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Constitutional Act No. 376/1990 Coll.

The Constitutional Act No. 376/1990 Coll. was adopted on 20 September 1990. It came into effect on the same day by its promulgation. Even though the name of the Constitutional Act No. 376/1990 Coll. does not imply so, this constitutional Act amended not only the Constitution but also the Act No. 36/1964 Coll., on the organization of courts and elections of judges.

This short constitutional Act was rather technical amendment of the 1960 Constitution. In the first place, it eliminated art. 6 of the Constitution which referred to the National Front and its task of organizing all the political parties and social organizations under the leadership of the Communist Party in times of socialism. The rest of the Constitutional Act was dedicated to judicial power and, therefore, amended also the Act No. 36/1964 Coll., on the organization of courts and elections of judges. It incorporated the oath of a judge into the Constitution in the following wording: “I promise upon my honor and conscience that I will observe the constitutional [laws] and the other laws, and make decisions according to my best convictions, independently and impartially.” The emphasis on independence and impartiality of the judge was a reaction to the constitutional excesses of the judiciary between 1948 and 1989. In the same time, the part of the oath stating that a judge promises loyalty to “the cause of socialism” and to interpret the Constitution and laws “consistently with socialist legal conscience” (see § 42 section 1 of the Act no. 36/1964 Coll., on the organization of courts and elections of judges) was also abolished. Next, the Constitutional Act No. 376/1990 Coll. prescribed that judges were elected and dismissed (still by the legislative bodies) on the proposal of an authorized member of the Government of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic or by the Minister of Justice, not on the proposal of a respective organ of the National Front which was the case until then (see § 43 section 1 and 2 of the Act No. 36/1964 Coll., on the organization of courts and elections of judges). Yet, the judges still could have been dismissed by the organ that elected them (see art. 101 section 5 of the Constitution), that is by either the Federal Assembly of Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (federal judges) or by the respective national council (national judges).