The article analyses the legal regulation of electronic marketing in the European context. The historical and teleological perspective on past and present regulations of electronic marketing is provided. Emphasis is given on the ability of the legal rules to preserve the balance of private and entrepreneurial interests, and the desirable principles of the regulation of the socially beneficial electronic marketing. The paper concludes that the harmonization of legal regulation of electronic marketing at the European Union level is limited, which causes (...) numerous negative consequences, such as jurisdiction shopping. Some countries (e.g. Finland) follow opt-out regimes for at least some types of electronic marketing, while other countries (including Lithuania) prohibit most forms of electronic marketing without the prior consent of the customer (opt-in). Thus, further regulation and harmonization of the electronic marketing law is suggested at the regional (the EU) and national level, along with more self-regulation and a balanced approach towards future regulation. (shrink)

Although the Lisbon Treaty maintained the general exclusion of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) matters from ECJ jurisdiction, it introduced a number of changes into this area, including an explicit statement that the Court is competent to review the legality of the Council decisions imposing restraining measures on persons. The article analyzes the nature and origin of those changes and considers the legal implications for the level of the protection of fundamental rights in the European Union. For this purpose (...) the author firstly considers the context of the exclusion of CFSP matters from the ECJ jurisdiction, including discussions on the issue at the European Convention, and, secondly, takes a closer look at the separate heads of jurisdiction over which the Court is competent to act after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. A conclusion is made that the Lisbon Treaty did not introduce significant changes to ECJ jurisdiction. Similarly to the pattern of previous amendment treaties, the Lisbon Treaty again gave recognition to the practice of the ECJ on relevant questions. Nonetheless, the amendments made by the Lisbon Treaty should be welcome for introducing more clarity into the legal regulation of the matter, thus boosting the legal certainty and protection of fundamental rights in the European Union. (shrink)

On the grounds of the fundamental value of the human rights, which is the human dignity, this article describes a basis of the right to health care in terms of quality, discloses its concept, reviews the spheres of health system in which this right is exercised: health care and public health. The right to health care is stressed as one of the fundamental rights, without which the person will not able to enjoy other rights: economic, political and social rights. It (...) comprises the right to enjoy the best physical and mental health. The right to health care is not absolute in itself: efficiency of its implementation depends upon both ability of administrative and institutional systems, which were created by the state, to properly implement the assigned functions and upon the individual, its state of health and lifestyle. (shrink)

With reference to the Dutch model, which has been adopted by the Lithuanian Civil Code, the possibility to renounce Investigation Proceedings in the Articles of Incorporation or shareholder agreements is analysed in this article. The mandatory nature of the Investigation Proceedings is derived from the provisions of the Code, mainly: from an active role of the court, typical to the cases with the element of public interest, from specific rules for protecting the public interest in the course of the Investigation (...) Proceedings, also taking into account statutory duties of managers, the scope of which may not be narrowed by SHA, and the fact, that the Investigation Proceedings is generally designated to be an instrument to safeguard the interests of minority shareholders against the abuse of their rights by the company, and, finally, acknowledging the extraordinary nature of remedies available in the Investigation Proceedings. (shrink)

Right to life is an essential natural right protected and defended by law. The aim of this publication is to discuss the main issues regarding human right to life and its protection in the Roman law. Article deals with the problems of beginning and end of the human life and legal capacity in Rome, elements of legal protection of slaves and family members subject to pater familias life as well as the principle crimes attempting to human life. First of all, (...) the right to life as well as the right to liberty were held to be the institutes of natural law (ius naturale) meanwhile institutes that provided possibility to withdraw those rights (e. g. patria potestas that in the most ancient époque included right to decide on subject person’s right to life) are derived from the branches of positive law—civil (ius civile) and law of nations (ius gentium). Such attitude of the Roman jurisprudence had a solid impact on recognizing right of life to be an inherent law of every person, deriving immediately from the human nature and not conferred by the society and the state. (shrink)

The establishment of the Common European Asylum System by 2012 remains a key policy objective for the European Union. According to the Council of the European Union, the development of a Common Asylum Policy should be based on a full and inclusive application of the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and other relevant international treaties. In the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum attention is brought to the persistence of wide disparities amongst Member States in the (...) granting of protection and the form of protection granted. This is seen as one of the main problems to be addressed in building the CEAS. It is fairly obvious that existing divergences in policy have a substantial impact upon the aims of the CEAS. It can be assumed that the difference in governmental practices involving recognizing asylum seekers on refugee grounds or subsidiary protection grounds may be a substantial factor in the decision-making process on where to apply for international protection. The European Commission stressed the importance, during the second phase of the CEAS, of paying particular attention to subsidiary and other forms of protection. (shrink)

