Constitutional law and human rights
Constitutional framework
Act No. 1/1993 Sb. (Constitution) and Act No. 2/1993 Sb. (Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms) are the core. The Czech Republic is a democratic rule-of-law state. Parliament consists of the Chamber of Deputies (200 members, four-year term) and the Senate (81 members, six-year term, one third renewed every two years). The President is directly elected; the government is responsible to the Chamber.
Fundamental rights
The Charter protects equality, dignity, personal liberty, privacy, property, freedom of expression, assembly, association and the right to a fair trial. Rights may be limited only by law, for a legitimate aim, and proportionately; the essence of the right must remain intact (Art. 4). The presumption of innocence, nemo tenetur and the right to counsel are procedural guarantees.
Constitutional Court
Act No. 182/1993 Sb. establishes the Constitutional Court (Ústavní soud), with 15 judges appointed for 10 years by the President with Senate consent. It reviews the constitutionality of statutes and treaties, decides competence disputes, reviews municipal ordinances and hears individual complaints after exhaustion of other remedies. A complaint must generally be filed within 60 days of the final decision; constitutional review is subsidiary.
Worked example
A newspaper publishes that a local politician “takes bribes”, based on an anonymous letter. The politician sues for protection of personality. The court must balance freedom of expression with personality rights using the proportionality test: suitability, necessity and proportionality in the narrow sense. Because the statement is a factual allegation of criminal conduct based on an unverified anonymous source, it is likely unlawful; an opinion or fair comment would be treated differently.
Traps
Treating the Charter as directly applicable against private parties without analysis; missing the 60-day complaint period; confusing the Constitutional Court with general courts; and ignoring the requirement to exhaust remedies and raise the constitutional issue earlier.