A GUIDE TO THE LITHUANIAN LEGAL SYSTEM AND RESEARCH

By Elona Norvaisaite

Elona Norvaisaite is a reference librarian at the Law and Politics Reading Room of the Information Center of the National Library of Lithuania.

Update to an article previously published on LLRX.com on January 2, 2003

<http://www.llrx.com/features/lithuanian2.htm>

Published February 2005

Read the Update!

Background

The Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika) is an independent democratic state. The foundation of the social system is enforced by the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, adopted in 1992 by referendum, which also establishes the rights, freedoms, and duties of citizens. Under that law, sovereign state power is vested in the people of Lithuania and is exercised by the Seimas (Parliament), the President of the Republic, the Government, and the Courts. 1

The Lithuanian legal system is principally based on the legal traditions of continental Europe. During Soviet occupation, the Lithuanian legal system was significantly altered to conform to that of the USSR, but since 1990 the remnants of the imposed norms and practices have been eradicated. 2

The recent years were important in the reforming Lithuanian legal system. In 2001, the new Civil Code came into effect. During recent years other important codes (Code of Civil Procedure, Criminal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Code of the Execution of Penalties, Labour Code) were newly re-enacted by the Parliament, and entered in force in 2003. Moreover, the Lithuanian laws have been harmonised with the acquis communautaire of the EU in order to become a member state as of 1 May 2004.

More information about the history of Lithuanian legal system can be found on the website of the Ministry of Justice.

The legal system of Lithuania, the court system, and others are also presented on the internet site of the Ministry of National Defence.

The publication “Lithuania at a Glance”, prepared by the law firm Bernotas & Dominas Glimstedt, provides information about the Lithuanian legal system, the types of legislation, gives an overview of the Codes, etc.

Types of Legislation

In the Lithuanian legal system, the principal body of law is statutory.

Substantive branches of the Law are codified in codes (please, always pay attention to the links – Amendments; Acting Editions and Translations)

The legal and regulatory system includes the following:

  • the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania – (Lietuvos Respublikos konstitucija);
  • constitutional laws (konstitucinis istatymas);
  • laws (istatymas);
  • resolutions (nutarimas) of the Seimas (the Parliament) and Government (Vyriausybe);
  • decrees (dekretas) of the President;
  • acts (isakymas, aktas, etc.) of other governmental institutions and local municipal authorities.

All regulatory acts, including laws, must comply with the Constitution. International treaties and conventions automatically become part of the Lithuanian legal system from the moment of signing or accession. Those ratified by the Seimas prevail over internal laws, whether enacted at the moment of ratification of such treaty or convention or later. A law enters into force upon its promulgation by the President (or in some cases, the Chairman of the Seimas) and its publication in Valstybes zinios (the Official Gazette). 3

More information about the legislative procedure and the diagram of legislative procedure can be found online.

The Court System

The core of Lithuanian court system consists of courts of general jurisdiction, dealing with civil and criminal matters: the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, and district and local courts. In addition, in1999 a system of specialised administrative courts was established to hear administrative cases. It consists of the Supreme Administrative Court and district administrative courts.

Judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the Seimas, while judges of the Court of Appeals are appointed by the President upon approval by the Seimas. Judges of the district and local courts are appointed by the President.

Traditionally, Lithuanian law did not recognise the doctrine of precedent. Nevertheless, its elements have been gradually introduced due to the need to ensure consistency in the interpretation of law. Currently, the court hearing a case is obliged to take into consideration published decisions of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court.

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania is not a part of the court system, but is a separate independent judicial body with the authority to determine whether the laws and other legal acts adopted by the Seimas are in conformity with the Constitution, and whether the legal acts adopted by the President and the Government conform to the Constitution or laws. 4

The National Courts Administration gives an overview of the Judicial System of the Republic of Lithuania in English.

