Lithuanian Legal Research

By Elona Norvaišaitė

Elona Norvaišaitė was a reference librarian for several years at the Law and Politics Reading Room of the Information Center of the National Library of Lithuania. From 2006 to 2012, she worked as an information specialist at the Library of the European Parliament. Since 2015, Elona has worked at the Library of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania.

Published March/April 2023

(Previously updated in January 2008, August 2013, and September/October 2017)

See the Archive Version!

1. The Lithuanian Legal System

1.1. Background

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

The Lithuanian legal system is generally based on the legal tradition of continental Europe. Since restoration of Lithuania’s independence in 1990, the legal system has been reformed to meet the demands of the modern open economy. The EU law became a part of the Lithuanian legal system on 1 May 2004.

European e-Justice Portal – Information on the Lithuanian legal system and an overview of the Lithuanian law.

  • Introduction to Lithuanian Law / Edited by Charles F. Szymanski, Tomas Berkmanas, Edita Gruodytė, Julija Kiršienė; Vytautas Magnus University. – Vilnius: Justitia, 2011. – 371 p. – ISBN 978-9955-616-73-3
  • Lithuanian Legal System Under the Influence of European Union Law: Collection of scientific articles on the influence of European Union law on the Lithuanian constitutional, administrative and environment protection, criminal, civil and civil procedure, labour and social protection, finance law / Faculty of Law, Vilnius University. – Vilnius, 2014. – 672 p. – ISBN 978-609-459-352-9
  • The Law of the Baltic States / Kerikmäe, T., Joamets, K., Pleps, J., Rodiņa, A., Berkmanas, T., Gruodytė, E. (Eds.). – Springer, 2017. – ISBN 978-3-319-54477-9
  • Legal Developments During 30 Years of Lithuanian Independence: Overview of Legal Accomplishments and Challenges in Lithuania / Editors Gintaras Švedas, Donatas Murauskas. – Cham: Springer, 2021. – 315 p. – ISBN 978-3-030-54782-0

1.2. Types of Legislation

In the Lithuanian legal system, the principal body of law is statutory. Substantive branches of the law are codified in codes.

The legal and regulatory system includes the following:

  • the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania — (Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucija);
  • constitutional laws (konstituciniai įstatymai);
  • laws (įstatymai);
  • resolutions (nutarimai) of the Seimas (the Parliament) and the Government (Vyriausybė);
  • decrees (dekretai) of the President;
  • acts (įsakymai, aktai, etc.) of other governmental institutions and local municipal authorities.

All regulatory acts, including laws, must comply with the Constitution. All international treaties and conventions must be implemented in Lithuania; however, the ones ratified by the Seimas prevail over national laws.

More information about the Lithuanian legislative system and the legislative procedure can be found online.

1.3. The Court System

The National Courts Administration gives an overview of the Judicial System of the Republic of Lithuania. Council of Europe – The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ): Evaluation of European Judicial Systems; Country profile: Lithuania (scroll down the page to read on: Recent developments in the judicial field); European Judicial Systems – Efficiency and Quality of Justice, 2018.

2. Research Resources

2.1. Lithuanian

2.1.1. Free Internet Sources

The full text of Lithuanian laws is available in the official database of the Seimas. The database contains legal acts of the Seimas, the Government, and other executive bodies and institutions of the Republic of Lithuania.

Register of Legal Acts: Teisės aktų registras (TAR) – is the state register of the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania.

2.1.2. Commercial Internet Sources

The legal portal INFOLEX provides the commercial legal acts retrieval system – INFOLEX Teisės aktai. The legal information retrieval system LITLEX. 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.

2.2. English

A great number of Lithuanian laws in English can be retrieved from the database of the Seimas under Legal Acts of Lithuania. Not all the amendments and supplements to the legal acts are translated into English.

3. Lithuanian Courts and Case Law, Court Rulings, Decisions

The system of courts, their competence and the system of court organization and administration, as well as the system of self-governance of courts, the status of judges and their appointment, career, and other issues related to the judicial activities are regulated by the Constitution the Republic of Lithuania, the Law on Courts and other legal acts.

The court system of the Republic of Lithuania is made up of the courts of general jurisdiction and the courts of special jurisdiction.