Dialogo filosofijos mąstytojų Rosenzweig‘o ir Levino darbų esmė – mirties bedugnės ir asmens tapatumo santykis. Rosenzweig‘as niekį laiko galutiniu kantiškojo mąstymo tašku. Mirtis, kaip egzistencinis niekio patyrimas, buvo laikoma kiekvieno žmogaus realybe sudėtingu amžių sandūros laikotarpiu. Rosenzweig‘ui niekis buvo atspirties taškas, permąstant ir siekiant išsaugoti asmens tapatumą. Asmens tapatumas apsaugo nuo niekio, tačiau jis taip pat yra atviras pokyčiams. Savo ankstyvuosiuose tekstuose Levinas daro panašias prielaidas, laikydamas Buvimą asmens tapatumo pradžia. Levinas plėtojo dialektinę fenomenologiją pradėdamas nuo (...) mirties. Asmens tapatumas traktuojamas kaip hipostazė, tačiau Levino darbe „Totalité et Infini“ įvyksta svarbus lūžis – jame asmens tapatumo šaltiniu laikomas troškimas. Buvimas tampa dėmesio centru kaip antroji elementale pusė, o asmens tapatumas suvokiamas kaip atsiskyrimas. (shrink)

Straipsnis nagrinėja, kaip Shaunas Gallagheris sprendžia fenomenologijos ir natūralizmo suderinamumo klausimą. Pirmoje dalyje aptariamas Gallagherio tyrimų atspirties taškas: fenomenologinės kūno schemos sampratos pritaikymas interpretuojant trečiojo asmens prieiga gautus duomenis. Antroje dalyje aptariamas bendras Gallagherio fenomenologijos natūralizavimo projektas: argumentai už tai, kad į natūralistinę programą būtų įtrauktos ne paskiros fenomenologų įžvalgos, bet metodiškas pirmojo asmens prieigos taikymas. Trečioje dalyje aptariami argumentai prieš fenomenologijos natūralizavimą. Teigiama, kad pagrindinė problema fenomenologiją ir natūralizmą derinančiam filosofui – mąstymo fenomenologijos natūralizavimas. Galiausiai bandoma apibrėžti (...) fenomenologijos natūralizavimo projekto perspektyvas. (shrink)

Šiame straipsnyje pirmosios pokomunistinės kartos (gim. 1991–2000) vertybių analizei 24-iose pokomunistinėse šalyse pasitelkiama Ronaldo Ingleharto materialistinių-postmaterialistinių vertybių kaitos teorija. 1990–1993 m., 1999–2004 m., 2008– 2014 m. ir 2017–2022 m. bangų Pasaulio ir Europos vertybių tyrimų duomenų analizė leidžia daryti išvadas, kad daugumoje pokomunistinių šalių postmaterialistinės vertybės pirmojoje pokomunistinėje kartoje, palyginti su vyresnėmis kartomis, sustiprėjo. Tokia tendencija ypač ryški ekonomiškai stipriose pokomunistinėse šalyse, tačiau matoma ir ekonomiškai nepasiturinčiose. Tik šešiose šalyse fiksuotas statistiškai reikšmingas ryšys tarp religijos svarbos žmogaus gyvenime ir materialistinių-postmaterialistinių (...) vertybių pirmojoje pokomunistinėje kartoje. Tyrimas taip pat atskleidė, kad šalyse, kuriose dominuoja Romos katalikų tikėjimas, postmaterialistinės vertybės yra labiau paplitusios nei stačiatikių ortodoksų ir islamo dominuojamose šalyse pirmojoje pokomunistinėje kartoje. (shrink)

Kokie veiksmai yra kognityviškai raiškiausi, labiausiai prototipiški moralės transgresijų pavyzdžiai? Deja, šiuo metu yra labai nedaug tyrimų, siekiančių sistemiškai nagrinėti šį klausimą. Šiuo straipsniu siekiame prisidėti prie šio klausimo sprendimo pristatydami preliminarius tyrimo duomenis apie tai, kurie veiksmai tyrimo dalyviams lietuviams buvo raiškiausi. Pirmajame tyrime pritaikius kognityvinės antropologijos metodus buvo nustatyti tyrimo dalyviams iš Lietuvos raiškiausi moralinių transgresijų atvejai. Antrajame tyrime dalyvių buvo prašoma šiuos veiksmus suskirstyti į kategorijas, paimtas iš Haidto moralės pagrindų teorijos. Paėmus kartu, šie tyrimai suteikia preliminarių (...) duomenų, paremiančių idėją, kad labiausiai kognityviškai raiškioms moralės transgresijoms būdinga tai, kad jos susijusios su žala ir šiek tiek mažiau – su neteisingumu. Rezultatai aptariami skirtingų moralės sritį aprašančių teorijų kontekste. (shrink)