Sources of Law

Lithuanian

Printed Sources

Legal acts of Lithuania are officially published in the “Valstybes zinios” (the Official Gazette) (1993-), which is issued twice a week by the Publishing House of the Seimas.

Lithuanian legislation of the period 1992-1993 was published in the official publication called “Lietuvos Respublikos Seimo ir Vyriausybes zinios”. In 1990-1992 the official publication was called “Lietuvos Respublikos Auksciausiosios Tarybos ir Vyriausybes zinios”.

The Publishing House of the Seimas publishes a collection of Lithuanian legal documents – “Lietuvos Respublikos Seimo dokumentu rinkinys” (1991- ), which includes basic laws of Lithuania, decrees of the President, and the rulings and decisions of the Constitutional Court.

Another main publisher of official texts is the Legal Information Centre of the Ministry of Justice.

The Legal Information Center (TIC) at the Ministry of Justice regularly publishes Codes of the Lithuanian Republic, various collections of Lithuanian legal acts, and a subject index to legal acts by the title “Lietuvos Respublikos istatymu ir kitu teises norminiu aktu rodykle”.

Free Internet Sources

The full text of Lithuanian laws is available in the database of the Seimas entitled Legal Acts of Lithuania. The database contains legal acts of the Seimas, the government, and other executive bodies and institutions.

In addition, legal acts of the recent years can be found at the Government homepage by choosing the link called Teisine informacija (Legal information) and then the link Nutarimai ir potvarkiai (Resolutions and decisions). Selecting the link called Teises aktu projektai, after choosing the relevant ministry, provides drafts of the legal acts of various ministries of the Republic of Lithuania. Many legal acts (Minister’s orders – Ministro isakymai, etc.) of various Ministries of the Republic of Lithuania can be found at the internet site of the relevant ministry.

Commercial Internet Sources

The Legal Information Retrieval System LITLEX is being developed by The Legal Information Center of the Ministry of Justice. There are two versions of LITLEX: LITLEX IntRAnet and LITLEX IntERnet.

The commercial database provides full-texts of Lithuanian laws. The texts of laws are only in Lithuanian, and the database is available only to subscribers.

English

Printed Sources

The monthly “Parliamentary Records”, the Official Gazette in English, was available to subscribers from 1992 to 1999. There is no paper copy any more, so the translations of the laws in English can be retrieved from the database of the Seimas.

  • Acts of Law Regulating the Activities of the Banks of Lithuania is published 3 times per year by the Bank of Lithuania and is currently available to subscribers.
  • Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania: approved by the citizens of the Republic of Lithuania in the Referendum on 25 Oct., 1992. – Vilnius : Publ. House of the Seimas, 1993. – 134 p.

Free Internet Sources

A great amount of Lithuanian laws in English can be retrieved from the database of the Seimas – Legal Acts of Lithuania.

The old version of the internet site of the Legal Information Center of the Ministry of Justice provides a list of some basic Lithuanian laws in English. Since 2001 this portion of the website has not been updated.

Not all the amendments and supplements to the legal acts are translated into English.

The internet site EXJURE.COM, administrated by the Center for Legal Projects and Research, also provides a useful list of Legal Acts of Lithuania (in English, with links to translated acting editions if they are available).

When searching for the translations of various legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania, it is useful to open the English internet site of the relevant Ministry of the Republic of Lithuania and choose the link called ‘Legislation’ or ‘Legal Acts’, etc., where it is possible to find a list of the main legal acts of Lithuanian regulations; for example:

The Bank of Lithuania website’s section Legal acts provides some laws regulating activity of the Bank of Lithuania and credit institutions. “Acts of Law Regulating Activities of the Banks of Lithuania”, published by the Bank of Lithuania, is available in an electronic form in the section Publications on the Bank of Lithuania website.

At present, Lithuanian Codes have no full text translations into English, except the Labour Code and the Road Transport Code.

The English version of the first three books of the Civil Code of Lithuania is available at the website of the Ministry of Justice.