The National Courts Administration provides the information on the Judicial system of the Republic of Lithuania, General Meeting of Judges, Judicial Council, Judicial Court of Honour, Judicial Ethics and Discipline Commission, Contacts of Courts, Statistics, etc.

3.1. The Constitutional Court of the Republic Lithuania

The Constitutional Court was established in 1993. 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.

3.2. The Supreme Court of Lithuania

The Supreme Court is the only court of cassation instance for reviewing effective judgments, decisions, rulings, and orders of the courts of general jurisdiction. It forms the uniform judicial practice for the application of laws.

The Supreme Court’s internet site provides information about the competence and functions of the Court, judges, etc.

3.3. The Court of Appeal of Lithuania

The Court of Appeal is appeal instance for cases heard by regional courts as courts of first instance. It also hears requests for the recognition of decisions of foreign or international courts and foreign or international arbitration awards and their enforcement in the Republic of Lithuania, as well as performs other functions assigned to the jurisdiction of this court by law. The Chairman of the Court of Appeal organizes and controls the administrative activities of the regional courts and their judges in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law.[1]

The Court of Appeal of Lithuania internet site provides information about the Court, history of the Court of Appeals and its role in the judicial system of the country; recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, etc.

3.4. The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania

The Supreme Administrative Court is first and final instance for administrative cases assigned to its jurisdiction by law. It is appeal instance for cases concerning decisions, rulings and orders of regional administrative courts, as well as for cases involving administrative offences from decisions of district courts. The Supreme Administrative Court is also instance for hearing, in cases specified by law, of petitions on the reopening of completed administrative cases, including cases of administrative offences. The Supreme Administrative Court develops a uniform practice of administrative courts in the interpretation and application of laws and other legal acts.[2]

The Supreme Administrative Court’s internet site provides information about the Court, the administrative courts, statistics, annual reports, etc.

3.5. Case Law, Court Rulings, Decisions

3.5.1. Lithuanian

Print Sources

Since 2006, the Constitutional Court has been publishing the bulletin “Konstitucinė jurisprudencija“. In addition to other materials, the bulletin publishes the Constitutional Court’s rulings and decisions.

The Constitutional Court published several books which present in a systemic manner the official constitutional doctrine that has been formed in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court from the very beginning of its activities till 2020:

  • Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinio Teismo oficialiosios konstitucinės doktrinos nuostatos, 1993-2009. Vilnius, Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas, 2010, 1108 p. – ISBN 978-9955-688-10-5.
  • Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinio Teismo oficialiosios konstitucinės doktrinos nuostatos, 2010-2014. Vilnius, Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas, 2014, 468 p. – ISBN 978-9955-688-20-4.
  • Oficialioji konstitucinė doktrina: svarbiausios nuostatos, 1993-2016. Vilnius, Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas, 2017. – 874 p. – ISBN 978-9955-688-30-3.
  • Oficialioji konstitucinė doktrina: svarbiausios nuostatos, 1993-2020. Vilnius: Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas, 2020. – 1007 p. – ISBN 978-9955-688-49-5.

Free Internet Sources

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

The website of the Supreme Court gives access to the rulings passed by the Supreme Court. The rulings, issued in the Lithuanian language, can be found by following the link – Teismo nutartys(court rulings). The bulletin “Teismų Praktika” (“Court Practice”) is published in the Lithuanian language. It is also available on the website of the Supreme Court of Lithuania by following the link – Biuletenis “Teismų praktika”.

The Supreme Administrative Court’s homepage has a section: Teismų praktika (Court Practice), where it is possible to find the Court’s bulletin “Lietuvos vyriausiojo administracinio teismo biuletenis”; the recent Court practice reviews; the Court practice summaries.

Commercial Internet Sources

Infolex.Praktika – Courts practice search engine integrated with the legal acts and other documents of the Republic of Lithuania.

