Legal Gaps that Lead to Constitutional Conflicts
The article discusses certain features of the constitutional doctrine of legislative omission developed by the constitutional courts of European countries, with special reference to the practice of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania. The formation of the doctrine of constitutional investigation of legal gaps reflects a general trend of the European constitutional justice. The occurrence of the component of legislative omission in the constitutional justice is a natural phenomenon, reflecting the recognition of the significance of securing the constitutional imperatives. Legislative omission means improper execution of the requirements to establish the necessary legal regulation, in disregard for the obligations directly established in the Constitution. The question whether the Constitution itself may have gaps is also analyzed. This article is founded on the author’s speech given in the context of the John Anastopoulos Lecture, at the European Public Law Organization, Athens, Greece, on November 13, 2009, based on information gathered during the drafting of the General Report of Constitutional Courts for the XIVth Congress of the Conference of European Constitutional Courts “Problems of Legislative Omission in Constitutional Jurisprudence” which took place on 3-6 June 2008 in Vilnius.