Lithuanian Courts and Case Law, Court Rulings, Decisions

The formation and competence of courts are determined by the Law on Courts of the Republic of Lithuania. The Law establishes the court system, the jurisdiction, organization, activities, administration and autonomy of courts, their principles, the status of judges, appointment of judges, their promotion and liability, and other issues relating to courts.

The Constitutional Court of Lithuania

The Constitutional Court was established in 1993. It is not a part of the Lithuanian judicial system. Its status and the procedure for the execution of its powers are defined in the Law on the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. The decisions of the Constitutional Court on issues assigned to its jurisdiction by the Constitution are final and may not be appealed.

More information on the functions and powers of the Constitutional Court, as well as proceedings of the Court, can be found on the Constitutional Court homepage.

The Supreme Court of Lithuania

The Supreme Court contains the Civil Cases Division, the Criminal Cases Division and the Supreme Court Senate. The Supreme Court is the only cassation instance for effective court decisions, judgments and rulings. The Supreme Court forms the uniform judicial practice for the application of laws.

The Court of Appeals of Lithuania

The Court of Appeals of Lithuania (Lietuvos apeliacinis teismas) internet site is only in Lithuanian.

The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania

The Supreme Administrative Court’s internet site provides information about the administrative courts system in Lithuania and the role of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania.

Administrative Justice in Lithuania. An Assessment

Case Law, Court Rulings, Decisions

Lithuanian

Printed Sources

The Constitutional Court annually publishes “Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinio Teismo nutarimai ir sprendimai” (“Rulings and decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania”) (1994-).

The Supreme Court forms the uniform judicial practice for the application of laws. The Court periodically publishes the bulletin “Teismu praktika” (“Court Practice”) (1995-). The bulletin contains proposed and approved rulings by the chambers of judges or the plenary session of the Supreme Court. The courts, state and other institutions, as well as other subjects, in applying the same laws, have to take into account the interpretations on the application of the laws provided in such rulings. In addition, the bulletin contains overviews of case-law in specific categories of cases approved by the Senate of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Administrative Court is responsible for developing a uniform practice of administrative courts in interpretation and application of statutes and other legal acts. For that purpose the Supreme Administrative Court periodically issues its bulletin under the title “Administraciniu teismu praktika” (“Practice of Administrative Courts”) (2001-). Interpretation with regard to the application of statutes and other legal acts found in the decisions, rulings, and orders which are published in the bulletin of the Supreme Administrative Court shall be taken into account by courts, state and other institutions, as well as by other entities when applying these statutes and other legal acts.

Free Internet Sources

The full text of the rulings (nutarimas), decisions (sprendimas) and conclusions (isvados) of the Constitutional Court from 1993 on, presented by the year, are available at the Court’s official internet site.

The rulings (nutartis) of the Supreme Court divided according to the civil and criminal cases, and the other legal acts of the Court can be searched from the Supreme Court’s official website by choosing the link – Teismo dokumentai (Court’s documents).

The Supreme Administrative Court’s homepage has a link Teismu praktikos biuletenis, where it is possible to find consultations, latest rulings of the Supreme Administrative Court and some cases, published in the Court’s bulletin under the title “Administraciniu teismu praktika” (“Practice of Administrative Courts”).

English

Printed Sources

The Constitutional Court publishes the “Rulings and decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania” (1994-) in English.

The rulings and decisions of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court, as well as the overviews of case-law, have no translations into English.

Free Internet Sources

Rulings, decisions and conclusions of the Constitutional Court in English.

The Lithuanian legal portal INFOLEX is orientated not only to Lithuanian professional lawyers, but also to a wider audience. The portal has a main page and separate sections for: LITLEX users, law students, and the public. Every section has various subdivisions. The portal’s legal information is constantly updated.