3.5.2. English

Printed Sources

The Constitutional Court publishes the official constitutional doctrine and thematic collections of the Court’s rulings and decisions on actual topics:

  • Selected official constitutional doctrine, 1993-2016 / Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas ; sudarė Ingrida Danėlienė, Gediminas Mesonis, Viktorija Staugaitytė, Dainius Žalimas. – Vilnius : Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas, 2017. – 1020 p. – ISBN 978-9955-688-31-0
  • Elections: selected decisions, 1993 – September 2012. – Vilnius: The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, 2012, 522 p. – ISBN 978-9955-688-14-3
  • Higher education: selected decisions, 1996-2011. – Vilnius: The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, 2013. – 550 p. – ISBN 978-9955-688-18-1
  • The independence of the judiciary: selected decisions, 1994-2013. – Vilnius: Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, 2014. – 719 p. – ISBN 978-9955-688-22-8
  • Social rights: selected decisions, 2002-2015. – Vilnius: Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, 2016. – 650 p. – ISBN 978-9955-688-26-6

The rulings and decisions of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court, as well as the overviews of case-law, are not translated into English.


Free Internet Sources

4. Legal Portals

The target audience of the Lithuanian legal portal INFOLEX is not only Lithuanian professional lawyers, but also the wider public. The portal has the main page and separate sections: Teisės aktai (Legal acts), Teismų praktika (Court practice). Every section has various subdivisions.

See also, Teise.Pro.

5. Parliamentary Information

The Parliament of Lithuania, the Seimas, is a one-chamber parliament. The Seimas is vested with the supreme legislative power. The Seimas consists of 141 MPs who are elected for a four-year term by the universal, equal, direct suffrage and secret ballot. 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 concerning its work and history; members and political groups; committees and commissions; public and international relations. In this site you can also find lists of the latest legal acts, projects and other documents by following the link Teisėkūros naujienos (Latest developments).

The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and the Statute of the Seimas are presented in the website’s section “Legal acts“. Access to the Register of Legal Acts is free.

6. Presidential Information

The President of the Republic is the Head of State. The President represents the State of Lithuania and performs all the duties that he or she is charged with by the Constitution and laws. The citizens of the Republic of Lithuania elect the President of the Republic of Lithuania on the basis of the universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot for a five-year term. One can find more information about, the Presidential functions, 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, Press Releases, etc.

7. 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.

On the Government of the Republic of Lithuania’s internet site you can find information about the Government Constitutional obligations, the Programme of the Government, the Ministries, Agencies, etc.

Often it is very helpful on the internet page of a ministry or a government institution to search for legal acts related to that ministry or institution by following the link – Teisinė informacija (Legal information) or Teisės aktai (Legal acts), etc.

See the Ministries of the Republic of Lithuania. See the Agencies and Other Institutions.

8. Local Authorities Information

Local self-government is organized based on the administrative and territorial division of Lithuania. Lithuania is divided into 10 counties (apskritys), which are further subdivided into 60 municipalities (savivaldybės).

9. Lithuania and European Union

10. Legal Research Institutes, Centers

11. Legal and Other Centers

12. Legal Profession

13. Legal Education

14. Law Libraries

15. Law Journals

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

“Teisė” – “Law”

Since 1957 Vilnius University Faculty of Law has published a journal “VU mokslo darbai. Teisė” (“VU scientific papers. Law”) which represents the legal science in Lithuania and abroad. It is a quarterly publication. The articles are published in Lithuanian and other languages. The electronic archive (full-text articles since 2008)

“Jurisprudencija” – “Jurisprudence”

Mykolas Romeris University publishes the scientific journal “Jurisprudencija” – “Jurisprudence”. The journal has been published since 1993. Four volumes are published per year. Articles are published in Lithuanian, English, German and French. The internet version of the journal “Jurisprudencija” with the full-text articles and summaries in Lithuanian and English can be found in the Archive. The archive has search functions by category, by title/author and by year of publication.

“International Comparative Jurisprudence”

The research journal focuses on theoretical and practical approaches to the wide range of political, legislative, social, economic, and other issues of law. It emphasizes the comparative analysis of international jurisprudence as well as the international aspects of national law of countries across the world. Articles are published in English; Two issues are published per year. See Archives.

“Baltic Journal of Law and Politics”

Vytautas Magnus University Faculty of Law in cooperation with Vytautas Magnus University Faculty of Politics and Diplomacy has been publishing a scientific periodical “Baltic Journal of Law & Politics” since 2008. The journal is published online. The language of the journal is English.

