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Slepaite, Laura --- "Lithuania" [2006] ELECD 191; in Smits, M. Jan (ed), "Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006)

Book Title: Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law

Editor(s): Smits, M. Jan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845420130

Section: Chapter 40

Section Title: Lithuania

Author(s): Slepaite, Laura

Number of pages: 4

Extract:

40 Lithuania
Laura Slepaite



1 Introduction
The Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika) is one of the three Baltic
States (the other two are Estonia and Latvia) that joined the European
Union in May 2004. The Lithuanian legal system rightly may be qualified as
a civil law system considering that a significant portion of its civil, public
and criminal law is codified. In 2001, the new Civil Code (Civilinis Kodeksas)
entered into force and in 2003, the new Penal Code (Baudziamasis Kodeksas)
took effect. Procedural law is also codified. Thus Lithuanians have a Code of
Civil Procedure (Civilinio Proceso Kodeksas) and Code of Criminal
Procedure (Baudziamojo Proceso Kodeksas).
In terms of legal families, the Lithuanian legal system may be described
as a hybrid of the French and German legal families. The new Lithuanian
Civil Code supports this thesis: its strict structure and abstract wording is
reminiscent of the German Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch. However, the influ-
ence of the French Code Civil may also be perceived.
The official language of Lithuania is Lithuanian: all statute law and
cases are drafted in Lithuanian. Court proceedings are also conducted in
Lithuanian.

2 Constitutional law
The new Constitution of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucija)
entered into force in 1992, two years after the end of the occupation by
the Soviet Union. The constitution contains chapters on fundamental
rights, Parliament, the President of the Republic, Government, Judiciary,
Administrative division, State budget, Control of the State, Foreign policy,
Defence and the revision of the constitution. Lithuanian native speakers
...