Founded as the Court of Arbitration, the court owes its existence to the development of the Belgian unitary state into a federal state. The original name that had been given to the Court already says a lot about its mission, which is to supervise the observance of the constitutional division of powers between the federal state, the communities and the regions.
The Court of Arbitration was officially inaugurated in the Belgian Senate on 1 October 1984. On 5 April 1985 it delivered its first judgment. In May 2007, upon a change of the Belgian Constitution, the court was renamed Constitutional Court as this name is more in keeping with the actual jurisdiction of the court.
Jurisdiction
Since 1988, the Court is also responsible for supervising the application of some particular articles of the Belgian constitution such as the principles of equality, non-discrimination and the rights and liberties in respect of education (the Articles 10, 11 and 24 of the Belgian constitution). With a special law of 2003, this competence was expanded to the Section II (Articles 8 to 32), and the Articles 170, 172 and 191 of the Belgian Constitution. The Court is therefore developing into a constitutional court.
The court has two modi operandi. Each stakeholder can within 6 months of publication of a law, decree or ordinance go to the Court in order to have the law, decree or ordinance annulled because of a breach of the aforementioned Articles of the Belgian Constitution or because of a breach of the division of powers between the federal state, the communities and the regions. When the Court decides to annul a law, decree or ordinance it counts erga omnes, for all persons.
The second modus operandi of the court are the preliminary issues. If a question comes up in a particular tribunal about the correspondence of laws, decrees and ordinances with the rules laying down the division of powers between the State, the communities and the regions or with Articles 8 to 32, 170, 172 or 191 of the Constitution, that tribunal must address a preliminary question to the Constitutional Court as the Court has the exclusive competence of interpreting the Constitution and the competence dividing rules. When the Court finds a breach of these articles, it will pronounce its decision inter partes, meaning the ruling has effect only between the parties of the specific case. Such a judgement, however, has great moral value and will force the parliament which made the targeted law, decree or ordinance in question to amend it.
Judges
The Court is composed of 12 judges (2 linguistic groups of which 6 Dutch and 6 French speakers, one of them must have an adequate knowledge of German) appointed for their lifetime by the King (in practice, the federal government) within a list of candidates provided by the federal parliament. The list to fill a vacancy contains two candidates proposed alternately by the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate by a majority of at least two-thirds of the members present. Each linguistic group is composed of three judges with a legal background and three judges who have had at least five years experience as members of parliament. Candidates must be at least forty years of age. The judges may hold office until they reach seventy years of age, when they retire from the bench.
Currently five of the twelve judges are female. According to a change in 2014 to article 12 of the special law, the membership of the court needs to contain a measure of gender equality: at least a third of its membership needs to be of the opposite sex. Until that number is reached, new appointments are legally obliged to be of the underrepresented sex. However, this obligation has not been respected when Michel Pâques was appointed in 2018.
Detienne (b. 1959) is a former member of the Chamber of Representatives (1991-1999), and minister in the Walloon government (1999-2004)
Giet (b. 1958) is a former member of the Chamber of Representatives (1995-2013)
Jadin (b. 1980) is a former Member of the Chamber of Representatives (2007-2022)
Kherbache (b. 1972) is a former member of the Flemish Parliament (2014-2019) and the Chamber of Representatives (2019)
Lavryssen (b. 1956) is a law professor and former judge at the Council of State
Moerman, JP. (b. 1952) is a former Member of the Chamber of Representatives (1995-2001)
Moerman, J. (b. 1958) is a former member of parliament, federal minister of Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade and Scientific Research (2003-2004), and viceminister-president of the Flemish government and Flemish minister of Economy, Scientific Research, Innovation, and Foreign Trade (2004-2007)
Nihoul (b. 1961) is a former judge at the Council of State
Pâques (b. 1959) is a former judge at the Council of State
Pieters (b. 1956) is a former member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives (1999-2003) and the Belgian Senate (2010-2014)
Verrijdt (b. 1981) is a former referendaris ("law clerk") at the Constitutional Court
† denotes that judge served as President of his linguistic group
Procedure
An appeal to cancel a law, decree or ordinance may be submitted to the Court by the Council of Ministers, by the Government of a Community or Region of Belgium, by the Presidents of the Chamber of Representatives, Senate and the Community and Regional Parliaments, at the request of two thirds of its members, and by any person who can demonstrate an interest in the cancellation. In other words, the law, decree or ordinance must be harmful to the party submitting the appeal.
