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112-481: The history of the National Gallery dates back to the end of the 18th century (namely February 5, 1796), when a group of prominent representatives of Bohemian patriotic aristocracy ( Kolowrat , Sternberg , Nostitz ) and middle-class intellectuals decided to elevate what they called the "debased artistic taste" of the local population. The institution, which received the title Society of Patriotic Friends of

224-652: A centrally governed country , with only prima facie attributes of a federation. The need for a new federal constitution was first announced officially at the 17th Congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in spring 1986. A working group fronted by Marián Čalfa was set up in 1987 to draft this, and in November 1988, a 153-strong committee of the Communist Party and the National Front

336-512: A federation until the enactment of Constitutional Act No. 125/1970 Coll. in December 1970. Its explanatory notes clearly and openly articulate the need for "strengthening of the structural role of the central government of the federation" . This act introduced 37 direct changes and additions, which undid the original plan for federation and took away most of the powers of the federal republics. Consequently in 1970 Czechoslovakia became essentially

448-789: A kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire , and subsequently a part of the Habsburg monarchy and the Austrian Empire . After World War I and the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak state , the whole of Bohemia became a part of Czechoslovakia , defying claims of the German-speaking inhabitants that regions with German-speaking majority should be included in the Republic of German-Austria . Between 1938 and 1945, these border regions were annexed to Nazi Germany as

560-543: A republic , as sovereign , unitary and democratic Rechtsstaat (state characterized by the rule of law) based on respect to rights and freedoms of the citizen and man. The word "sovereign" means that the Czech Republic is fully capable of holding rights and carrying out legal acts, and is a full subject of international law, independent of any other power. Such sovereignty may, however, be voluntarily limited by membership in an international organisation (this

672-466: A Central European country to be canonized by Pope John Paul II before the " Velvet Revolution " later that year. After the Velvet Divorce in 1993, the territory of Bohemia remained in the Czech Republic. The new Constitution of the Czech Republic provided for higher administrative units to be established, providing for the possibility of Bohemia as an administrative unit, but did not specify

784-512: A German army in 1004, ending the rule of Bolesław I of Poland . The first to use the title of "King of Bohemia" were the Přemyslid dukes Vratislav II (1085) and Vladislaus II (1158), but their heirs would return to the title of duke . The title of king became hereditary under Ottokar I (1198). His grandson Ottokar II (king from 1253 to 1278) conquered a short-lived empire that contained modern Austria and Slovenia . The mid-13th century had

896-586: A Proto-Germanic *Bajahaimaz . Boiohaemum was apparently isolated to the area where King Marobod 's kingdom was centered, within the Hercynian forest . Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII in his 10th-century work De Administrando Imperio also mentioned the region as Boiki (see White Serbia ). The Czech name "Čechy" is derived from the name of the Slavic ethnic group , the Czechs , who settled in

1008-667: A constitution was enshrined in the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany of 1949, in reaction to development of 1919–1945. Firstly, it states that the Basic Law can only be changed by a statute that explicitly modifies or amends the wording of the Basic Law. Secondly, it contains a provision, which sets the substantive core beyond the reach of powers of the constitution-maker. This is called imperative of unchangeability or eternity clause . Unlike its Czech counterpart,

1120-519: A constitutional act is necessary to modify Czech Republic's national borders . Article 12 sets rules about the acquisition and loss of Czech citizenship . In 2007, a bill of a constitutional act on citizenship was drafted, which said explicitly that there was no legal claim to being granted Czech citizenship. This was likely an attempt to overcome case law of the Supreme Administrative Court , which has adjudicated that there

1232-549: A democratic state is not admissible, is what is known as entrenched substantive core of the Constitution . Historically, such entrenchment clause first appeared in the first Constitution of the French Republic of August 1804, stating that republican form of government can not be revised. Identical construction is in the current Constitution of France . Another important historical instance of entrenched clause in

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1344-432: A duty arises for the government, namely the legislature, not to enact laws which would impede compliance with international legal obligations. As a part of the application of international legal norms, the case law of international judicial institutions responsible for application of such norms must be taken into account. In his 1863 Gettysburg Address , Abraham Lincoln spoke of three features of democracy: "government of

1456-537: A government committee, and a committee of the Presidium of the Czech National Council. The government committee was chaired by Václav Klaus ; its other members were Jan Kalvoda, Cyril Svoboda , Filip Šedivý, Jiří Vlach, Vojtěch Cepl, Daniel Kroupa , Václav Benda , Václav Pečich, Jan Litomiský, Miloslav Výborný , Václav Novotný, Miroslav Sylla, Pavel Zářecký , and Dušan Hendrych. The members of

1568-902: A group of members of the Federal Assembly proposed the Constitutional Act on the Mode of Enactment of the New Constitutions of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the Czech Socialist Republic, and the Slovak Socialist Republic . Despite not having seen the drafts of the constitutions themselves, on 31 October 1989, the national assemblies of both countries approved this proposal. The resolution of