Straipsnyje svarstomas teorinis judesys, kuriuo Emmanuelis Levinas grindë savàjà asmens tapatumosampratà, prieðingà Vakarø filosofijos klasikiniame racionalizme ir fenomenologijoje susiklosèiusiossavimonës kaip sàmonës tapatumo sau prielaidai. Kanto asmens tapatumo koncepcija taip pat liekaðioje „antileviniðkoje“ paradigmoje, taèiau Levinas pasitelkia ketvirtàjà Kanto antinomijà kaip iðlaisvinanèià subjektyvumà ið laiko spàstø. Straipsnyje keliamas klausimas, kaip Levinas perðoka nuo dinamiðko laiko sekmens problemos prie subjekto tapatumo kaip jo socialumo klausimo. Koká vaidmenáðioje naujoje asmens tapatumo sampratoje vaidina Fiodoro Dostojevskio romanø kai kuriø veikëjøvertybinëms prielaidoms labai (...) artima Levino subjekto pasyvumo, paþeidþiamumo ir apsëstumo samprata? Kaip ji iðplaukia ið ketvirtosios Kanto antinomijos pamokø? Vieniðas filosofinis subjektas negalikito momento kitybës aptikti pats savyje. Levino filosofinis subjektas kito momento kitybæ randa kitame asmenyje. Taip laikas sukuriamas. Levinas, susiedamas asmens tapatumà su nauja laiko samprata,suteikia jam socialumo matmená. Autorë straipsnyje árodinëja tezæ, kad Levino subjekto tapatumosteigèiai didþiausià átakà turëjo Dostojevskio romanuose suformuluota þmogiðkosios brolybës samprata. Jos paveiktas Levinas formuluoja naujà asmens tapatumo savimonæ, todël jo filosofijoje pasyvusapsëstasis kitu subjektas yra amþinas Odisëjas, niekada nebegráþtantis pats á save ir nebesutampantissu savimi. Toks teorinis judesys, autorës manymu, tampa galimas, kai Levinas, sekdamas Kanto ketvirtàja antinomija, savo subjektà iðlaisvina ið dinaminës laiko tëkmës panèiø.Pagrindiniai þodþiai: ketvirtoji Kanto antinomija, Levinas, Dostojevskis, subjekto tapatumas. (shrink)

The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees embody fundamental provisions of refugee law. However, since the adoption of these documents the world has changed dramatically and the laws are not developing fast enough in order to catch up with dynamically changing contemporary situations. The application and interpretation of definition of a refugee was developed through traditional practice of Western states, which was influenced by two world wars and the (...) Cold War, when refugees from Africa or Asia were uncommon. The Qualification Directive specifically aims at ensuring that the member states apply common qualification criteria for persons who need international protection in line with the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The author supports the statement that the Qualification Directive in principle aims at bringing back under the definition of refugee those, who have been left outside of its scope during the last decades as a result of the restrictive interpretation and application of the definition of refugee. (shrink)

The development of an information society and information technologies does not result in positive consequences only. Individuals with criminal intent also find their niche. Information security includes the creation of the input, processing and output processes of protection. The objective of information security is to protect the system of values, to protect and ensure accuracy and integrity and to minimize losses that may be incurred if the information is modified or destroyed. In the development of an information society, the new (...) visible changes in the legislation for the classification of crimes–crimes against computers–altered the concept of electronic crime data and information system security concepts. This article presents a brief analysis on the concept of the change of crimes against security of electronic data and information systems, the legislation analysis, the crimes against security of electronic data systems and information dynamics and its relationship with business factors. (shrink)

Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the legal protection of databases of 11 March 1996, which was intended to protect the interests of the makers of databases, determined that databases could be protected by double rights: copyright and sui generis right. The article first of all analyses what persons are entitled to be acknowledged as holders of copyright and sui generis right in respect of a newly created database. As the issue of the owner of (...) copyright is not regulated by the 1996 Directive, this is determined by the application of national provisions. Pursuant to the Law on Copyright and Related Rights of the Republic of Lithuania, the owner of copyright may mean, depending on the situation, a natural person – the author of a database or a group of authors, the holder of the right to a collective work, or an employer. The analysis presented in the articleindicates that predominantly it is the author (authors) of a database who is held to be the owner of the copyright. Courts tend to interpret the rule concerning the transfer of copyright to the employer in a restrictive way; besides, in accordance with the specifics of the Lithuanian legal regulation, economic rights are transferred to the employer only for the period of 5 years. The category of collective work is of a subsidiary character and may be applied only in exclusive cases. Therefore, when a database is created upon the commission of another person, including the employer, the customer is expected to form a written agreement where the transfer of economic rights to the customer is clearly defined. (shrink)

Žymus Lietuvos sociologas Vytautas Kavolis visą akademinę karjerą plačiai tyrinėjo laisvės klausimą, nors ir nenaudojo „laisvės sociologijos“ pavadinimo. Jo daugiamatė analizė apėmė politines institucijas, kultūros normas, istorinę evoliuciją ir globalias perspektyvas, atskleisdama sudėtingą visuomenės struktūrų ir asmens laisvių sąveiką. Šiame straipsnyje politinės sociologijos požiūriu, išskaidant laisvės ir jos apraiškų įvairiuose visuomenės kontekstuose supratimą, bandoma kristalizuoti V. Kavolio sociologinius rėmus. V. Kavolio tarpdisciplininis požiūris, metodologinis originalumas ir reflektyvi analizė prisidėjo prie gilaus visuomenės laisvėjimo dinamikos ir galios santykių tyrinėjimo, metė iššūkį (...) nusistovėjusioms paradigmoms ir pasisakė už įtraukesnę ir teisingesnę visuomenę. Jo įžvalgos tebėra aktualios šiandienei Lietuvai, išgyvenančiai postsovietinį virsmą ir susiduriančiai su globaliais iššūkiais. (shrink)

After the establishment of the independent Slovak Republic, legal and institutional ground rules were set for providing asylum to foreigners present on the territory of the Slovak Republic. The national legislation of the last twenty years was adopted in compliance with international treaties and the European Union instruments covering asylum matters. In the field of asylum policy, the Slovak Republic complies with its traditional pillars and supports new forms of protection following the new challenges faced by the international community. The (...) currently valid Asylum Act regulates the international protection of aliens in the Slovak Republic, by defining the conditions and procedures related to granting asylum and provision of subsidiary protection and temporary shelter. The Asylum Act also covers the rights and obligations of different categories of persons, stay in asylum facilities and, partially, the integration of persons that are granted asylum. This article describes and analyses the development of the Slovak asylum legal framework and the concept of asylum policy. Furthermore, it looks at different protection statuses granted to foreigners and finally deals with the refugee migration trends in the Slovak Republic. (shrink)

Pastaruoju metu pasaulyje vis labiau populiarėja laimės kaip atskiros socialinių tyrimų srities studijos, nes vis daugiau dėmesio skiriama gyvenimo kokybės aspektams. Mokslininkai sprendžia klausimus: kas lemia, kad žmonės jaučiasi laimingi; ar esame laimingi vienodai; ką tai atskleidžia apie mus kaip visuomenę; ar skirtingų kartų žmonėms laimė reiškia tuos pačius dalykus; ar laisvoje aukštesnio gerbūvio visuomenėje formuojasi laimingesnių žmonių karta.Šiame straipsnyje, pasitelkiant 1990, 1999, 2008 ir 2017 metų Europos vertybių tyrimo duomenis, analizuojama laimės lygio dinamika Lietuvoje, siekiant išsiaiškinti, kaip skirtingi sociodemografiniai (...) ir kultūriniai veiksniai susirikiuoja į subjektyvios gerovės lygtį ir kaip tai susiję su gyventojų kartų kaita, ypatingą dėmesį skiriant vadinamosios Pirmosios nepriklausomybės kartos specifikai. Atlikta statistinė empirinių duomenų analizė atskleidė reikšmingus laimės jausenos skirtumus skirtingose Lietuvos gyventojų socialinėse kartose, net ir kontroliuojant kitus jai įtaką darančius veiksnius. (shrink)

This publication analyzes the issue of depersonalization in the field of constitutional substantiation of judicial resolutions, judgements, verdicts and rulings (hereinafter, judicial procedural decisions). Electronic databases are the primary source of information about judicial procedural resolutions for judges, reporters, as well as for the public-at-large. As for judicial practice, the data regarding parties of a case is depersonalised in these databases. Personal names are either replaced with initials, or a message “depersonalized data” is included. The constitutional substantiation for such a (...) ruling by a judicial council is sought by means of this publication. (shrink)

