Komentované dokumenty k ústavním dějinám Československa - soubor I.–IV.
subjects:
law – legal history, history – 20th century
hardcover, 1. edition
published: october 2009
ISBN: 80-246-1028-0
recommended price: 385 czk
summary
The first volume of the four-volume edition of documents related to the Czechoslovak constitutional history contains documents from 1914–1945. It is divided into two chapters: the rise of independent Czechoslovakia and the so-called First Czechoslovak Republic (October 28, 1918 – September 29, 1938) are treated in the first part, while the second chapter: Part Two – The Times of Lack of Freedom (September 30, 1938 – May 4, 1945) contains documents from the so-called Second Republic, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the period of the interim state government abroad and the Slovak State. The publication is intended mainly for lawyers, historians and students of faculties of law.
The second volume of a four-volume series on the constitutional history of Czechoslovakia contains documents from 1945–1960. The publication is divided into two parts. The fist part covers the documents from the period of the Košice Governing Programme to the adoption of the Constitution on May 9, 1948. It presents documents illustrating the development of the post-war state of Czechs and Slovaks and the legal status of the national minorities in Czechoslovakia. The second part offers documents up to the adoption of the 1960 constitution.
The third volume of the four-volume set of documents concerning Czechoslovak constitutional history contains documents from 1960–1989. The first part presents documents issued in the so-called socialist constitution period, whose aim it is to illustrate the upholding of the socialist law and order, as well as the slight relaxation leading to the "Prague Spring" in 1968. The second part characterizes the so-called normalization period in the federative republic from 1968–1989. It contains mainly constitutional acts from the period, laws on federation, legislative and secondary normative acts connected to the speeches read at the Federal Assembly or in the period periodicals. Part of the volume is also the Charter 77 Proclamation and the document entitled Several Sentences.
The fourth and last volume of "Commented Documents on Czechoslovak Constitutional History" contains documents from the brief period after November 1989, in which the Czechoslovak constitutionality entered a new-quality stage by returning to the state idea, which was embedded in it by its founders, yet on the other hand, it became the last stage of the Czechoslovak statehood and constitutionality, a stage of constitutionally confirmed decline and at last, also of disintegration of the common state of Czechs and Slovaks. In the published documents and extensive commentaries the author thus illustrates the biunique and controversial process of constructing a democratic constitutional state and concurrently creating politically and constitutionally justifiable conditions for its self-destruction.
In addition to all federal constitutional laws from this period, the volume IV contains also many other legislative acts, reestablishing human and civil rights and freedoms and laying foundations of democratic rule of law. The collection also contains some key resolutions of the Federal Assembly and both national councils and three drafts of constitutions (of the Czechoslovak Republic, of the Czechoslovak Federal Republic and of the Czech Republic), which were never implemented. Political documents are represented mainly by sixteen documents from November and December 1989.