1680-590: A liberal democratic republic, but serious issues emerged regarding the Czech majority's relationship with the native German and Hungarian minorities. Following the Munich Agreement in 1938, the border regions of Bohemia historically inhabited predominantly by ethnic Germans (the Sudetenland ) were annexed to Nazi Germany . The remnants of Bohemia and Moravia were then annexed by Germany in 1939, while

1792-447: A new nation named and led by them with a united "slavic" ethnic consciousness. Bohemia was made a part of the early Slavic state of Great Moravia , under the rule of Svatopluk I (r. 870–894). After Svatopluk's death Great Moravia was weakened by years of internal conflict and constant warfare, ultimately collapsing and fragmenting because of the continual incursions of the invading nomadic Magyars . Bohemia's initial incorporation into

1904-580: A number of powers devolved to them, which were hitherto vested in federal bodies. However, neither the Constitution of the federation, nor the constitutions of either of the republics had been enacted prior to the election of 1992 . On 5 and 6 June 1992, elections were held for the Federal Assembly of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (parliament), the Czech National Council , and the Slovak National Council . In

2016-576: A provision, as the Civic Democratic Party and the Civic Democratic Alliance were opposed to referendums. In the end, it did find its way into the Constitution with support from some social democratic deputies, and at the insistence of Václav Havel. Although several drafts of a constitutional act on referendum had been prepared since the enactment of the Constitution, the only nationwide referendum conducted so far

2128-465: A rebirth as romantic nationalism developed among the Czechs. In 1861, a new elected Bohemian Diet was established. The renewal of the old Bohemian Crown ( Kingdom of Bohemia , Margraviate of Moravia , and Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia ) became the official political program of both Czech liberal politicians and the majority of Bohemian aristocracy ("state rights program"), while parties representing

2240-520: A tripartite monarchy (Austria-Hungary-Bohemia) failed in 1871. The "state-rights program" remained the official platform of all Czech political parties (except for social democrats) until 1918. Under the state-rights program, appealing to the stability of Bohemia's borders over many centuries, the Czech emancipation movement claimed the right to the whole of the Bohemian lands over the Germans' right to

2352-593: Is a right to Czech citizenship. Prague is declared the capital in article 13 . While details are left to a statute, article 14 lists the symbols of the Czech Republic: the coat of arms , the official colours , the national flag , the flag of the president , the official seal and the national anthem . Chapter two vests legislative and constitution-making power in the Czech Parliament . Article 15 stipulates that legislative power belongs to

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2464-614: Is binding for the government. This is closely related to the provision of article 3, pronouncing the Charter a part of the constitutional order, and article 9, forbidding everyone, including those legislating constitutional acts, to change the fundamental requisites of the democratic Rechtsstaat . The second paragraph, added to the Constitution in the Euro-amendment , adopts the basic principle of international law, to honestly fulfill all international obligations. From this article,

2576-461: Is further detailed in articles 99–105. There are three basic rules laid out in article 9 , stating that the Constitution can only be changed by a Constitutional Act (par. 1), that not even such a change can remove or disrupt the substantive core of the Constitution (par. 3), and that not even construction or interpretation of legal regulations can remove or disrupt this core (par. 3). The second paragraph, stating that changing substantial features of

2688-486: Is not required to do anything, unless it is imposed on him by law. This provision is similar to article 2 of the Charter. Where the constitution talks of "every citizen" , the Charter widens its to "everyone" . Article 3 , incorporating the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms into the constitutional order of the Czech Republic, is not a provision typical for a constitution. It was not before December 1992 that it

2800-473: Is the so-called shared or pooled sovereignty), as is the case with the Czech Republic and the European Union . The term "unitary" makes it clear that the state is not a federation or confederation. The definition of the Czech Republic as a democratic Rechtsstaat stresses the combination of the two principles, democracy and the rule of law. To modify either of these two is forbidden by article 9 of

2912-603: Is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic . Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohemian kings , including Moravia and Czech Silesia , in which case the smaller region is referred to as Bohemia proper as a means of distinction. Bohemia was a duchy of Great Moravia , later an independent principality,

3024-415: The Bohemian crown controlled such diverse lands as Moravia , Silesia , Upper Lusatia and Lower Lusatia , Brandenburg, an area around Nuremberg called New Bohemia, Luxembourg , and several small towns scattered around Germany. From the 13th century on, settlements of Germans developed throughout Bohemia, making Bohemia a bilingual country. The German settlers particularly brought mining technology to

3136-609: The Czech National Bank and the Supreme Audit Office , while Pavel Zářecký drafted chapters on territorial self-government. On 23 October 1992, three experts on constitutional law arrived to review the draft: Pavel Peška, Vladimír Klokočka and Pavel Holländer. The explanatory notes were written by Cyril Svoboda and Milena Poláková, on the weekend before it was due to be presented to prime minister Klaus. In all, four different drafts were created during

3248-602: The Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic , both of them on an equal footing within the federation. The Act stipulated in article 142, paragraph 2, that both republics would in due course enact their own constitutions, and also envisaged the creation of three constitutional courts. The plan, however, was not followed through due to the onset of the period of normalization . In fact, Czechoslovakia only functioned as