The English version of the Lithuanian legal portal INFOLEX is orientated to the foreign user searching for legal and business information from Lithuania. INFOLEX provides Lithuania’s press roundup and business news, and gives information about the main Lithuanian legal institutions. There is a link to the guide Doing Business in Lithuania. The English version of INFOLEX portal provides not only texts of the legal updates prepared by several law firms, but also offers the ability to search information by legal subject, for example – Civil law, etc.

Parliamentary Information

The Parliament of Lithuania, the Seimas, is a one-chamber parliament. The Seimas consists of 141 MPs who are elected for a four-year term. The Seimas elects its Chairpersons and Deputy Chairpersons.

The internet site of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania provides current information on the Seimas: information about its work and history; members and parliamentary groups; committees and commissions; public and international relations. There you can also find a list of the latest legal acts. The latest issue of the Official Gazette can be read by choosing the link called Naujausias “Valstybes ziniu” numeris.

The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, Constitutional Laws and the Statute of the Seimas are presented in the website’s section “Legal acts”. The legal acts of Lithuania database can be searched for free.

The monthly issue of “Parliamentary Mirror” (1998-) can be found on the Seimas internet site in PDF format. It presents a brief review of the main laws adopted by the Seimas, covers visits of foreign guests to Lithuania, their meetings with Lithuanian parliamentarians, ministers and politicians, gives short summaries of press conferences, presents the different opinions on principal political and economic issues, as well as urgent problems at home and foreign policy of the country.

Presidential Information

The President is the head of state and performs all duties that he or she is charged with by the Constitution and the law. The citizens of the Republic of Lithuania elect the President of the Republic of Lithuania on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot for a five-year term. One can find more information about the legal framework of the office of the President on the President of the Republic of Lithuania’s internet site. The website provides information on Presidential activities (Highlights, Speeches and Statements, Press Releases, etc.)

Government Information

The Government is the highest authority of executive power. It is comprised of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers. The President of the Republic of Lithuania, with the approval of the Seimas, appoints the Prime Minister.

Ministers are appointed by the President of the Republic on the nomination of the Prime Minister.

From the Government of the Republic of Lithuania internet site you can find the Government Constitutional obligations, Programme of the Government, government resolutions, the drafts of the legal acts (only in Lithuanian) and other legal material prepared by various ministries.

Several websites maintain lists of the Lithuanian ministries and their

departments and offer English access:

Often it is very helpful to open the internet page of a ministry and search

for legal acts associated with that ministry by choosing the link – Teises

aktai (Legal acts) or Ministro isakymai (Minister’s orders).

Ministries of the Republic of Lithuania:

Local Authorities Information

The territory of Lithuania is divided into 10 regional administrative districts or counties. Counties consist of territories of 9 towns and 51 region municipalities. In turn, the territories of the municipalities fall into subdistricts. The head of the county is appointed by the Government. The basic task of his or her administration is to ensure fulfillment of the Constitution and laws in the territory of the county.

Lithuania and European Union

Law Libraries

Law Journals

The law schools of Lithuania issue their own law journals, most of which have their own internet sites. Several Lithuanian legal scientific and practical journals also have electronic versions.

“Teise” – “Law”

The Vilnius University Law Faculty publishes the scientific periodical research papers “Teise” – “Law”; articles are provided with summaries in English or sometimes in German or Russian. Starting from Vol.46 it is possible to find a full text of all articles with summaries in English or other languages (in pdf format).

“Jurisprudencija” – “Jurisprudence”

The Law University of Lithuania publishes the scientific journal “Jurisprudencija” – “Jurisprudence”, newsletters of conferences and monthly newspaper of the University.

The internet version of the journal “Jurisprudencija” with the full-text articles (mostly in Lithuanian), and with summaries in Lithuanian and English starting from Vol. 24(16), can be found at the internet address – http://www.ltu.lt/padaliniai/leidyba/leidyba.html (choose the link called – Mokslo leidiniai).

