The ratio of positive and negative constitutional and legal responsibility in the mechanism of functioning of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of the ratio of positive and negative constitutional and legal responsibility in the mechanism of functioning of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. The author considers it appropriate to highlight the following aspects: 1) positive and negative constitutional and legal liability of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine; 2) positive and negative constitutional and legal liability of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
Positive constitutional and legal responsibility of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine is directly based on the proper exercise of its powers. As for the negative constitutional and legal responsibility of this state body, it is not directly provided by law. In our opinion, the form of such liability may be the loss of authority in accordance with Art. 10 of the Law «On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine», according to which it is authorized to carry out constitutional proceedings, if it consists of at least 12 judges of the Constitutional Court who have acquired powers. However, in this case, the loss of authority directly depends on the individual responsibility and loss of constitutional and legal status of more than 1/3 of the judges of the total CCU.
The individual constitutional and legal responsibility of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine also has its peculiarities. In this case, his positive responsibility is based on Art. 18 of the Law «On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine» which provides for its powers: 1) to carry out preliminary preparation of issues considered by the Grand Chamber, the Senate, the Board of Judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine; 2) participate in the consideration of cases; 3) the opportunity to express his opinion publicly on the merits only of those cases in which the Court has already ruled or given an opinion.
The author concludes that the legislation properly reflects only the individual negative responsibility of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, and the collegial (collective) negative constitutional and legal responsibility of the CCU bodies requires additional regulation. That is why it is proposed in the Law of Ukraine «On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine» to provide a separate section, which should systematically combine the mechanisms of individual and collective responsibility in constitutional proceedings.