Adopted in a hurry, still in force: the Czech Constitution in plain terms

The Czech Constitution was adopted on 16 December 1992, a little over two weeks before the country it describes came into existence. The Czech National Council voted it through in the last days of Czechoslovakia, so that on 1 January 1993 the new state would already have a legal frame. The haste shows in the style: a short, practical text about institutions, with the long list of rights kept in a separate document.

A short text on how power works

The Constitution (Ústava, no. 1/1993 Coll.) is not long. The preamble speaks in the voice of "the citizens of the Czech Republic in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia". Article 1 declares a sovereign, unitary and democratic state governed by the rule of law, founded on respect for the rights and freedoms of the individual and the citizen.

The remaining chapters cover parliament, the president, the government, the courts, the Supreme Audit Office, the Czech National Bank and self-government. They share one principle: state power belongs to the people and is exercised through bodies bound by law. Public bodies may act only on the basis of the law and within its limits, while individuals may do whatever the law does not forbid. For the institutions at work, see how the Czech state is organised.

What counts as the constitutional order

When a Czech lawyer speaks of the constitutional order, the phrase means more than one document. It includes the Constitution, the Charter, constitutional acts adopted under the Constitution and a few older constitutional acts that define the state's borders. Constitutional acts are individual laws passed by the qualified majority, and several of them matter in daily life. The act that created the regions is one: it sits at the same level as the Constitution itself and can be changed only by the same procedure.

This layering matters when a court reads a case. The Constitutional Court asks whether something violates the constitutional order, not just a single article, and a violation of the Charter weighs as heavily as one of the Constitution.

A preamble with a long memory

The preamble does more than name the three lands. It also speaks of the ancient statehood of the Lands of the Crown of Bohemia and of Czechoslovak statehood, which is a reminder that the new republic presented itself as a continuation rather than a beginning. Lawyers argue about how much weight a preamble carries, since it is not an operative article. Its tone is nevertheless useful context for the rest, because it ties the 1993 state to a long tradition of institutions, from the Bohemian kingdom to the interwar republic. A reader who wants the history behind that sentence can start with the Přemyslids and the medieval Czech state.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms

The rights themselves are in a separate text, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (Listina základních práv a svobod, no. 2/1993 Coll.). It dates from 1991, adopted in federal Czechoslovakia as a response to decades of communist rule, and Czechia carried it into the new constitutional order with the same legal rank as the Constitution.

The Charter groups its rights. There are basic human rights and freedoms, such as life, personal liberty, privacy, religion and expression. There are political rights, including voting and assembly, and rights of national and ethnic minorities. Economic, social and cultural rights cover areas like education and health care, and a final group deals with judicial and other legal protection, including the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial.

Most of these belong to everyone under Czech jurisdiction, foreigners included. Political rights, such as voting in national elections and standing for office, are reserved for citizens. Some economic and social rights depend on the detail of statute, so what you can claim in practice varies with the law in question.

How the Constitution can be changed

Constitutional laws are passed by both houses, with three-fifths of all deputies (120 of 200) and three-fifths of the senators present. The president cannot veto them. This route was used, for example, to introduce the direct presidential election.

There is a limit. Article 9 says the essential requirements of a democratic state governed by the rule of law cannot be changed. The Constitutional Court has shown that the limit is real: in 2009 it annulled a constitutional act that shortened the term of the Chamber for a single occasion, finding it incompatible with that principle. How far parliament can amend the text is therefore more than a numbers game. The court is described in Czech Constitutional Court explained.

International law and the EU

Treaties have a special position. Those that parliament has approved, ratified and promulgated take precedence over ordinary laws. Article 10a allows certain powers of Czech state bodies to be transferred to an international organisation, which is the basis of EU membership since 2004. EU law is applied within the Czech legal order, and the Constitutional Court has watched the limits of that transfer, notably in its Lisbon Treaty rulings of 2008 and 2009.

Czechia is also bound by the European Convention on Human Rights, and its courts take account of the European Court of Human Rights.

What it means in daily life

For most residents the Constitution appears indirectly. A fair process before an office or a court, the confidentiality of correspondence, freedom to assemble and form associations, the right to own property and the right to an interpreter in court all come from the Charter. Czech is the language of official proceedings, and the Charter protects the right of members of national minorities to use their own language in dealings with authorities, as the law provides.

When a public authority violates your rights, the Constitution supplies the legal route. After the ordinary remedies are used up, an individual can file a constitutional complaint.

Four mistaken ideas about the text

People often assume that the Constitution lists rights. It does not; the Charter does. They assume the president runs the government, which the Constitution contradicts by making the cabinet answerable to the Chamber. They assume constitutional amendments are routine. In fact the creation of the regions and the move to a direct presidential vote each needed a constitutional majority in both houses. And they assume that a rule is constitutional because parliament passed it. The 2009 ruling that annulled a one-off constitutional act is a reminder that even a qualified majority has limits.

None of this makes the text rigid. Parliament has amended it repeatedly. But the shape that was adopted in a hurry in December 1992, a short text about institutions beside a longer text about rights, has proved durable enough to be used by courts and officials every day.

Reading the Charter

Official English translations of both texts exist, and the public administration portal is a good place to start. The Charter is short enough to read over a coffee. The next time a Czech office tells you "the law requires it", you will know which parts of that statement have a constitutional anchor.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I read the Constitution in English?

Official English translations of the Constitution and the Charter are available through the public administration portal and the parliament's websites.

Do foreigners have constitutional rights in Czechia?

Most Charter rights apply to everyone under Czech jurisdiction. Political rights such as national voting and standing for office are reserved for citizens.

Can the Constitution be amended?

Yes, by a constitutional law with three-fifths of all deputies and three-fifths of senators present. The essential requirements of a democratic state governed by the rule of law cannot be changed.