Cases before the Constitutional Court are normally heard by a panel consisting of seven judges that decides by majority. The panel always comprises both Presidents, at least three judges from each linguistic group, at least two former members of the Federal Parliament and at least two judges with a legal background. Cases can also be heard by the whole Court if either President so decides or if at least two judges of the ordinary panel of seven judges so requests. If cases are heard by the whole Court, the Court cannot rule unless at least 10 judges and an equal number of Dutch- and French-speaking judges are present. In this case, if the votes are equally divided, the President of the Court has a casting vote.
The appeal must include the subject of the appeal and must be motivated. The party submitting the appeal can also request that the law, decree or ordinance in question be suspended pending a final ruling by the Court. A law, decree or ordinance can be suspended only when the application of the law, decree or ordinance in question could incur serious, and difficult to repair, harm to the party submitting the appeal.
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This article relies excessively on references to primary sources Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources Find sources Constitutional Court Belgium news newspapers books scholar JSTOR July 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Constitutional Court Dutch Grondwettelijk Hof help info French Cour constitutionelle German Verfassungsgerichtshof plays a central role within the federal Belgian state This is a judicial court founded in 1980 Its jurisdiction was augmented in 1988 and 2003 Contents 1 History 2 Jurisdiction 3 Judges 3 1 Composition 3 2 Judges background 3 3 Former judges 4 Procedure 5 See also 6 External linksHistory Edit View on the Royal Square the Constitutional Court of Belgium left is adjacent to the Church of St James on Coudenberg Founded as the Court of Arbitration the court owes its existence to the development of the Belgian unitary state into a federal state The original name that had been given to the Court already says a lot about its mission which is to supervise the observance of the constitutional division of powers between the federal state the communities and the regions The Court of Arbitration was officially inaugurated in the Belgian Senate on 1 October 1984 On 5 April 1985 it delivered its first judgment In May 2007 upon a change of the Belgian Constitution the court was renamed Constitutional Court as this name is more in keeping with the actual jurisdiction of the court Jurisdiction EditSince 1988 the Court is also responsible for supervising the application of some particular articles of the Belgian constitution such as the principles of equality non discrimination and the rights and liberties in respect of education the Articles 10 11 and 24 of the Belgian constitution With a special law of 2003 this competence was expanded to the Section II Articles 8 to 32 and the Articles 170 172 and 191 of the Belgian Constitution The Court is therefore developing into a constitutional court The court has two modi operandi Each stakeholder can within 6 months of publication of a law decree or ordinance go to the Court in order to have the law decree or ordinance annulled because of a breach of the aforementioned Articles of the Belgian Constitution or because of a breach of the division of powers between the federal state the communities and the regions When the Court decides to annul a law decree or ordinance it counts erga omnes for all persons The second modus operandi of the court are the preliminary issues If a question comes up in a particular tribunal about the correspondence of laws decrees and ordinances with the rules laying down the division of powers between the State the communities and the regions or with Articles 8 to 32 170 172 or 191 of the Constitution that tribunal must address a preliminary question to the Constitutional Court as the Court has the exclusive competence of interpreting the Constitution and the competence dividing rules When the Court finds a breach of these articles it will pronounce its decision inter partes meaning the ruling has effect only between the parties of the specific case Such a judgement however has great moral value and will force the parliament which made the targeted law decree or ordinance in question to amend it Judges EditThe Court is composed of 12 judges 2 linguistic groups of which 6 Dutch and 6 French speakers one of them must have an adequate knowledge of German appointed for their lifetime by the King in practice the federal government within a list of candidates provided by the federal parliament The list to fill a vacancy contains two candidates proposed alternately by the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate by a majority of at least two thirds of the members present Each linguistic group is composed of three judges with a legal background and three judges who have had at least five years experience as members of parliament Candidates must be at least forty years of age The judges may hold office until they reach