The Civil Code of Lithuania re-established enterprise (business) as a self-sufficient object of civil rights and introduced several legal transanctions with it, the so- called asset deals (sale-purchase of enterprise and lease of enterprise). Since every transfer of enterprise comprises the transfer (delegation) of debts to the new owner, the legal regulation on asset deals must be orientated to the protection of creditors’ rights. However, the legal practice showed that the existing legal regulation regarding asset deals, in particular the mechanism (...) of the protection of creditors’ rights, is complex, and thus unappealing to legal practitioners. Therefore, this research focuses on an analysis of the legal regulation of the mechanism of the protection of creditors’ rights applicable to asset deals and its impact on the civil turnover of enterprise as an object of civil rights. In order to thoroughly examine the problem of the efficient mechanism of the protection of creditors’ rights, the national legal regulation is analysed in comparison to the legal systems of France, Germany and Russia. (shrink)

The main goal of concentration control and basic legal tests applied worldwide for the evaluation of concentrations, such as “dominance”, “significant impediment of competition” and “substantial lessening of competition” are analysed in this article. Every control, whatever its nature, is implemented in order to reach certain goals. In the first part of this article we analyse the goals of concentration control in different jurisdictions – mostly in the European Union, the USA and Lithuania. Four basic market security standards are excluded: (...) economic efficiency, protection of consumers, protection of competitors and protection of effective market competition. At the end we make a conclusion that the same standard, namely that of consumer protection, is applied in all those jurisdictions and that more attention should be paid for the protection of competitors and competition as a whole. Secondly, “dominance” test, applied in the EU under Regulation 4064/89, is analysed in detail. Moreover, the article discusses the meaning of a “dominant position”. We uphold the clarification of “dominance” provided by the Court of Justice, according to which dominance means the ability “to act to a considerable extent independently of their competitors, their customers and, ultimately, of consumers”. It is argued that “dominance” test is not sufficient for contemporary economics. The main disadvantage of this rule is that it is inapplicable for concentrations that do not create or strengthen dominant position. Furthermore, the new European Union rule of “significant impediment of competition” can be named as a smart European decision that tackled several problems: the practice of the Court of Justice remained applicable for future cases, because no serious changes to the wording of the rule were made. The detection of “dominant position” became only an alternative means to impede competition. In addition to this, the USA, the UK rule of “substantial lessening of competition” is compared to the two rules referred above. The concept of “monopoly” used in the wording of the rule, as well as the practice of the USA courts concerning the evaluation of market concentrations is analysed. We conclude that literally the phrases “significant impediment of competition” and “substantial lessening of competition” are different, but the content of these rules is the same. Different decisions taken in the same or similar cases on both sides of the Atlantic depend not on a certain rule but on the means of its application and some other circumstances (social, political factors, etc.). Finally, it is argued that practice of the evaluation of concentrations in the Republic of Lithuania is extremely poor. According to the present findings of the Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania, it is hard to say the kind of approach the Council follows or, in other words, what kind of a rule the Council applies. Despite the fact that competition law in Lithuania was updated in conformity with the changes made in the EU competition law, we state that the test of “dominance” is further applied in certain concentration cases. (shrink)

Lawyers pretend as if the process of application of laws, as well as its outcome, could be an analytic-deductive derivation; especially law students learn that legal decision-making is primarily a logic process. But we know that application of laws depends on analytic-logical as well as on voluntaristic (wilful) elements. Exact relations between these components are unknown and will be unknown. At most German law schools students as the most important imperative tool learn the so called “Auslegung” through the use of (...) theoretical instruments, which do not reflect the interpretation of law practice. These mentioned causes result in irrationality of legal decision-making. In order to achieve more rationality in the process and result of legal decision-making, the contribution makes four suggestions regarding legal methodology and legal education. These proposals consist of few long-term pragmatic approaches to more rationality of legal decision-making. (shrink)

The article deals with the constitutional right of a person to apply to court. While construing this constitutionally entrenched right of a person, one analyses the doctrine of the right of a person to apply to court, which was formed in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. The right of a person to court is entrenched expressis verbis in Paragraph 1 of Article 30 of the Constitution whereby the person whose constitutional rights or freedoms are (...) violated shall have the right to apply to court. The doctrine of the Constitutional Court derives this right also from the constitutional principle of a state under the rule of law. The right of a person to court is inseparable from other norms and principles of the Constitution, which are equality of rights, the right to compensation of damage, the right to a proper court process, etc. (shrink)

