Role of Constitutional and supreme Courts of the Czech Republic for the 21st Century

1 The Role of Supreme Judicial Authorities in the Czech Republic for the 21st Century Abstract This thesis first examines the historical development of judicial power and the role of supreme judicial authorities. Building on the analytical findings, it then proposes a model for reorganizing the judicial system in the area of civil litigations. The impulse for this proposal arises both from empirical data on the volume of case-law produced by the Supreme Judicial Authorities and from the critical views of Petr Šuk, Vice-President of the Supreme Court, who argues that achieving a high level of legal certainty is impossible under the current quantity of case law. The thesis introduces a conception based on the decentralization of judicial decision- making through the establishment of several regional final interpretative authorities. The logical consequence of such a system is the existence of multiple alternative interpretations of legal norms. This phenomenon is neither undesirable nor unfeasible. The thesis relies with that on Hans Kelsen's view that several logically possible, and therefore equally valid, interpretations of a legal norm may coexist. The benefits of decentralization are seen primarily in the creation of interpretative competition among courts, which should enhance both efficiency and the...