3360-742: The Elbe - Danube watershed . In the second century BC, the Romans were competing for dominance in northern Italy with various peoples, including the Gauls -Celtic tribe Boii . The Romans defeated the Boii at the Battle of Placentia (194 BC) and the Battle of Mutina (193 BC) . Afterward, many of the Boii retreated north across the Alps. Much later Roman authors refer to the area they had once occupied (the "desert of

3472-624: The Potsdam Agreement . The Bohemian Germans' property was confiscated by the Czech authorities, and according to contemporary estimates, amounted to a third of the Czechoslovak national income. Germans who were valued for their skills were allowed to stay to pass on their knowledge to the Czech migrants. The expulsion severely depopulated the area and from then on, locales were referred to in only their Czech equivalents regardless of their previous demographic makeup. The resettlement of

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3584-523: The Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic in a peaceful dissolution . The constitution is a constitutional act, and together with other constitutional acts constitutes the so-called constitutional order of the Czech Republic, or the constitution (with a small c). While the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms (Listina základních práv a svobod, No. 2/1993 Coll.), an equally important constitutional act, asserts human and civil rights,

3696-612: The Sudetenland . The remainder of Czech territory became the Second Czechoslovak Republic and was subsequently occupied as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia until the end of World War II, after which Bohemia became part of the restored Czechoslovakia. In 1969, the Czech lands (including Bohemia) were given autonomy within Czechoslovakia as the Czech Socialist Republic . In 1990, the name

3808-447: The Supreme Audit Office , the Czech National Bank , and territorial self-government, concluding with interim provisions. As of April 2013, the constitution has been amended eight times. The most important amendments are Act No. 395/2001 Coll. providing the legal framework for the accession to the EU in 2004, and Act No. 71/2011 Coll., which came into force on 1 October 2012, and provided for

3920-404: The rector of Charles University and a prominent reformer and religious thinker, influenced the rise of modern Czech. During the ecumenical Council of Constance in 1415, Jan Hus was sentenced to be burnt at the stake as a heretic . The verdict was passed despite the fact that Hus was granted formal protection by Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg prior to the journey. Hus was invited to attend

4032-408: The 'Euro-amendment' came into effect, it bestowed legal power akin to constitutional order onto international treaties on human rights and fundamental freedoms. The amendment has extended the treaties this applies to, and also granted them priority of application. Articles 10a and 10b have been added into the Constitution by the 'Euro-amendment' in reaction to the accession of the Czech Republic to

4144-615: The 1960 and 2000 reforms). However, the three lands are mentioned in the preamble of the Constitution of the Czech Republic : "We, citizens of the Czech Republic in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia..." Bohemia had an area of 52,065 km (20,102 sq mi), and today is home to about 6.9 million of the Czech Republic's 10.9 million inhabitants. Bohemia was bordered in the south by Upper and Lower Austria (both in Austria ), in

4256-597: The Arts, established the Academy of Fine Arts and the Picture Gallery. In 1918 the Picture Gallery became a central collection of newly formed Czechoslovakia . In 1995 new spaces dedicated to 19th- and 20th-century art were opened in the refurbished Veletržní Palác (Trade Fair Palace), itself a national monument as Prague's largest functionalist building and one of the earliest examples of that architectural style in

4368-562: The Bohemian aristocracy, started a campaign for restoration of the kingdom's historic rights, whereby Czech was to regain its historical role and replace German as the language of administration. The enlightened absolutism of Joseph II and Leopold II , who introduced minor language concessions, showed promise for the Czech movement, but many of these reforms were later rescinded. During the Revolution of 1848 , many Czech nationalists called for autonomy for Bohemia from Habsburg Austria, but

4480-621: The Bohemians could defeat the Bohemians." Despite an apparent victory for the Catholics, the Bohemian Utraquists were still strong enough to negotiate freedom of religion in 1436. That happened in the so-called Compacts of Basel , declaring peace and freedom between Catholics and Utraquists. It lasted for only a short period of time, as Pope Pius II declared the compacts to be invalid in 1462. In 1458, George of Poděbrady

4592-539: The Boii" as Pliny and Strabo called it ) as Boiohaemum . The earliest mention was by Tacitus ' Germania 28 (written at the end of the first century AD), and later mentions of the same name are in Strabo and Velleius Paterculus . The name appears to consist of the tribal name Boio- plus the Proto-Germanic noun * haimaz "home" (whence Gothic haims , German Heim , Heimat , English home ), indicating

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4704-500: The Constitution is concerned with state sovereignty and territorial integrity, and defines the institutions governing the state. The Constitution is divided into a preamble and 8 chapters. The fundamental provisions are followed by long chapters on the legislative power, the executive power (the cabinet and the president ), and the judicial power (the Constitutional Court and other courts), and shorter chapters on

4816-485: The Constitution of the Czech Republic has been enacted." The Constitution of the Czech Republic is a written constitution , having been promulgated in the official journal , the Collection of Laws. With reference to the provision of the article 39, paragraph 4 of the Constitution, which states that "for the enactment of a constitutional act, 3/5 of all deputies must agree, and 3/5 of senators present" , changing