The treaty of Lisbon makes European Union (EU) accession to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) an obligation of result. The issue has been intensely discussed for more than thirty years, arguing that such accession is necessary in view of the need to ensure the ECHR standard of fundamental rights protection in Europe. This question again gains prominence as the EU member states and the institutions seek to agree on the negotiation directives of EU accession to the ECHR. The (...) process brings up the difficulties involved in creating a mechanism which would both facilitate the autonomy of the EU legal order and enable individuals to bring claims against the EU to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This involves the questions how it would be possible to ensure quick access to justice, and whether the ECtHR would continue to apply the doctrine of equivalent protection in relation to EU even after the latter becomes bound by the ECHR. The article argues that EU accession to the Convention is a prominent political step ensuring coherence of human rights protection mechanism in Europe. (shrink)

This article discusses the problematic aspects relating to the employee privacy in his workplace and its limits reacting to employer‘s interests. It contains analysis of National, European and transatlantic legislation of privacy in the workplace and concentrates on the electronic privacy (e-mails, communications, etc.). The article is based on legal acts and judgements of the Supreme court of Lithuania, European Court of Human Rights and other countries courts judgements in order to provide the legislative execution practice as well as reveal (...) the problems in this field of labour law. (shrink)

The question of detention of asylum seekers is specific due to the special situation of detainees (persons who have experienced human rights violations and apply for asylum in receiving country) and due to peculiarities of detention itself (persons have not committed crimes, but come or stay illegally because they have been forced to do so by fleeing from human rights violations). Therefore, lately it raises many discussions at the European level. Sooner or later, discussions influence national laws, as after adopting (...) the EU directives their provisions must be properly transposed into national laws. This article describes the recent documents: the study in Lithuania, the UNHCR guidelines, the EU developments, the Lithuania judicial practice. The authors of the article discuss the latest amendments of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens (entering into force on 1 February 2012) related to detention of asylum seekers after the transposition of the provisions of the Return Directive. The practice of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania when applying the new detention-related provisions is also reviewed in the article. The authors do not agree with the position of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania that the provisions of the Return Directive are applicable to asylum seekers. The authors pay attention to the case-law of the European Court of Justice, the preamble of the Return Directive and its legal relations with the EU asylum directives. At the end, the conclusions are drawn as to the way that the provisions of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens should be interpreted in the light of the purposes and provisions of the European Union directives. In order to avoid contradictory practice and at the same time ensure the interests of public order in Lithuania, Article 113(7) of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens could be applied. (shrink)

In 2011 there are 76 countries of the world still criminalising same-sex sexual acts between consenting adults. In seven of those countries homosexual acts are punishable with death penalty (i.e., Mauritania, Sudan, the northern states of Nigeria, the southern parts of Somalia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen). Homophobic (transphobic) attitudes are also frequent in many societies. However, the LGBT asylum seekers are frequently left outside the refugee definition due to many refugee qualification problems in LGBT cases. Therefore, in this article the (...) author aims to describe the main refugee qualification problems in LGBT asylum cases (i.e., criminalisation; state protection against non-state persecution; concealment of sexual or gender identity; internal protection) and propose their solutions. Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 has several important provisions including LGBT asylum seekers into otherwise gender-neutral refugee definition. Today these provisions need to be correctly interpreted and transposed into practice of the Member States. (shrink)

The principle of publicity is one of the fundamental principles of property law: property rights should be made public in order to inform third parties about the existence of the property right and its holder and thereby to foster legal certainty and efficiency. The publicity of ownership in immovable property is achieved through registration of ownership in the public register. However, the problem arises because of the unavoidable discrepancies between the data contained in the public register and the factual situation. (...) Different states choose different models to solve the practical problems arising out of the aforementioned discrepancies. On the one hand, Lithuania belongs to the group of states that implement the so-called declaratory system of registration, i.e. the transfer of ownership is based on an agreement or other legal grounds and the registration is not mandatory but provides the transfer with a third-party effect. This can be seen as a proof of priority of a factual situation over the registered data. On the other hand, Lithuanian laws provide the data of the register with some positive reliance, i.e. third parties are not only protected from claims arising out of unregistered rights (negative reliance), but they can also rely on the transcripts in the register. This is especially true in the case of bona fide transferee of immovable property which with some minor exceptions acquires ownership even from a non-owner, if the latter honestly relied on the data of the register. This regulatory framework is further adopted and transformed by the case law of the Lithuanian courts. The analysis of the latter shows that courts are inclined to rely more on the factual situation and easily deny the meaning of the registered rights. In various ways, the concept of the bona fide transferee is restricted and there are instances of positive duties ascribed to them. Besides, the existing case law demonstrates equivocal attitude towards the legal effects of registered data. Such tendencies of case law may hinder the rule of positive reliance and cause greater legal uncertainty. (shrink)