“International Journal of Baltic Law”

Vytautas Magnus University School of Law has an on-line law review published jointly with the Florida Coastal School of Law, in cooperation with Lithuanian American Bar Association, called the “International Journal of Baltic Law”. The electronic law review “International Journal of Baltic Law” publishes full-text articles with abstracts in Lithuanian or English.

“Justitia” – “Justitia”

The electronic version of the legal scientific-practical journal “Justitia” can be found at the website of the legal literature publishing house Justitia. Only a few of the articles each issue are full-text. It is possible to browse the contents of the journals or read a part of some article, and to search by the name of the author or by keyword from the title of the article. It is useful that the archive of “Justitia” articles is grouped by the legal subjects. The language of the articles is Lithuanian.

“Teises zinios” – “Legal News”

“Teises zinios” is a supplement of the legal scientific-practical journal “Justitia”. The archive of “Teises zinios” articles is also grouped by the legal subjects. Only some articles are available in full-text. The language of the articles is Lithuanian.

Teises problemos” – “Law Problems”

The abstracts of the articles of the scientific-practical journal “Teises problemos” (“Law Problems”) in the Lithuanian and English languages, are available at the Law Institute website.

“Juristas” – “Jurist”

“Juristas” is a practical journal for company jurists, published by the publishing house “Paciolis”. The electronic version of the journal has an archive and provides the full-text of one actual article from each issue, while also giving information about the contents of all the issues. The language of the articles is Lithuanian.

The two other Lithuanian periodical legal publications – “Verslo ir komercine teise” (“Business and Commercial Law”), and “Advokatura” (“The Bar”) have no websites.

Law Textbooks, Monographs

English

General

  • Anti-communist congress and proceedings of the international public tribunal in Vilnius “Evaluation of the Crimes of Communism”, 2000. – Vilnius: Ramona, 2002. – 1006 p. – ISBN 9986-851-94-7.
  • Anti-communist Congress and Public Tribunal: [International Congress on the Evaluation of the Crimes of Communism]: Vilnius, June 12-14, 2000. – Vilnius: Valstybes zinios, [2002]. – 126 p. – ISBN 9986-18-084-8.
  • Baltic yearbook of international law. – Vol. 1-. – The Hague : Kluwer Law International, 2002-. – ISSN 1569-6456. Vol. 1 (2001) / editior-in-chief Ineta Ziemele. – 2002. – XIX, 330 p. – ISBN 90-411-1736-9.
  • Conception of the state ruled by law in Lithuania: summary of the research report presented for habilitation: field: social sciences, Law / Alfonsas Vaisvila; The Law University of Lithuania, 2001. – 50 p.
  • Foreign power: excerpts from Lithuanian laws on communism, occupation, resistance / [prepared by Vytautas Landsbergis]. – Vilnius: The Supreme Council – Reconstituent Seimas of the Rep. of Lithuania: The Seimas of the Rep. of Lithuania [i.e. Valstybes zinios], 2000. – 34 p. – ISBN 9986-18-074-0.
  • International legal status of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the years 1918-1994 / Jarosław Sozański. – Riga, 1995. – 215 p.
  • Lietuvos statutas, 1529 = The statute of Lithuania, 1529 = Statuta Lituaniae, 1529. – Vilnius: Artlora, 2002. – 261 p. – ISBN 9955-508-04-3.

Constitutional Law

  • Constitutional justice in Lithuania. – Vilnius : The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, 2003. – 677p. – ISBN 9986-9181-5-4.
  • Interpretation and direct application of the Constitution: the Baltic-Nordic regional conference, Vilnius 15-16 March 2002 / The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, The Council of Europe, The European Commission for Democracy Through Law. – Vilnius: CCRL, 2002. – 284 p. – ISBN 9986-9181-3-8.
  • The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. – Vilnius : The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, 2002. – 21 p. – ISBN 9986-9181-2-X.
  • Konstitucine justicija = Constitutional justice: the present and the future. – Vilnius, 1998. – 487 p.
  • Constitution as a legal base for a system and functions of organs of the state: the 4th Baltic-Norwegian Conference on Constitutional Issues, Tallinn, March 1996 / Estonian Academy of Sciences. – Tallinn: Estonian Academy Publ., [1997]. – 152 p.- ISBN 9985-50-126-8.