4928-476: The Constitution. In the upshot, only a curtailed version of Havel's proposal made it into the Constitution. Article 8 is a basic provision granting the principle of territorial self-government. Such a provision is indispensable, as it is a substantial constitutive feature of democratic 'rechsstaat', as well as a requirement of the European Charter of Local Self-Government . Territorial self-government

5040-403: The Constitution. The term Rechtsstaat should not be understood merely formally, but substantively . The Constitutional Court confirmed this in its adjudications. As early as December 1993, it ruled: "The Constitution accepts and respects the principle of legality as a part of the overall concept of a Rechtsstaat ; it does not merely link positive law to formal legality, it also subordinates

5152-578: The Czech Constitution can be characterized as normative . The political process is carried out by the rules set out in it. High level of correspondence between the constitution and reality also makes it a real constitution. Despite being heavily influenced by the Czechoslovak Constitutional Charter of 1920 , the Czech Constitution is an original one. It has been agreed on through a political process. Most of

5264-507: The Czech National Council was promulgated as Act. No. 123/1989 Coll. and the resolution of the Slovak National Council as Act No. 124/1989 Coll. These constitutional acts were intended as a prerequisite for the enactment of a single 'three-in-one' constitution, serving the federation and both republics. Through the consent of both national councils, both republics waived their entitlement to their own constitutions. However,

5376-494: The Czech Republic The Constitution of the Czech Republic (Czech: Ústava České republiky ) is the supreme law of the Czech Republic . The current constitution was adopted by the Czech National Council on 16 December 1992. It entered into force on 1 January 1993, replacing the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia and the constitutional act No. 143/1968 Col., when Czechoslovakia gave way to

5488-512: The Czech Republic is defined in article 5 , which also ascribes irreplaceable role to political parties . Article 6 is dedicated to political decision-making, enshrining the principles of majority rule coupled with the protection of minorities . Article 7 enshrining the protection of nature was not a part of the Cabinet's draft of the Constitution. It was written by Václav Havel, convinced that there should be an "environmental paragraph" in

5600-481: The Czech Republic, the Civic Democratic Party won the election; in its electoral programme, the party spoke of either a functional federation, or separation, although keeping the federation was the preferred option. In Slovak Republic, the winner was the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia , whose election promise was to acquire international legal subjectivity for Slovakia – although this was clearly inconsistent with

5712-494: The EU. Article 10a set the condition on the transfer of powers on an international organization or institution. Article 10b stipulates that regarding issues obligations arising from such a membership, it is a duty of the Cabinet to inform the Parliament, and a right of the chambers of the Parliament to give their opinion. Constitutional grounds for defining what is Czech national territory are article 11 , also stipulates that

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5824-663: The German minority and small part of the aristocracy proclaimed their loyalty to the centralist Constitution (so-called "Verfassungstreue"). After the defeat of Austria in the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, Hungarian politicians achieved the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 , ostensibly creating equality between the Austrian and Hungarian halves of the empire. An attempt by the Czechs to create

5936-800: The Helvetii and Boii left southern Germany and Bohemia a lightly inhabited "desert" into which Suebic peoples arrived, speaking Germanic languages, and became dominant over remaining Celtic groups. To the south, over the Danube, the Romans extended their empire, and to the southeast, in present-day Hungary, were Dacian peoples. In the area of modern Bohemia, the Marcomanni and other Suebic groups were led by their king, Marobodus , after they had suffered defeat to Roman forces in Germany. He took advantage of

6048-620: The Hussite armies, he used innovative tactics and weapons, such as howitzers, pistols, and fortified wagons, which were revolutionary for the time, and established Žižka as a great general who never lost a battle. After Žižka's death, Prokop the Great took over the command for the army, and under his lead the Hussites were victorious for another ten years, to the sheer terror of Europe. The Hussite cause gradually splintered into two main factions,

6160-601: The Ilag IV camp for interned civilians from western Allied countries in the region. There were also 17 subcamps of the Flossenbürg concentration camp , in which both men and women, mostly Polish , Soviet and Jewish, but also French, Yugoslav, Czech, Romani and of several other ethnicities, were imprisoned and subjected to forced labor , and 16 subcamps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp , in which men and women, mostly Polish and Jewish, but also Czechs, Russians, and other people, were similarly imprisoned and subjected to forced labor. Any open opposition to German occupation

6272-461: The Kingdom of the Marcomanni, concerning a queen named Fritigil , is from the fourth century, and she was thought to have lived in or near Pannonia. The Suebian Langobardi , who moved over many generations from the Baltic Sea , via the Elbe and Pannonia to Italy, recorded in a tribal history a time spent in "Bainaib". After the Migration Period , Bohemia was partially repopulated around the sixth century, and eventually Slavic tribes arrived from

6384-414: The Moravian Empire resulted in the extensive Christianization of the population . A native monarchy arose to the throne, and Bohemia came under the rule of the Přemyslid dynasty , which would rule the Czech lands for the next several hundred years. The Přemyslids secured their frontiers after the collapse of the Moravian state by entering into a state of semivassalage to the Frankish rulers . The alliance