The safeguarding of credit represents one of the most important economic and juridical challenges for every complex society. Just by reading the news we can realize how current this topic is for us. By thinking back over the history of ideas and the social, economic, and political reasons that got Law makers to legislate on this subject, we can better understand what’s happening today and in which direction our societies are going. An analysis of the Italian juridical system’s development on (...) bankruptcy proceedings, starting from the attitude of ancient Roman law on over-indebtedness, can effectively shine light on the current regulation, reformed in 2006. This new bankruptcy law transforms the previous public nature of bankruptcy proceedings into a prevailingly private management of enterprises’ financial problems, completely changing the course of credit policy. The “Italian way” is just one result of an international trend, the guiding lines of which can be seen throughout the whole EU and also in the regulation of the USA. This historical-comparative perspective, in all its positive and negative potentiality, is an important paradigm. The final hope is that historians can perhaps give their contribution to more conscious reflections on important topics like this one, offering to other scholars the possibility to have a wider view on this juridical phenomenon. (shrink)

Lithuania had a different experience in legal regulation of private property. There were periods when right to private ownership was denied and on the other hand – the periods when right to private ownership was respected and protected. Authors wanted to review today’s status of rights to private property in retrospective. The main purpose of the article is to reveal functions of private property in Lithuania. The article analyzes peculiarities of legal regulation of private property in Lithuania during different stages (...) of the state’s development. The authors have analyzed the social significance of the right to private property, how it changed and how it has been reflected in Lithuanian legislation and the case law of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, paying a particular attention to entrenchment of the right to private property in the Constitution of Lithuania. The authors evaluate the compliance of the national legal regulation and Article 1 of the First Protocol with the European Convention on Human Rights, and the case law of the European Court of Justice. (shrink)

In every legal system, consumer law indicates problems that it is supposed to solve: imbalance, unfairness and unconscionability. It raises important questions about a legal system’s pre-existing ability to deal with those problems. In a way, consumer law’s very presence in a legal system judges that system. When considering consumer law as a part of the system, an opposition arises between two kinds of discourse. First, there is a discourse, which constructs consumer law as a legal entity apart from the (...) others, sometimes leftist, founded on a defense of social justice or on market regulation. From this angle, consumer law might easily appear to be subversive. Second, there is a discourse, which results from the effort to accommodate consumer law within the legal tradition’s general private law. Under this discourse, rather than disrupting the core private law, consumer law is integrated into it. A gap may thus be noticeable between the initial intentions that sustain consumer law and the effects it produces. The author’s claim in this paper is that this gap, which generates ambivalence about consumer law, results from western legal systems’ main way of formalizing law in the contemporary era by writing. (shrink)

The modern doctrine of the “fresh start” reflects the differences between the past paradigm of punishment of the insolvent person and the current focus on the economic effectiveness and activeness. Global practice in the field of insolvency shows that the “limited liability rule” is eminently effective in the economic and social perspective. The appending threat of abuse and misapplication of the system might be neutralized through the legal regulation of prevention and rehabilitation means, which are analyzed in this article. The (...) aim of this research is to: 1) present a summary of the paradigm of bankruptcy of natural persons; 2) evaluate the categories of prevention and rehabilitation means set in the Lithuanian concept of the bankruptcy of natural persons; 3) identify the physical factors affecting the bankruptcy of natural persons; 4) provide a conceptual model of rehabilitation after bankruptcy and insolvency prevention measures have been implemented in the field of bankruptcy of natural persons. (shrink)