Civil Law, Civil Procedure

  • Lithuania / by Dalia Mikeleniene and Valentinas Mikelenas. – The Hague : Kluwer Law International, 2000. – 166 p. – (International Encyclopaedia of Laws. Civil Procedure).

Business Law

  • Legal conditions for developing small and medium-sized business in Lithuania/ Ruta Brazauskiene, Saulius Brazauskas. – Vilnius : Eugrimas, 1999. – 143 p. – ISBN 9986-752-45-0.

Maritime Law

  • Klaipedos valstybinio juru uosto teisinis statusas = Legal status of Klaipeda State Seaport / Gitana Kisonaite. – Vilnius: Justitia, 2002. – 207 p. – ISBN 9986-567-66-1.

German

  • Freiheitliche demokratische Grundordnung : Begriff im Grundgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland u. Demokratie- u. Rechtsstaatsprinzip in der Verfassung der Republik Litauen / Egidijus Sileikis. – Vilnius, 1995. – 200 p. – ISBN 9986-691-07-9

Law Dictionaries

English – Lithuanian

  • Anglu-lietuviu kalbu teises zodynas = English-Lithuanian law dictionary / Olimpija Armalyte, Lionginas Pazusis. – Vilnius : Alma Littera, 1998. – 524 p. – ISBN 9986-02-492-7.
  • Mokomasis anglu-lietuviu kalbu teises terminu zodynas / Vita Bitinaite. – Vilnius : Eugrimas, 1998. – 231 p. – ISBN 9986-752-15-9
  • Mokomasis anglu-lietuviu kalbu teisetvarkos zodynas / Lietuvos teises universitetas. – Vilnius : LTU Leidybos centras, 2001. – 127 p.- ISBN 9955-442-42-5.

German – Lithuanian

  • Vokieciu-lietuviu, lietuviu-vokieciu kalbu teises terminu zodynas = Deutsch-litauisches, litauisch-deutsches juristisches Wörterbuch / E. Volungeviciene. – Vilnius : Zodynas, 1995. – 284 p. – ISBN 9986-465-22-2.

The main legal publishers in Lithuania are:

Tel.: (+370 5) 273 39 55; 275 47 54

E-mail: info@eugrimas.lt

Tel.: (+370 5) 2790 859

Fax: (+ 370 5) 2790 984

E-mail: knygos@justitia.lt; justitia@justitia.lt

Tel.: (+370 5) 261 28 06; 262 36 50

Fax.: (+370 5) 261 28 06

E-mail: leidyba@tic.lt

Tel.: (+370 5) 239 63 03

Fax.: (+370 5) 239 63 04

E-mail: redakcija@valstybes-zinios.lt

Footnotes

1 Country Profile: Political System / Lithuanian Development Agency // Doing Business in Lithuania. May 2003. Available online at: <http://www.lawin.lt/book/>. [last visited Feb. 26, 2004].

2 Brief Introduction to Lithuanian Legal System / Law Firm Lideika, Petrauskas, Valiunas ir partneriai // Doing Business in Lithuania. May 2003. Available online at: <http://www.lawin.lt/book/>. [last visited Feb. 26, 2004].

3 Brief Introduction to Lithuanian Legal System / Law Firm Lideika, Petrauskas, Valiunas ir partneriai // Doing Business in Lithuania. May 2003. Available online at: <http://www.lawin.lt/book/>. [last visited Feb. 26, 2004].

4 Brief Introduction to Lithuanian Legal System / Law Firm Lideika, Petrauskas, Valiunas ir partneriai // Doing Business in Lithuania. May 2003. Available online at: <http://www.lawin.lt/book/>. [last visited Feb. 26, 2004].