For the second year in a row, a report by a team of Latvian researchers on current events and development trends in Latvian constitutional law has been included in the Global Review of Constitutional Law, prepared by the University of Texas at Austin, USA.

As in the previous year, the review of current constitutional law issues in Latvia in 2024 was prepared by Jānis Pleps, Senator of the Senate’s Department of Administrative Cases, Associate Professor at the University of Latvia, Viktorija Soņeca, a legal research counsel to the Senate's Department of Civil Cases and lecturer at the Riga Graduate School of Law, and researcher Kalvis Engīzers.

The report included an analysis of the most significant developments in the practice of the Constitutional Court of Latvia, the Senate (Supreme Court of Latvia), and the Saeima (Parliament of Latvia) in the field of constitutional law.

Case No SKA-112/2024, concerning restrictions on freedom of assembly in a geopolitical context, was highlighted from among the Senate's case-law rulings. This is one of three such cases heard by the Senate in 2024.

This case and another one (No SKA-135/2024) are mentioned in connection with the principle of self-defending democracy, which is emphasized as the main development trend in 2024.

In addition, one of Latvia’s contributions to its future includes the signing of Protocol 16 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which will give national supreme courts a new instrument for dialogue with the European Court of Human Rights.

The Global Review of Constitutional Law Project has been in existence since 2016, and this is its ninth edition. The review summarises reports on constitutional developments and court cases heard over the past year. The project is organized and implemented by constitutional law professors at the University of Texas at Austin.

This year, reports have been submitted about 70 countries around the world.

Global Review of Constitutional Review 2024 (free access)

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211