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Constitutional Act No. 143/1968 Coll., on the Czechoslovak Federation

The Constitutional Act was a legal accomplishment of a political decision on federalization of the unitary Czechoslovak Republic even though it has already known territorial autonomy of Slovakia. The Constitutional Act was adopted by the National Assembly on 27 October 1968 and signed by president Ludvík Svoboda on 30 October 1968 at Bratislava Castle; it came into effect on 1 January 1969. The state was defined as a nation state consisting of two nations, Czechs and Slovaks. The right to self-determination up to separation was acknowledged in the preamble of the Constitutional Act; still, secession of the member state was not regulated. The form of government was assembly government. Parliaments were supreme authorities of the unified state power in the federation and in the republics. The division of powers between the federation and the member states resulted from the exhaustively enumerated matters of jurisdiction of the federation (finances, industry, agriculture, transport, post, standardization of weights and measures, internal order safety etc.). When it comes to common jurisdiction, the federation performed those exhaustively enumerated. Jurisdictions that were not exhaustively enumerated in constitution belonged to the republics.  The federation formed a unitary customs territory. International legal subjectivity belonged exclusively to the federation. The federation consisted of two states – the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic. Two types of citizenship existed – federal citizenship and citizenship of the member state. Though only the federal citizenship was essential for the practical purposes (Czechoslovak citizens had the same rights in both republics), determining was the permanent residence.

The President of the Republic was elected by Federal Assembly for a five year term. Three-fifths majority of the votes of all deputies of both chambers of Federal Assembly and in the House of Nations in each of its parts was required for the president to be elected. The President was accountable to the Federal Assembly but the law did not presume any means of his removal.  He enjoyed absolute substantive immunity. President’s acts did not need to be countersigned, though he performed some of his competences on proposal of the Government. President appointed and dismissed the Government and could preside over the meeting of Government, he represented the state in foreign relations, he convened sessions of Federal Assembly and proclaimed these sessions to be terminated, he had the right to propose legislative bills, signed the laws and legal measures – he though did not have the right of veto, he was the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he appointed generals and higher state functionaries, he had the right to grant amnesty.

The Parliament - bicameral Federal Assembly - was originally elected for four years. The House of People consisted of 200 deputies; the number elected in each republic depended on the number of citizens of each republic. The House of Nations consisted of 150 deputies, 75 of them elected in each republic. In case of certain enumerated matters the ban of outnumbering applied and respective absolute or qualified majority had to be achieved not only in House of Nations as a whole but also within the deputies elected in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia and within the deputies elected in Slovakia. The ban of outnumbering applied for instance in case of the presidential election, when expressing confidence to the Government, when adopting budget, constitutional act and certain exhaustively enumerated acts. The ban of outnumbering caused that the bicameral parliament had effectively rather three chambers. That is why the Federal Assembly is known as an incomplete three chamber parliament or the parliament of two and a half chambers.

The Government was appointed and recalled by the President and was accountable to the Federal Assembly. At the head of the Government was its Chairman. The members of the Government were the Deputy Chairmen, ministers and state secretaries. A state secretary operated in each ministry. If the minister was a Czech citizen, the state secretary at the same ministry was always a Slovak citizen. The confidence to Government had to be expressed by both chambers and the ban of outnumbering applied in the House of Nations. The Government as a whole and each of its ministers were accountable to both chambers of the Federal Assembly. Even if just one of the chambers voted censure it led either to the resignation of the Government as a whole or of a specific minister. Federal ministries and committees were established by a constitutional act. Federal committees were collective administrative organs. Each committee was headed by a minister. The Committees consisted of citizens appointed equally from both republics.

The Constitutional Act on the Czechoslovak federation enshrined also the existence of a constitutional court that was meant to deal with the concurrence of the federal laws with the federal constitution and of the concurrence of the constitutional acts of the republics with the federal constitution. The Constitution also mentioned national constitutional courts.  The Constitution enshrined federal bank with the Governor at its head and management with parity representation of each republic. It also presumed the existence of national banks without defining their activities on the constitutional level. Federal and national banks were meant to execute emission activities, though the issue of currency was in jurisdiction of the federation.

Constitutional Act on the Czechoslovak federation enshrined also the constitutional organs of the member states and presumed the adoption of their own constitutions. The supreme organ of a republic was the National Council, the Czech National Council consisted of 200 deputies and the Slovak National Council consisted of 150 of deputies. The Presidium of the National Council was not only a governing body of the parliament; it also performed the role of the head of the state. That is why it appointed and recalled the government of the republic which was accountable to the National Council.