6496-495: The Parliament, consisting of two chambers, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate . Article 16 says that the Chamber of Deputies has 200 members elected for a four-year term (the election is based upon proportional system representation), while the Senate has 81 members elected for 6 years (the election is based upon majority system), election being held every two year to select one third of them. Article 17 specifies election schedule. Article 18 regulates active suffrage , or

6608-585: The Pope. After the death of King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia in the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria became the new king of Bohemia, and the country became a constituent state of the Habsburg monarchy . From 1599 to 1711, Moravia (a Land of the Bohemian Crown ) was frequently subjected to raids by the Ottoman Empire and its vassals (especially the Tatars and Transylvania ). Overall, hundreds of thousands were enslaved whilst tens of thousands were killed. Bohemia enjoyed religious freedom between 1436 and 1620 and became one of

6720-445: The Slovak National Council had withdrawn its consent of 31 October 1989 in Resolution No. 167/1989 Coll. The Czech National Council enacted a similar provision as Resolution No. 166/1989 Coll. on 19 December 1989. Subsequently, several constitutional acts were enacted, which were supposed to pave the way towards the creation, or rather restoration of the federation. Both republics had passed constitutional acts on their symbols, and had had

6832-489: The Slovak lands became the separate Slovak Republic , a puppet state of Nazi Germany. From 1939 to 1945, Bohemia (without the Sudetenland), together with Moravia, formed the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . During World War II , the Germans operated the Theresienstadt Ghetto for Jews, the Dulag Luft Ost, Stalag IV-C and Stalag 359 prisoner-of-war camps for French , British, Belgian, Serbian, Dutch, Slovak, Soviet, Romanian, Italian and other Allied POWs, and

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6944-482: The Winter Queen or Queen of Hearts, was the daughter of King James I of England and VI of Scotland . After Frederick's defeat in the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, 27 Bohemian estates leaders together with Jan Jesenius , rector of the Charles University of Prague, were executed on the Prague's Old Town Square on 21 June 1621, and the rest were exiled from the country; their lands were then given to Catholic loyalists (mostly of Bavarian and Saxon origin). That ended

7056-431: The area during the sixth or seventh century AD. Bohemia, like neighboring Bavaria , is named after the Boii , a large Celtic nation known to the Romans for their migrations and settlement in northern Italy and other places. Another part of the nation moved west with the Helvetii into southern France, which was one of the events leading to the interventions of Julius Caesar's Gaulish campaign of 58 BC. The emigration of

7168-412: The beginning of substantial German immigration, as the court sought to replace losses from the brief Mongol invasion of Europe in 1241. Germans settled primarily along the northern, western, and southern borders of Bohemia, although many lived in towns throughout the kingdom. The House of Luxembourg accepted the invitation to the Bohemian throne with the marriage to the Přemyslid heiress, Elizabeth and

7280-600: The cease-fire agreement, did not support Bohemian German self-defense, while the Czechoslovak army, having status of an Entente army, could freely operate. The absorption of the German-speaking areas in Czechoslovakia was hence a fait accompli . As a result, the totality of Bohemia (as the largest and most populous land) became the core of the newly formed country of Czechoslovakia , which combined Bohemia, Moravia , Czech Silesia , Upper Hungary (present-day Slovakia ) and Carpathian Ruthenia into one state. Under its first president, Tomáš Masaryk , Czechoslovakia became

7392-482: The city (construction began in 1925). St George's Convent (Hradčany) was formerly used to display Art of the Middle Ages in Bohemia and Central Europe, baroque art, and the 19th-century art of Bohemia. Bohemia Bohemia ( / b oʊ ˈ h iː m i ə / boh- HEE -mee-ə ; Czech : Čechy [ˈtʃɛxɪ] ; German : Böhmen [ˈbøːmən] ; Upper Sorbian : Čěska [ˈtʃɪska] ; Silesian : Czechy )

7504-437: The committee of the Czech National Council were Marek Benda , Jiří Bílý, Pavel Hirsch, Antonín Hrazdíra, Ivana Janů, Hana Marvanová , Ivan Mašek, Jaroslav Ortman, Jiří Payne, Anna Röschová, Vítězslav Sochor, Milan Uhde , and Jan Vik. In August 1992, it was agreed that the government committee would be entrusted with drafting the Constitution. There were several possible starting points for the new constitution. The secretary of

7616-415: The communists and their Soviet protectors in many of the state's institutions. Gottwald and the communists responded with a coup d'état and installed a pro-Soviet authoritarian state. In 1949, Bohemia ceased to be an administrative unit of Czechoslovakia, as the country was divided into administrative regions that did not follow the historical borders. In 1989, Agnes of Bohemia became the first saint from

7728-440: The constitution is a more difficult procedure than changing an ordinary statute, making it an entrenched constitution in the typology of constitutions. Despite the tradition of entrenched constitutions throughout Czech history, some voiced the opinion, during the preparation of the Constitution of the Czech Republic, that this one should be flexible. With regard to Karl Loewenstein 's ontological classification of constitutions ,

