Summary

JUDr. Peter Kerecman, PhD., Lawyer, Košice
Appointment of the Lawyer as an Attorney of Record in the Civil Lawsuit

Legal aid provided to litigants in civil lawsuits under a court order on the appointment of lawyers as the litigants' representatives does not only have a long tradition in the Slovak Republic, but is also a significant component in the legal aid system implemented by the state that guarantees protection of rights also for those litigants who cannot themselves seek legal services provided by lawyers in civil courts of law due to their indigence (for social reasons and due to their limited financial means), and who therefore deserve special attention. As stipulated in the applicable legislation, only the lawyers admitted to the Slovak Bar Association have the exclusive right of audience as well as the duty to represent indigent persons on the basis of the courtordered appointment. However, rather a brief regulation of this legal institution in the Civil Procedure Code raises several questions. One could discuss (a) rightness of the concept because the court that has the jurisdiction over the matter directly decides about the lawyer's appointment (b) preciseness of the applicable legislation governing the manner and possibilities to withdraw from representation at the lawyer's request, (c) absence of relevant provisions that would govern procedures available to those litigant whose lawyer duly appointed by him has not been acting or does not act with a due diligence, (d) missing express regulation of the appointment of the lawyer in the cases of mandatory legal representation. Both legal regulation of the appointment of lawyers in the Slovak Republic to represent litigants in civil lawsuits as well as the entire legal aid system in the Slovak Republic are insufficient and as such they require a conceptual change.

JUDr. Adrián Graban, Faculty of Law, University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, Košice
Selected Problems of Marital Property

Provisions on marital property guarantee the same legal status for both spouses as far as the family assets acquired during their marriage are concerned. Marital property at the same time expresses a basic legal relationship between spouses in terms of their property relations. The article aimed to point out to problems arising in the course of applying these provisions in practice. Attempts to eliminate loopholes in laws are quite usual in the application practice. It goes without saying that the article could not encompass all issues related to marital property therefore it focused on problems arising in connection with the inception of marital property, generally on agreements on the scope of marital property, agreements made between divorced spouses on distribution of marital property, as well as on distribution of marital property by virtue of law.

JUDr. Andrej Madliak, Lawyer, Košice
Right to Own Property and Expropriation in Slovak Laws

The author deals with the issues connected with the right to own property that is rooted in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen dating back to 1789 as well as in the Czechoslovak Constitutional Charter No. 121/1920 Coll. It also deals with the protection of property rights in the socalled Constitution of the 9th May. He points out to the fact that the Slovak legal order uses the term property as the socalled indefinite legal concept. The author further deals with expropriation as a forced restraint on the property right only to the necessary extent and in public interest, so being by virtue of law and for a due compensation. He also analyses the term public interest and emphasises that this term is not unambiguously defined either.

Doc. JUDr. Viera Strážnická, CSc., Bratislava
Actions Brought Before the EU Judicial Authorities

The role of the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance is to provide the judicial safeguards of the Community legal system and supervise legality of legal instruments adopted by EC/EU institutions. Their prime task is to consider whether the institution that adopted a particular legal instrument respected primary and secondary right of EC/EU. This role of judicial authorities is rather challenging if we take account of the scope of rights EC/EU institutions are obliged to respect. One should not forget that new rules and regulations are adopted on a daily basis. Judicial review of legality of instruments adopted by the EC/EU institutions guarantees both individuals and legal entities the right to seek protection against unlawful legal instruments through a system of available remedies in the case of invalidity or inaction and by making a plea of unlawfulness before the European Court of Justice provided that all the statutory terms and conditions for bringing such actions have been met. Actions brought to the European Court of Justice do not have suspensive effect except for cases in which the European Court of Justice (taking account of circumstances of a particular case) rules that the application of the contested legal instrument must be postponed. If necessary, the European Court of Justice then makes a preliminary ruling.