Pregledni rad
Emergency Decrees of the Croatian President between 1991 and 1992
Ivan Kosnica
; Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
At the beginning, this paper gives a brief notional historical overview of emergency decrees, after which follows a reconstruction of events in 1990 that led to the introduction of articles 17 and 101 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia as Constitutional decrees relating to states of emergency.
The central part of the paper deals with emergency decrees passed by the Croatian President Franjo Tuđman at the time of the open aggression against the Republic of Croatia in the second half of 1991 and the beginning of 1992. In this section, using sources, especially the minutes of the Commission for Constitutional Matters of the Croatian Partliament and the minutes of the plenary sessions of the Croatian Parliament, and also relevant literature, the paper sheds light on the circumstances under which the decrees were passed and approved by the Croatian Parliament, and thus provides a new interpretation of the decrees. After discussing the circumstances under which the decrees were passed, the author deals with various aspects of the decrees' content, first noting the basic characteristics of the decrees, and then classifying them according to fields, such as: internal affairs, defense and justice, and also those covering public services and the economy. While discussing particular decrees the author sets out only the main provisions of the decrees with a view to presenting their basic characteristics, such as the limitation of constitutional rights and the centralisation of public services and of the economy.
In the last part of the paper, the author analyzes the constitutionality of the decrees and their lifting. The question of whether the Parliament could convene is paramount in considering the constitutionality of the decrees, since this is important in establishing whether the President of the Republic had the power to pass decrees limiting constitutional rights. The author also considers the decision of the Constitutional Court to approve the constitutionality of the decrees. The lifting of the decrees is analyzed with special consideration given to the circumstances leading to this.
Ključne riječi
emergency decrees; Croatia; state of emergency; war
Hrčak ID:
65252
URI
Datum izdavanja:
22.2.2011.
Posjeta: 3.873 *