7840-408: The construction and application of legal norms to the substantive meaning of their content; it makes it a premise of law that it respects basic constitutive values of democratic society, and measures the application of legal norms by these values." The statement that the Czech Republic is a state "based on respecting the rights and freedoms of man and citizen" defines the purpose of the state, which

7952-418: The continuation of the shared state, the party convinced voters that it did not rule out the existence of the federation. The Constitution of the Slovak Republic was enacted on 1 September 1992, and came into force on 1 October 1992, three months before the dissolution of Czechoslovakia . The making of the Constitution of the Czech Republic also commenced soon after the election. Two committees were set up:

8064-471: The council to defend himself and the Czech positions in the religious court, but with the emperor's approval, he was executed on 6 July 1415. The execution of Hus, as well as five consecutive papal crusades against followers of Hus, forced the Bohemians to defend themselves in the Hussite Wars . The uprising against imperial forces was led by a former mercenary, Jan Žižka of Trocnov. As the leader of

8176-494: The crowning subsequent of John I of Bohemia (in the Czech Republic known as Jan Lucemburský ) in 1310. His son, Charles IV , became King of Bohemia in 1346. He founded Charles University in Prague , Central Europe's first university, two years later. His reign brought Bohemia to its peak both politically and in total area, resulting in his being the first king of Bohemia to also be elected as Holy Roman Emperor . Under his rule,

8288-704: The early Middle Ages , two new Suebic groupings appeared to the west of Bohemia in southern Germany, the Alemanni (in the Helvetian desert), and the Bavarians ( Baiuvarii ). Many Suebic tribes from the Bohemian region took part in such movements westwards, even settling as far away as Spain and Portugal. With them were also tribes who had pushed from the east, such as the Vandals , and Alans . Other groups pushed southwards towards Pannonia . The last known mention of

8400-482: The early 9th century, but became dominant only much later, in the 10th or 11th century. The 9th century was crucial for the future of Bohemia. The manorial system sharply declined, as it did in Bavaria. The influence of the central Fraganeo-Czechs grew, as a result of the important cultic center in their territory. They were Slavic-speaking, thus contributed to the transformation of diverse neighboring populations into

8512-469: The east, and their language began to replace the older Germanic, Celtic, and Sarmatian ones. These are precursors of today's Czechs, but the exact amount of Slavic immigration is a subject of debate. The Slavic influx was divided into two or three waves. The first wave came from the southeast and east, when the Germanic Lombards left Bohemia ( circa 568 AD). Soon after, from the 630s to 660s,

8624-691: The election of the president by popular vote . At the 28th meeting of the National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic on 27 October 1968, a bill called the Constitutional Act on the Czechoslovak Federation was introduced jointly by the Czech National Council , the Slovak National Council , and the Czechoslovak Cabinet. The bill was enacted the same day as Constitutional Act No. 143/1968 Coll. On its entry into force on 1 January 1969, it created

8736-577: The eternity clause ( Ewigkeitsklausul ) of the German Basic Law does specify, what its substantive core is: the subdivision of the federation into states, the states' powers in lawmaking, the dignity of a human, the principles of a democratic social state , the sovereignty of the people, the division of powers, the limitation of government by law, and the right to resist . Article 10 of the Constitution embeds key provisions in relation to incorporation of international law into domestic law. Until

8848-500: The events of the Velvet Revolution in 1989 quickly changed everything. As early as the plenary session of the Slovak National Council on 30 November 1989, deputy Majer asked whether it would be necessary to re-enact the provision on the way of enactment together with the new constitution, or whether the resolution of the Slovak National Council from the end of October would stay intact. In its next session on 6 December 1989,

8960-488: The final draft of the constitution commenced in Karlovy Vary . The first few articles were taken from older drafts; the articles on executive power were penned by Miroslav and Jindřiška Syllovi. The articles on the powers of the president were written by Cyril Svoboda, those concerning the powers of the cabinet by Dušan Hendrych, and the articles on the judiciary by František Zoulík. Hendrych also drafted chapters on

9072-407: The first section of the Constitution. The Charter, hitherto part of Constitutional Act 23/1991 Coll., was disconnected from it and newly enacted in an extraordinary resolution of the Presidium of the Czech National Council, and published as No. 2/1993, Coll. This has later been used to question the normative nature of the Charter. Similar reference to a statute regulating fundamental rights and freedoms

9184-507: The form they would take. A constitutional act in 1997 rejected the restoration of self-governing historical Czech lands, and decided for the regional system that has been in use since 2000. Petr Pithart , former Czech prime minister and president of the Senate at the time, remained one of the main advocates of the land system, claiming that the primary reason for its refusal was the fear of possible Moravian separatism. Constitution of

9296-416: The formerly German-settled areas allowed many poorer people to acquire property, thus "equalizing" Czechoslovak society. The Communist Party won the most votes in free elections, but not a simple majority . Klement Gottwald , the communist leader, became prime minister of a coalition government. In February 1948, the non-communist members of the government resigned in protest against arbitrary measures by

9408-572: The government committee, Cyril Svoboda, summed them up: to take the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920 as a point of departure, to rework the existing Constitution of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, or to draft a brand new one. Svoboda, as well as several other members of the committee, were in favour of the first option, to make use of the Constitution of the First Czechoslovak Republic . One of