“Teisės apžvalga” – “Law Review”

From 1999 till 2000 Vytautas Magnus University Faculty of Law published a scientific journal Teisės apžvalga (Law Review). In June 2010 publication of the journal was renewed online. Law Review is a bilingual scientific journal – articles are published in Lithuanian and English. The scientific journal is published twice a year.

“Teisės problemos “– “Legal Issues”

The Law Institute of Lithuania publishes the quarterly scientific journal “Teisės problemos” (“Legal Issues”).

The abstracts and the full text of the articles are available at the Archive of the journal published in the Law Institute’s website. The archive can be browsed by the issue and by subjects.

16. Law Dictionaries

16.1. Multilingual

  • 5 kalbų žodynas: ekonomika, politika, teisė: [lietuvių, anglų, prancūzų, vokiečių, rusų kalbų atitikmenys / sudarytojai Ema Irenė Volungevičienė, Rasa Laurušonienė, Rasa Tamošaitienė]. – Vilnius: Teisinės informacijos centras, 2006. – 895, [1] p. – Pilna antr.: Penkių kalbų žodynas: ekonomika, politika, teisė. – ISBN 9955-557-84-2 (įr.)

16.2. English-Lithuanian

  • Aiškinamasis anglų-lietuvių kalbų teisės ir verslo žodynas / Vita Bitinaitė, Diana Snapkauskaitė. – Vilnius: Registrų centras, 2013. – 613, [1] p.; 24 cm. ISBN 978-9955-30-118-9 (įr.)
  • Mokomasis anglų-lietuvių kalbų teisės terminų žodynas: 3500 žodžių, 13 200 žodžių junginių / Vita Bitinaitė. – 3-iasis patais. ir papild. leid. – Vilnius: Eugrimas, 2008 (Kaunas: Spindulys). – 283, [1] p. – ISBN 978-9955-790-25-9 (įr.)
  • Mokomasis anglų-lietuvių kalbų teisetvarkos žodynas / Lietuvos teisės universitetas. – Vilnius: LTU Leidybos centras, 2001. – 127 p.- ISBN 9955-442-42-5.
  • Anglų-lietuvių kalbų teisės žodynas = English-Lithuanian law dictionary / Olimpija Armalytė, Lionginas Pažūsis. – Vilnius: Alma Littera, 1998. – 524 p. – ISBN 9986-02-492-7.

16.3. German-Lithuanian

  • Vokiečių-lietuvių kalbų žodynas ekonomistams, teisininkams ir verslininkams = Deutsch-litauisches Wörterbuch für Wirtschaftler, Juristen und Geschäftsleute / Yvonne Goldammer, Sigitas Plaušinaitis, Paulius Jurčys; [Lietuvos prekybos, pramonės ir amatų rūmų asociacija], Kaunas, Arx Baltica, 2007
  • Vokiečių-lietuvių kalbų žodynas teisininkams = Deutsch-litauisches Wörterbuch für Juristen / Yvonne Goldammer, Sigitas Plaušinaitis. – Vilnius: TEV, 2005. – 170, [1] p. – ISBN 9955-491-89-2
  • Vokiečių-lietuvių kalbų teisėtvarkos žodynas / Mykolo Romerio universitetas. – Vilnius: Mykolo Romerio universiteto Leidybos centras, 2004. – 314, [1] p. – ISBN 9955-563-85-0 (įr.)
  • Vokiečių-lietuvių kalbų teisės ir verslo terminų žodynas / Romaldas Rakucevičius. – Vilnius: [R. Rakucevičius], 2004 (Vilnius: Žygimantų sp.). – 295, [1] p. – ISBN 9955-425-91-1
  • Vokiečių-lietuvių, lietuvių-vokiečių kalbu teisės terminų žodynas = Deutsch-litauisches, litauisch-deutsches juristisches Wörterbuch / E. Volungevičienė. – Vilnius: Žodynas, 1995. – 284 p. – ISBN 9986-465-22-2.

17. Legal Publishers

The main legal publishers in Lithuania are:

18. Legal E-Guides

19. Law E-Articles, E-Books, etc.

E-Books in English published by Vilnius University Press:

20. Legal News

21. Miscellaneous

[1] National Courts Administration, Judicial System (accessed on January 17, 2023).

[2] National Courts Administration, Judicial System (accessed on January 17, 20223).