Političke stranke kao javnopravne osobe hrvatskog pravnog sistema: pristup problemu
Political Parties as public Law Persons of the Croatian legal System: an Approach to the Problem

Summary/Abstract: There are prima facie reasons why political parties should be recognized as public law persons of the Croatian legal system: political parties play a leading role in the creation and implementation of the state's will; Continental European legal systems distinguish between the public law and the private law: the Croatian Constitution prescribes that political parties are associations with the features typical of public law persons. What requires analysis is the nature and consequences of the public law personality of political parties. Aristotle's theory of justice is still a useful starting point for distinguishing between the public law and the private law, and between the public law persons and the private law persons. The theory demonstrates that both the political community and the economic market presuppose standards of conduct that regulate interaction of their members. The standards include two essential types of legal acts, namely, statutes, which are fundamental acts of public law, and contracts, which are fundamental acts of private law. The dichotomy of legal acts implies virtually all the criteria that Roman and Continental lawyers have found important for distinguishing the public law and the private law (source, bindingness, hierarchy, interest, subjects, etc.). The division of a legal system into the private and the public law can be positivised in several ways. However, a liberal, democratic and social legal system ought to meet the following principles, which guarantee the public law status of political parties: explicit recognition of public law personality; justiciability; constitutionality; transparency; democracy; solidarity. The principles are followed by the Draft Bill on Political Parties, which was prepared by the Croatian Law Centre in May 2002 and was adopted, with some changes, by the Committee on Constitution, Rules of Order and Political System of the Croatian Parliament in July 2002.

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