Tarptautinės teisės prielaidos nacionaliniam partnerytės institutui
| Date |
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2025 |
Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas 2025 m. balandžio 17 d. nutarimu pripažino, kad Lietuvos Respublikos civilinio kodekso patvirtinimo, įsigaliojimo ir įgyvendinimo įstatymo 28 str. prieštarauja konstituciniams teisinės valstybės ir atsakingo valdymo principams, o Lietuvos Respublikos civilinio kodekso 3.229 str. tiek, kiek pagal jį partnerystę galima sudaryti tik tarp vyro ir moters, prieštarauja Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucijos nuostatoms ir konstituciniam teisinės valstybės principui. Be jokių abejonių, šis Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinio Teismo nutarimas padarė esminę įtaką partnerystės instituto raidai teisinėje Lietuvos Respublikos sistemoje, tačiau dera atkreipti dėmesį į tai, kad minėto Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinio Teismo nutarimo motyvai plačiai grindžiami Europos Žmogaus Teisių Teismo jurisprudencija. Šis Konstitucinio Teismo požiūris atspindi konstitucinę doktriną, pagal kurią Konstitucija turi būti aiškinama pagal Lietuvos Respublikos tarptautinius teisinius įsipareigojimus, šiuo atveju kylančius ir iš Žmogaus teisių ir pagrindinių laisvių apsaugos konvencijos. Taigi, autorės nuomone, vertinant Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinio Teismo 2025 m. balandžio 17 d. nutarimą, kaip esmingą lūžį partnerystės instituto atžvilgiu, svarbu atkreipti dėmesį į tarptautinės ir nacionalinės teisės sąveiką, įvertinant, kokią įtaką nacionalinės teisinės sistemos kaitai šiuo požiūriu turėjo Europos Žmogaus Teisių Teismo jurisprudencija.
In its ruling of 17 April 2025, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania held that Article 28 of the Law on the Approval, Entry into Force and Implementation of the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania is incompatible with the constitutional principles of the rule of law and responsible governance. Furthermore, the Court found that Article 3.229 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania, insofar as it restricts the conclusion of a partnership exclusively to a man and a woman, is incompatible with the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and the constitutional principle of the rule of law. This ruling undoubtedly constitutes a significant milestone in the development of the partnership institute within the Lithuanian legal system: a situation had arisen whereby Chapter XV of Book Three of the Civil Code regulated the property relations of a man and a woman cohabiting without having concluded a marriage and having registered a partnership, while the law governing the procedure for the registration of such partnership itself had not been adopted. The existing legal vacuum was examined by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, which, in its ruling of 17 April 2025, clarified that the right of persons to a partnership (including persons of the same sex) may be implemented ad hoc by national courts when adjudicating cases concerning an individual legal relationship. However, particular attention should be paid to the fact that the Constitutional Court’s reasoning is extensively grounded on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. The Court’s approach reflects the established constitutional doctrine according to which the Constitution is interpreted in harmony with Lithuania’s international obligations, arising from the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Accordingly, when assessing the ruling of 17 April 2025 as a decisive turning point in the evolution of the partnership institute, it is essential to analyse the interaction between national constitutional law and international human rights law. In this respect, particular emphasis should be placed on evaluating the extent to which international human rights norms and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights have influenced changes in the national legal framework governing family life and legally recognised partnerships. The aim of this article is therefore to assess the impact of international human rights standards and judicial practice on the transformation of the partnership institute in Lithuania following the adoption of the ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania of 17 April 2025. An analysis of the development of the national partnership institute reveals a clear mechanism of interaction between international standards and national law: the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania interprets the Constitution in the light of the Convention, relying, inter alia, on the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights as a source for constitutional interpretation. In this manner, Convention directly influences the changes within the national legal system. The ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania of 17 April 2025 confirms that the concept of family life and private life as developed in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights has created the legal preconditions for the recognition of same-sex unions on the basis of the partnership institute.