Doc. G. Harutunyan
Chairman of the Constitutional Court
of the Republic of Armenia

Methodological Bases of the Independence of Constitutional Justice

The comparative analysis of the constitutional changes in many countries during last 20-30 years indicates the existence of the following steady tendencies, which have an essential importance for the understanding of progressive role of constitutional justice:

1. democratic constitutional values are becoming more and more dominant, principles of the rule of law and democratic state obtain system nature, the constitutional amendments are directed to the restrain of authority and meanwhile to the extension of chances of the institutions of self-government,

2. the functional powers of the institutes of state power are becoming more concrete and they are fulfilling in accordance with the functions of branches of power,

3. the functioning of the institutes of the state authority is basing on the principles of cooperation and interaction,

4. the mechanisms of reveal, assessment and recovery of violated constitutional counterbalance are becoming more powerful, the guarantees of constitutional stability are strengthening,

5. the human rights and freedoms obtain directly exercising nature,

6. the supremacy of law is obtaining real content,

7. international law is obtaining progressive role in national legal systems.

The further improvement of the system of constitutional justice must be based in these tendencies.

In order to insure real independence of constitutional justice it is necessary not only to prepare a system of criteria of constitutional review, but it is also necessary to prepare enough indicators of assessment of constitutionality of a concrete legal situation.

Today, the supremacy of Constitution is the highest principle of existence and functioning of democratic society and rule of law state and meanwhile the main content of constitutional review. The constitutional review is a measure and opportunity of maintaining stability of the society.

The Constitutional Court is the unique state body, whose direct obligation is to subordinate the policy to the law, as well to subordinate political actions and decisions to the constitutional-legal requirements and forms.

Mainly in transitional society the Constitutional Court has a mission not to allow usurpation of state power, to maintain a situation, where the power restricted by law is only possible. The Constitutional Court is the main body of state power, which insures the restriction of state power in benefit of principles of law. Understanding and reasonable realization of this role is one of the main directions of development of constitutional justice in the new millennium.

The system of constitutional justice can function effectively and independently in existence of several necessary and sufficient prerequisites. Such prerequisites are:

- the functional, institutional, organizational and social independence of the judicial constitutional review,

- consistency in the constitutional implementation of the principle of separation of powers,

- adequacy and comparability of the basic constitutional principles with the relevant constitutional mechanisms of exercising state authority,

- the correct and substantiated option of the objects of constitutional review,

- definition of the optimum range of subjects having the right to appeal to the Constitutional Court,

- systematic approach to ensuring the functional capacity of the judicial authority,

- availability and implementation of well-defined lawmaking policy,

• the level of perception of the democratic values in the society.