Refining Georgia’s Legal Framework for Enforcing Constitutional Court Judgements

Abstract

A judgment adopted by the constitutional court reveals its true res judicata nature and binding force through enforcement. Certain court judgments are self-executing, while others require an active involvement of various branches of government to ensure their enforcement. The practice of the Constitutional Court of Georgia shows that some judgments were not enforced at all, were enforced with delay, or only partially. For the effective execution of judgments, it is essential to have a necessary component of trust between state institutions but also to ensure the existence of all appropriate mechanisms for their enforcement. The applicable Georgian legislation primarily focuses on the mechanisms for restoring individual rights in response to the Constitutional Court judgments, while broader measures such as the adoption of new legislation are relegated to the political process. This article will assess the effectiveness of the Georgian legal framework of enforcing the Constitutional Court judgements, analyze the best international practices and provide recommendations for elaboration of the instruments that will promote their effective enforcement.

Keywords

• self-executing judgments
• trust between state institutions
• individual rights