Zbornik Radova Pravnog Fakulteta u Splitu (May 2016)
Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression (constitutional legal framework and Constitutional Court practice in the Republic of Croatia)
Abstract
This paper analyses the connection and inter relationship of freedom as the highest value of constitutional order of the Republic of Croatia and the highest ideal of contemporary democracy and constitutional state with the right to freedom of speech and expression. By analysing that interrelationship, the intention to confirm the thesis that the right to freedom of speech and expression is just one (albeit very important)human right and fundamental freedom arises. It has been extracted from freedoms as the highest value and as one which is always returned to in such a way that affects the scope and content of it being achieved in relation to the imagined ideal of freedom and the given reality. The right to freedom of speech and expression is analysed as just one of the fundamental supports for building a democratic society of rule of law and Constitution. In this context, the function of the indispensable condition for achieving other human rights and fundamental freedoms is also analysed. Furthermore, it is considered as a right within which, through its content, includes a range of other rights and freedoms. It should be considered from a theoretical viewpoint as a so called legal construction. This paper analyses the constitutional legal framework in the Republic of Croatia related to the right to freedom of speech and expression. In that analysis, particular attention is given to the subject, content and characteristics of the right to freedom of speech and expression and the practice of European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia which protect this right.
