INTRODUCTION

Lithuania enjoys overall high rankings in rule of law indices. The country's law is steadily adjusted by means of constitutional construal, legislative enactments, or changes in law application practice. The efficiency of the Lithuanian judicial system is noted for its ‘good results’; judicial independence is gauged as ‘average to high’; the level of corruption in the public sector is estimated as ‘relatively low’; transparency and stakeholders’ involvement is assessed as ‘ensured’ in the checks and balances underlying the legal and institutional framework of the legislative process; media pluralism and freedom are qualified as ‘guaranteed’; the framework for access to information is assessed as ‘gradually improving’; and the civil society space is considered to be ‘open’. At the same time, the need for the improvement of measures pertaining to the quality of law-making, enhancement of media ownership transparency and effectiveness, and impartiality of media self-regulatory bodies are noted. The overall favourable assessment should not outshine setbacks, such as delays in appointment of heads of courts, allegations of judicial corruption, insufficient protection of the advocates’ secrets, or of non-discrimination of vulnerable groups (e.g. LGBTQI+).

This report deals with the perception of the rule of law in the Lithuanian legal system. It has been developed, above all, in the Constitutional Court's case law, which therefore is the main focus of attention.

THE FORMAL FRAMEWORK OF THE RULE OF LAW

The Constitution (1992, amended) declares, in its preamble, the Nation ‘striv[es] for an open, just, and harmonious civil society and a State under the rule of law [teisinė valstybė]’. The latter expression translates as a ‘law-based state’, Rechtsstaat.