Le contrôle juridictionnel de conventionnalité et de constitutionnalité des lois au Grand-Duché de Luxembourg

Doctoral thesis (2018)

The thesis analyses the judicial review of laws, more precisely their compatibility with "higher law" in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Since the 19th century, general courts have authority to review laws ... [more ▼]

The thesis analyses the judicial review of laws, more precisely their compatibility with "higher law" in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Since the 19th century, general courts have authority to review laws as to international law. In 1996/1997, the Constitutional Court was established and empowered to examine ordinary statute law as to their compatibility with the Constitution. As a result, the rule of law might be considered realized. However, the powers of this special court and the legal effects of its judgements are considerably limited. What is more, the analysis of constitutional jurisprudence reveals clear self-limiting tendancies of the constitutional judges themselves. Moreover, it is general wisdom that the Constitutional Court has no authority to review the compatibility of any law with international law. The latter competence is exclusively with the ordinary judge. This situation causes legal uncertainty, bearing the risk of contradictory jurisprudence of high courts. The judicial separation of constitutionality and conventionality review also lacks coherence with respect to the primacy of public international in the Grand-Duchy, and it ignores the existing overlapping of international law and Constitution. [less ▲]