Evolution of Constitutional Justice in Georgia as an Effective Remedy for the Protection of Fundamental Rights

The Constitution of Georgia is founded on the key principles of democracy, the rule of law, the separation of powers and the respect for human rights. The realisation of these inherent principles is vested in both the Constitutional Court and common courts that make up the judicial system in Georgia. This renders the institutional cooperation between the two courts necessary for the whole system to be effective. Since the Constitutional Court is not authorised to review the constitutionality of judgments of ordinary courts, it has developed an interpretative approach, whereby the Constitutional Court accepts the meaning of an impugned legal norm as given by the courts of general jurisdiction, provided the common courts are consistent and uniform in their interpretation of the law. This approach has helped the constitutional jurisprudence to become more effective in real cases and also, furthered the application of the Constitution by ordinary courts. Although challenges remain in terms of understanding and applying the constitutional jurisprudence by judges of the common courts, the tendency towards utilising the mentioned mechanism by the ordinary courts is on the rise driven by solid and persuasive case-law of the Constitutional Court.