9520-591: The lands, amounting to a third of Bohemia, where they formed the majority. After World War I , the German Bohemians demanded that the regions with German-speaking majority be included in a German state . Czech political leaders however claimed the entire Bohemian lands, including majority German-speaking areas, for Czechoslovakia. By the end of October, bilingual towns had been occupied by Czech forces. By end of November, many purely German-speaking towns had been occupied. German or Austrian troops, bound by

9632-441: The major obstacles seemed to be the status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms . It had been declared a part of the legal system by Constitutional Act No. 23/1991 Coll., which required other constitutional acts to comply with it. Václav Klaus was totally opposed to the Charter in any form. In particular, he was against the wording of article 17 of the Charter, concerning a right to information (Klaus would have preferred

9744-596: The moderate Utraquists and the more fanatic Taborites . The Utraquists began to lay the groundwork for an agreement with the Catholic Church and found the more radical views of the Taborites distasteful. Additionally, with general war-weariness and yearning for order, the Utraquists were able to eventually defeat the Taborites in the Battle of Lipany in 1434. Sigismund said after the battle that "only

9856-495: The most liberal countries of the Christian world during that period. In 1609, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II , who made Prague again the capital of the empire at the time, himself a Roman Catholic, was moved by the Bohemian nobility to publish Maiestas Rudolphina , which confirmed the older Confessio Bohemica of 1575. After Emperor Matthias II and then King of Bohemia Ferdinand II (later Holy Roman Emperor) began oppressing

9968-463: The mountainous regions of the Sudetes . In the mining town of Sankt Joachimsthal (now Jáchymov ), famous coins called Joachimsthalers were coined, which gave their name to the thaler and the dollar . Meanwhile, Prague German intermediated between Upper German and East Central German , influencing the foundations of modern standard German. At the same time and place, the teachings of Jan Hus ,

10080-523: The natural defenses provided by its mountains and forests. They were able to maintain a strong alliance with neighboring tribes, including (at different times) the Lugii , Quadi , Hermunduri , Semnones , and Buri , which was sometimes partly controlled by the Roman Empire and sometimes in conflict with it; for example, in the second century, they fought Marcus Aurelius . In late classical times and

10192-403: The people, by the people, for the people" . Government of the people is enshrined in article 2 paragraph 1 of the Constitution, which postulates the sovereignty of the people , and the division of government into executive power , legislative power , and judicial power . The sovereignty of the people is not a legal principle, but a political principle – it means that it is the people, who have

10304-408: The preamble was written by Václav Havel and edited by Milan Uhde . The text recalls the history of Czech statehood and goes on to declare the basic values of the state, mentioning democracy and, thanks to Havel, the "civic society" . The provisions of article 1 of the Constitution enshrine fundamental principles of the whole constitutional system of the Czech Republic. It defines the state as

10416-583: The preparation of the Constitution, written respectively by the government, the Czechoslovak Social-Democratic Party, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia , and the Liberal-Social Union . Only the first of these was read in the Czech National Council. The government bill of the Constitution of the Czech Republic was read in the Czech National Council on 16 December 1992. It was introduced by Václav Klaus,

10528-687: The prime minister of the Czech Republic. Out of a number of changes proposed during the reading, only deputy Pavel Hirš's proposal was incorporated, returning into the bill proportional voting system for the Chamber of Deputies and two-round run-off system for the Senate. The result of the vote was announced by the chair of the Czech National Assembly, Milan Uhde : "[...] out of 198 deputies present, who registered their vote, 16 were against, 10 abstained, and by 172 votes in its support,

10640-492: The pro-reformation movement in Bohemia and also ended the role of Prague as ruling city of the Holy Roman Empire. In the so-called "renewed constitution" of 1627, German was established as a second official language in the Czech lands. Czech formally remained the first language in the kingdom, but both German and Latin were widely spoken among the ruling classes, although German became increasingly dominant, and Czech

10752-500: The region. In May 1945, Allied American , Polish, Czechoslovak , Soviet and Romanian troops captured the region, which was then restored to Czechoslovakia. After the war ended in 1945, after initial plans to cede lands to Germany or to create German-speaking cantons had been abandoned, the vast majority of the Bohemian Germans were expelled by the order of the re-established Czechoslovak central government, based on

10864-409: The revolutionaries were defeated. At the same time, German-speaking towns elected representatives for the first German Parliament at Frankfurt . Towns between Karlsbad and Reichenberg chose leftist representatives, while Eger , Rumburg , and Troppau elected conservative representatives. The old Bohemian Diet, one of the last remnants of the independence, was dissolved, although Czech experienced

10976-435: The right to create the system of values, institutions, and procedures, through which the state is governed. No government body can exist unless it derived its legitimacy from the people, directly or indirectly. Paragraph 2 makes it possible for future enactment of a constitutional act that would introduce some institutions of direct democracy, namely via referendum . The Cabinet's draft of the Constitution did not contain such

