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Aconstitutional court is ahigh court that deals primarily withconstitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in factunconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established rules, rights, and freedoms, among other things.
Prior to 1919, the United States, Canada andAustralia had adopted the concept ofjudicial review by their courts, following shared principles of their similarcommon law legal systems, which they, in turn, had inherited fromBritish colonial law.[1] TheParthenopean Republic's constitution of 1799, written byMario Pagano, envisaged an organ of magistrates reviewing constitutional law, theeforato, but lasted only 6 months.[2] The1776 Constitution of Pennsylvania and1777 Constitution of Vermont both establish a "Council of Censors" separate from the other branches of government, with the task of "recommending to the legislature the repealing of such laws as appear to them to have been enacted contrary to the principles of the constitution,"[3][4] an institution somewhat similar to a modern constitutional court.
In 1919 theFirst Austrian Republic established the first dedicated constitutional court, theConstitutional Court of Austria, which however existed in name only until 10 October 1920, whenthe country's new constitution came into effect, upon which the court gained the power to review the laws ofAustria's federal states.[5] The1920 Constitution ofCzechoslovakia, which came into effect on 2 February 1920, was the first to provide for a dedicated court for judicial review of parliamentary laws, but the court did not convene until November 1921. The organization and competences of both courts were influenced by constitutional theories ofHans Kelsen.[6] Subsequently, this idea of having a separate special constitutional court that only heard cases concerning the constitutionality of the national legislature's acts became known as theAustrian System, and it was subsequently adopted by many other countries e.g.Liechtenstein (1925),Greece (1927),Spain (1931),Germany (1949) etc.
Following list consists countries with separate constitutional courts. Yet some other countries do not have separate constitutional courts, but instead delegate constitutional judicial authority to theirordinary court system, with the final decision-making power resting in thesupremeordinary court. Nonetheless, such courts are sometimes also called "constitutional courts". For example, theSupreme Court of the United States has been called the world's oldest constitutional court[7] because it was one of the earliest courts in the world to invalidate a law as unconstitutional (Marbury v. Madison), even though it is not a separate constitutional court, hearing as it does cases not touching on the Constitution.
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Constitutional Court of Baden-Württemberg [de] (German:Verfassungsgerichthof für das Land Baden-Württemberg; abbreviated:VerfGH BW) is the constiutional court for the GermanLand (state) ofBaden-Württemberg and thereby aconstitutional organ on the state level. Besides its power ofjudicial review (Normenkontrolle [de]), it has a number of other powers and responsibilities which are assign to it by thestate constitution [de].[11]
Bavarian Constitutional Court [de] (German:Bayrischer Verfassungsgerichthof; abbreviated:VerfGH BY) is the state constitutional court for theFree State of Bavaria. It is, along with theLandesregierung (state government) and theLandtag (state parliament), one of the three state constitutional institutions and has the power of judicial review: It may examine the compatibility of state laws with thestate constitution.[12]
Constitutional Court of Berlin (German:Verfassungsgerichthof des Landes Berlin; abbreviated:VerfGH BE) is the constitutional court of thecity-state ofBerlin which is simultaneously the capital of theFederal Republic of Germany. It is located in the same building as theKammergericht (Oberlandesgericht) and is authorized by Article 84Constitution of the city-state of Berlin [de]. It has the power of judicial review, the power to review electoral complaints and the power to hear cases concerning complaints against referendums and popular initiatives among others.[13]
Constitutional Court of Brandenburg [de] (German:Verfassungsgerichthof des Landes Brandenburg; abbreviated:VerfG BB)[14]
State Constitutional Court of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen [de] (German:Staatsgerichtshof der Freien Hansestadt Bremen; abbreviated:StGH HB)[15]
Constitutional Court of Hamburg [de] (German:Hamburgisches Verfassungsgericht; abbreviated:VerfG HH)[16]
State Constitutional Court of Hesse (StGH HE)
Land Constitutional Court of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (VerfG MV)
State Constitutional Court of Lower Saxony (StGH NDS)
Constitutional Court of North Rhine-Westphalia (German:Verfassungsgericht für das Land Nordrhein-Westfalen; abbreviated:VerfGH NRW orVGH NRW)
Constitutional Court of Rhineland-Palatinate (VerfGH RP)
Constitutional Court of Saarland (VerfGH SL)
Constitutional Court of the Free State of Saxony (VerfGH SN)
Land Constitutional Court of Saxony-Anhalt (VerfG ST)
Land Constitutional Court of Schleswig-Holstein (VerfG SH)
Thuringian Constitutional Court (VerfGH TH)
Before 2020, severalrepublics of Russia had their own constitutional courts, while in otherfederal subjects likeoblasts andfederal cities they were known as charter courts, as republics are the only federal subjects to have their own constitutions.[17] Constitutional and charter courts were completely independent and were not subordinate courts to theConstitutional Court of Russia.
Constitutional and charter courts used to hear cases relating to conformity with regional constitutions or charters of laws adopted byregional legislatures andgovernors' decrees, and in this category of cases constitutional and charter courts were courts of single instance.
Constitutional and charter courts of the federal subjects were disestablished by the2020 amendments to the Constitution of Russia.[18][19][20][21]
As for 2020, constitutional courts remained in force in the 12 (out of 22) following republics:
In the republics ofBuryatia andTuva, the constitutional courts were abolished by the republican constitutional laws in 2018 and 2019, respectively.[26] In the republics ofBashkortostan,Tatarstan, andSakha, the disestablished constitutional courts were transformed into constitutional councils, without any judicial powers.[27][28][29]
Until 2020, charter courts existed in following federal subjects:
The charter court ofChelyabinsk Oblast was disestablished in 2014.
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