seventy years of age when they retire from the bench Currently five of the twelve judges are female According to a change in 2014 to article 12 of the special law the membership of the court needs to contain a measure of gender equality at least a third of its membership needs to be of the opposite sex Until that number is reached new appointments are legally obliged to be of the underrepresented sex However this obligation has not been respected when Michel Paques was appointed in 2018 Composition Edit The Court is currently composed as follows French linguistic group Dutch linguistic group Pierre Nihoul President Thierry Giet Michel Paques Thierry Detienne Emmanuelle Bribosia Kattrin Jadin Luc Lavryssen President Josephine Moerman Yasmine Kherbache Danny Pieters Sabine de Bethune Willem VerrijdtJudges background Edit Bribosia b 1971 is law professor at the ULB de Bethune b 1958 is a former member of the Belgian Senate 1995 2021 and of the Flemish Parliament 2014 2019 Detienne b 1959 is a former member of the Chamber of Representatives 1991 1999 and minister in the Walloon government 1999 2004 Giet b 1958 is a former member of the Chamber of Representatives 1995 2013 Jadin b 1980 is a former Member of the Chamber of Representatives 2007 2022 Kherbache b 1972 is a former member of the Flemish Parliament 2014 2019 and the Chamber of Representatives 2019 Lavryssen b 1956 is a law professor and former judge at the Council of State Moerman JP b 1952 is a former Member of the Chamber of Representatives 1995 2001 Moerman J b 1958 is a former member of parliament federal minister of Economy Energy Foreign Trade and Scientific Research 2003 2004 and viceminister president of the Flemish government and Flemish minister of Economy Scientific Research Innovation and Foreign Trade 2004 2007 Nihoul b 1961 is a former judge at the Council of State Paques b 1959 is a former judge at the Council of State Pieters b 1956 is a former member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives 1999 2003 and the Belgian Senate 2010 2014 Verrijdt b 1981 is a former referendaris law clerk at the Constitutional CourtFormer judges Edit French linguistic group Dutch linguistic group Etienne Gutt 1984 1989 Jean Sarot 1984 1990 Irene Petry 1984 1992 Jacques Wathelet 1984 1992 Dieudonne Andre 1984 1993 Lucien Francois 1989 2004 Yves de Wasseige 1992 1994 Baroness Janine Delruelle Ghobert 1992 2001 Baron Etienne Cerexhe 1993 2001 Paul Martens 1990 2010 Michel Melchior 1984 2010 Roger Henneuse 1995 2013 Jean Spreutels 2004 2018 Jean Paul Snappe 2001 2019 Francois Daout 2011 2021 Jean Paul Moerman 2001 2022 Baron Jan Delva 1984 1993 Willy Calewaert 1984 1986 Fernand Debaedts 1984 1993 Louis De Greve 1984 1994 Karel Blanckaert 1984 1994 Baron Louis Paul Suetens 1984 1996 Georges De Baets 1993 2001 Henri Coremans 1993 2000 Rik Boel 1986 2001 Alex Arts 1994 2007 Baron Marc Bossuyt 1997 2014 Etienne De Groot 1999 2018 Erik Derycke 2001 2019 Baron Andre Alen 2001 2020 Trees Merckx Van Goey 2007 2021 Rita Leysen 2014 2022 denotes that judge served as President of his linguistic groupProcedure EditAn appeal to cancel a law decree or ordinance may be submitted to the Court by the Council of Ministers by the Government of a Community or Region of Belgium by the Presidents of the Chamber of Representatives Senate and the Community and Regional Parliaments at the request of two thirds of its members and by any person who can demonstrate an interest in the cancellation In other words the law decree or ordinance must be harmful to the party submitting the appeal Cases before the Constitutional Court are normally heard by a panel consisting of seven judges that decides by majority The panel always comprises both Presidents at least three judges from each linguistic group at least two former members of the Federal Parliament and at least two judges with a legal background Cases can also be heard by the whole Court if either President so decides or if at least two judges of the ordinary panel of seven judges so requests If cases are heard by the whole Court the Court cannot rule unless at least 10 judges and an equal number of Dutch and French speaking judges are present In this case if the votes are equally divided the President of the Court has a casting vote The appeal must include the subject of the appeal and must be motivated The party submitting the appeal can also request that the law decree or ordinance in question be suspended pending a final ruling by the Court A law decree or ordinance can be suspended only when the application of the law decree or ordinance in question could incur serious and difficult to repair harm to the party submitting the appeal See also EditCommunities regions and provinces of Belgium Constitution of Belgium Judiciary Politics of Belgium Rule According to Higher Law Rule of lawExternal links EditOfficial website The Constitutional Court Competence organisation and workings Belgian Chamber of Representatives 2007 50 50 31 N 4 21 37 E 50 8419 N 4 3603 E 50 8419 4 3603 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Constitutional Court Belgium amp oldid 1166450724, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
