Article 8(2). In this study, the authors analyse the Commission’s extended investigative powers, clarify what is covered by the concept of “privacy”, evaluate the requirements set in Article 8(2) of the Convention, analyse conditions of exercising Commission’s extended investigative power and thus qualify if the latter satisfies the requirements set in Article 8(2) of the ECHR. (shrink)

Lithuania had a different experience in legal regulation of private property. There were periods when right to private ownership was denied and on the other hand – the periods when right to private ownership was respected and protected. Authors wanted to review today’s status of rights to private property in retrospective. The main purpose of the article is to reveal functions of private property in Lithuania. The article analyzes peculiarities of legal regulation of private property in Lithuania during different stages (...) of the state’s development. The authors have analyzed the social significance of the right to private property, how it changed and how it has been reflected in Lithuanian legislation and the case law of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, paying a particular attention to entrenchment of the right to private property in the Constitution of Lithuania. The authors evaluate the compliance of the national legal regulation and Article 1 of the First Protocol with the European Convention on Human Rights, and the case law of the European Court of Justice. (shrink)

Constitution is an exclusive legal document, and its interpretation is a process – a continuous work of explanation of its content, the end and qualitative perfection of which may only be considered taking into account the limits of intellectual potential of the particular time. The interpretation of constitution is a permanent process, which is influenced and determined by plenty of conceptual factors. Firstly the supreme juridical power of the constitution as well as its integrity determines the opportunities of its interpreter (...) and applier. Integrity of the constitution is considered to be the legal, philosophical, logical integrity of its norms, which determines an obligation of its interpreter to perceive this legal act as an integral unit, i.e. not only as a catalogue of particular values, but also as a balance of these values. All the constitutional expressis verbis provisions are equal in its’ juridical power, that is why they do not negate each other, on the contrary – each of them only complement others’ content. Besides, it is important to mention that exceptional juridical power of the constitution determines its interpretational self-sufficiency. Constitution can not be interpreted invoking the content of the acts of lower juridical power. (shrink)