Interim measures are procedural means that allow persons or States to have their rights preserved when a case is pending. Application of these measures especially in environmental cases is very important. In many of these cases (e.g. cases dealing with territorial planning, IPPC permits, environmental impact assessment, etc.) the claims deal with the protection of environment or its components (water, air, soil, etc.) as well as with the protection of public interest. Legal regulation of application of interim measures provided by (...) Lithuanian Law on Administrative Proceedings is not optimal. That is why the first part of the article is dedicated to the analysis of the possibilities and problems of application of interim measures in the administrative proceedings in Lithuania, paying special attention to environmental cases. The second part of the article reflects the findings of a workshop of the Association of European Administrative Judges on „Interim relief in environmental matters” held in Vilnius on 22 September 2011. It briefly describes various national rules on interim relief procedures, especially in the German and the French legislation, with an assessment from the German point of view. This part of the article focuses on provisional legal protection where a permit is challenged by a third party whose rights are allegedly afflicted. In such a constellation the rights of the plaintiff compete with the rights of the operator. The article concludes that, when deciding on the necessity of interim measures, it is vital to ensure the balance of interests: both by ensuring effective access to justice and by protecting the respondent and the third party (in environmental cases - usually the operator) from the violation of their rights and the damage caused by the abuse of the right to request interim measures. In such cases short time limits for procedural steps both of the parties and the court are not advisable and a prima facie prognosis on the outcome in the main proceedings meets the interests of the parties. (shrink)

Starting from 2009, national courts of the EU Member States for the first time gained a “real” right to request the EU Court of Justice for preliminary rulings in asylum matters. First judgments of this Court demonstrate equivocal tendencies: some are blaming the Court for incompetence in asylum matters, others believe that the adoption of authoritative decisions at the European level will assist in developing consistent practice of applying asylum law in the European Union, something that failed at international level (...) due to absence of a single authoritative body to provide guidance on interpretation and application of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Considering that the judgments of the EU Court are part of the EU law, the Member States should develop their national asylum law with due regard being taken to those judgments. By the beginning of 2012, the Court has issued eight judgments on the interpretation of various problematic issues of EU asylum law. This Article analyses the jurisprudence of the EU Court in asylum cases, related to the granting of refugee status and subsidiary protection. It also provides a critical evaluation of those judgments. The main objective of the Article is to familiarise the relevant Lithuanian institutions and lawyers with the first judgments of the EU Court in asylum cases and encourage discussions concerning the application of rules established by the Court in the Lithuanian context. Due to limited size, this Article presents the analysis of two EU Court judgments adopted on interpretation of the 2004 Qualification Directive: Elgafaji v. The Netherlands (2009) dealing with granting of subsidiary protection, and Abdulla and others v. Bundesrepublik Deutschland (2010), dealing with cessation of refugee status. The value of those judgments first of all lies in the guidance they provided to the Member States on such concepts as: protection in a situation of an armed conflict, agents of protection, effectiveness of protection; as well as determination of a relationship between refugee status and subsidiary protection, relationship of the Qualification Directive with the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), also cessation of protection. Elgafaji decision, while quite liberal with regard to persons seeking international protection, is not so liberally applied in the Member States’ practice and does not in itself guarantee positive outcome of the application of a concrete individual fleeing from an armed conflict, or a liberal approach to granting subsidiary protection in the Member States. Based on Elgafaji judgment it is clear that: Art. 15(b) of the Qualification Directive correspond to Art. 3 ECHR, while Art. 15(c) provides additional protection and in that it expands the Member States’ obligations beyond the ECHR to provide protection to persons fleeing in situations of armed conflict. While not every person arriving from an armed conflict situation would automatically fall under the granting of subsidiary protection, in certain exceptional situations indiscriminate violence may amount to individual threat without invoking personal circumstances. The EU Court departed from the individualisation requirement applied by the European Court of Human Rights in Art. 3 cases and did not also rely on international humanitarian law, by introducing a “sliding scale” formula for establishing an individual threat in armed conflict situation instead. This formula addressed the alleged internal discrepancy between “individual threat” and “indiscriminate violence”. The Abdulla decision brought in the human rights and law enforcement perspectives to the interpretation of cessation clauses, however it represents a rather superficial approach in the context of the analysed concepts (e.g. towards effectiveness of protection provided by the multinational armed forces) and is likely to be incompatible with the latest legislative trends in the EU asylum instruments (e.g. determination of refugee status and subsidiary protection by means of a single procedure) and the recent jurisprudence under the ECHR (e.g. failure to ensure a minimum standard of living may violate the ECHR). (shrink)

The 6th of February 2005 marks the deadline of transposition of the EU Council Directive No. 2003/9/EC (Reception Conditions‘ Directive) into national legislation. This article is the second in a series of articles on transposition of the European Union Asylum Directives in Lithuania and remaining concerns. It analyses the transposition of the Reception Conditions Directive in the country, the impact of the directive‘s provisions on the development of the Lithuanian asylum law and draws attention to the remaining concerns in relation (...) to implementation of this directive in Lithuania. The authors illustrate the remaining concerns with practical and live examples/stories from Lithuania. (shrink)