11088-660: The rights of Protestants in Bohemia, the resulting Bohemian Revolt led to outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in 1618. Elector Frederick V of the Electorate of the Palatinate , a Calvinist Protestant, was elected by the Bohemian nobility to replace Ferdinand on the Bohemian throne and was known as the Winter King. Frederick's wife, the popular Elizabeth Stuart and subsequently, Elizabeth of Bohemia, known as

11200-606: The territory was taken by Samo 's tribal confederation. His death marked the end of the old "Slavonic" confederation, the second attempt to establish such a Slavonic union after Carantania in Carinthia . Other sources ( Descriptio civitatum et regionum ad septentrionalem plagam Danubii , Bavaria, 800–850) divide the population of Bohemia into the Merehani, Marharaii, Beheimare (Bohemani), and Fraganeo. (The suffix -ani or -ni means "people of-"). Christianity first appeared in

11312-837: The west by Bavaria (in Germany ), and in the north by Saxony and Lusatia (in Germany and Poland , respectively), in the northeast by Silesia (in Poland), and in the east by Moravia (also part of the Czech Republic). Bohemia's borders were mostly marked by mountain ranges such as the Bohemian Forest , the Ore Mountains , and the Giant Mountains ; the Bohemian-Moravian border roughly follows

11424-421: The wording "a right to search out information" instead) and he also disagreed with the Charter granting a right to organize in trade unions , and a right to reward for work, vested in article 28. Miroslav Výborný proposed a solution to the problem, introducing the idea of the so-called constitutional order, although influential jurists (Filip, Knapp ) were critical of it. Between 19 and 24 October 1992, work on

11536-584: Was also enshrined in Austria's December Constitution (Dezemberverfassung) of 1867 and the second interim constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic (No. 37/1918 Coll. and following). Article 4 states that fundamental rights and freedoms are subject to judicial protection. These rights are not limited to those enshrined in the Charter, but also includes those in other constitutional regulations and international treaties. The political system of

11648-648: Was brutally suppressed by the Nazi authorities, and many Czech patriots were executed as a result. In 1942, the Czechoslovak resistance carried out the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich , and in reprisal German forces murdered the population of a whole village, Lidice . In the spring of 1945, death marches of prisoners of several subcamps of the Flossenbürg, Gross-Rosen and Buchenwald concentration camps in Saxony and Silesia, and Allied POWs from camps in Austria reached

11760-414: Was changed to the Czech Republic , which became a separate state in 1993 with the breakup of Czechoslovakia . Until 1948, Bohemia was an administrative unit of Czechoslovakia as one of its "lands" ( země ). Since then, administrative reforms have replaced self-governing lands with a modified system of "regions" ( kraje ), which do not follow the borders of the historical Czech lands (or the regions from

11872-427: Was created, led by Miloš Jakeš . The constitution was expected to be enacted after the 18th Congress of the Communist Party, during the course of 1990. In its last draft, it was to be a single constitution serving both the federation and the two republics and, in contrast with its predecessor, did not include the leading role of the Communist Party, and somewhat expanded the list of basic human rights . In autumn 1989,

11984-526: Was elected to ascend to the Bohemian throne. He is remembered for his attempt to set up a pan-European "Christian League", which would form all the states of Europe into a community based on religion. In the process of negotiating, he appointed Zdeněk Lev of Rožmitál to tour the European courts and to conduct the talks. However, the negotiations were not completed because George's position was substantially damaged over time by his deteriorating relationship with

12096-548: Was facilitated by Bohemia's conversion to Christianity, in the 9th century. Continuing close relations were developed with the East Frankish Kingdom , which devolved from the Carolingian Empire , into East Francia , eventually becoming the Holy Roman Empire . After a decisive victory of the Holy Roman Empire and Bohemia over invading Magyars in the 955 Battle of Lechfeld , Boleslaus I of Bohemia

12208-537: Was granted the Moravia by German emperor Otto the Great . Bohemia would remain a largely autonomous state under the Holy Roman Empire for several decades. The jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire was definitively reasserted when Jaromír of Bohemia was granted fief of the Kingdom of Bohemia by Emperor King Henry II of the Holy Roman Empire, with the promise that he hold it as a vassal once he reoccupied Prague with

12320-404: Was incorporated into the Constitution, based on political deal. While the government's draft at first did not contain any reference to the Charter, future drafts at least mentioned it in interim and final provisions, which was considered inadequate to its importance. In the end, all committees of the Czech National Council proposed in December 1992 that a reference to the Charter be incorporated into

12432-807: Was spoken in much of the countryside. The formal independence of Bohemia was further jeopardized when the Bohemian Diet approved administrative reform in 1749. It included the indivisibility of the Habsburg Empire and the centralization of rule, which essentially meant the merging of the Royal Bohemian Chancellery with the Austrian Chancellery. At the end of the 18th century, the Czech National Revival movement, in cooperation with part of

12544-525: Was the referendum on the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union. Paragraphs 3 and 4 embody the principle of enumerated powers and the silence of law principle. The principle of enumerated powers requires that the power of the state can only be applied in such cases, within such boundaries, and by such means, as is stipulated by law. The silence of law principle, in contrast, states that everyone may do everything law does not prohibit, and

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