A Guide to Legal Research in Bosnia and Herzegovina
by Mirela Rozajac
Mirela Rozajac graduated in comparative literature and library science at the Department of Comparative Literature and Library Science of Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina). During her studies she worked in international civil sector for youth peace promotion and as national coordinator for B&H for the NGO "Campus 15-Jugend wagt den Frieden". In 2002 she got an award from the Ministry of Education dedicated to talented students.Since November 2003 she has started her work as an Expert Counselor in the Library of Law faculty in Sarajevo, but she is still closely connected to her engagement in the non-governmental sector. As Expert Counselor in the Library she edited in co-authorship the Bibliography of Law faculty of University in Sarajevo: monograph publications (1946-2003). In 2004 she was the scholarship holder of Stiftung für internationale rechtliche Zusammenarbeit which gave her the opportunity to attend lectures of legal German language at the Goethe Institute in Bonn.
Published December 2005
Table of Contents
General information about Bosnia and Herzegovina
1. State organization
1.1. Entities (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Srpska)
1.2. Cantons
1.3. Brčko District
2. Legal and executive authority
2.1. Parliamentary assembly
2.2. Presidency and Council of Ministers
2.3. Office of High Representative
3. Courts
3.1. State Court of B&H
3.2. Constitutional court of B&H
3.3. Case materials
4. Legal education in B&H
4.1. Law faculties
4.2. Centers for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training
4.3. Law libraries
5. Publishers in B&H
Conclusion
General information about Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) is a parliamentary republic in South-Eastern Europe, on Balkan Peninsula. Rich cultural and political history of B&H is interwoven with periods of its independence and being a part of the great empires. After the period of Bosnian kingdom, from 15th century to 19th century B&H became part of the Ottoman Empire, and during 1878-1914 it was annexed to Austro Hungarian Monarchy. After the Second World War, together with republics Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia and two Autonomous Provinces Kosovo and Vojvodina, Bosnia and Herzegovina became a socialistic republic. All these republics formed the Socialistic Federative Republic of Yugoslavia.
Bosnia and Herzegovina (shortly after two other republics, Slovenia and Croatia) declared its independence again in 1992 when it was confirmed as a sovereign and independent state by the United Nations. Unfortunately, independence meant awful war and destruction which lasted four years and which had ended with the Dayton Peace Accord agreed in Dayton, Ohio in 1995, and officially signed in Paris in 1995. This war, together with the genocide and the aggression, introduced a modern democratic world society and legal terms such as crimes against civilians, ethnical cleansing and massive rapes. (More about crimes committed in former Yugoslavia and case material at the web site of International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia. One of the most important trials is the trial of Slobodan Milosevic, ex president of Serbia (1989) and later Yugoslavia (1997). )
It is really difficult to give precise information about the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina, since last official counting was done in 1991 and the result was 4,377,033; estimations are that over 250,000 people were killed or died during the war. The situation becomes even more complicated when one considers the great number of refugees, immigrants and disappeared persons. However, estimations are that B&H' population counts about 4,025,476. Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs constitute population of B&H, and the official languages are Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian. Currency is BAM / KM, Bosnian mark or convertible mark. The capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Sarajevo.
1. State organization
The state organization of Bosnia and Herzegovina is extremely complex. It was decided according to the Dayton Peace Accord and it respects ethnical lines which were established during the war. Main part of this article are legal information sources brought on the whole state level, however, it is necessary for legal researcher to be introduced with other levels of administration, since many laws are brought on entities levels or cantonal levels before they are even discussed within state parliament. This of course brings huge legal discrepancy into Bosnian legal system.
Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of the two entities and districts, Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine - F BiH (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Republika Srpska - RS (Republic of Srpska) and District Brčko.
1.1 Entities
The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a compound entity, divided into 10 cantons.
There is The Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina which proscribes that legislative authority in F BiH is Parliament consisted by The House of Representatives and the House of People. Laws and decisions of Parliament of F BiH as well as the text of federal Constitution one can find on official web site of the Parliament of F BiH, or in the Official gazette Sluzbene novine Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine which is published by Sluzbeni list BiH. Text of the Federal constitution is published in Sluzbene novine F BiH 1/94. The executive authority of FBiH is the President, the Vice-President and Ministers.
Republic of Srpska (RS) is the second entity. It also has a Constitution of Republic of Srpska. Legislative authority in Republic of Srpska is the National Assembly. Laws and regulations brought by National Assembly are published in the official gazette Sluzbeni glasnik Republike Srpske; also helpful would be the official site of the National Assembly. Executive authority in the Republic of Srpska is the Government of RS, which is constituted by a President, Vice president and ministers.
1.2 Cantons
As it is already mentioned, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided into ten administrative units, cantons. All cantons have their constitutions, based on federal constitution, legislative and executive authority. Cantonal laws are published in the Official gazettes of each canton.
· Unskosanski kanton
· Posavski kanton
· Tuzlansko-podrinjski kanton
· Zeničko-dobojski kanton
· Bosansko-podrinjski kanton Gorazde
· Srednjobosanski kanton
· Hercegovačko - neretvanski kanton
· Zapadno hercegovački kanton
· Sarajevski kanton
· Hercegbosanski kanton
Entities and cantons have their own judiciary authorities.
1.3 Brčko District
Brčko District is a special administrative unit, according to the final award of the Arbitration tribunal for Dispute over the Inter-Entity Boundary Line in Brčko Area. It is not part of the entities and it is subordinated only to state Bosnia and Herzegovina which is stated in the Statute of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina (English version of the statute available here) This Statute regulates legislative, executive and judicial authorities of the District. Laws of Brčko District have to be harmonized with laws of the state. Most of laws and regulations of Brčko District one could find on District's web page, or in the official gazette published by Assembly of Brčko District - Sluzbeni glasnik Brčko Distrikta.
Before the 1992-1995 war, B&H was not organized in previously described manner, which means that in past ten years state had to accept and to apply an administrative apparatus very different from what we could consider as its tradition. B&H presents real rareness in constitutional-legal frame, while it has 13 valid constitutions (cantons, entities, state).
2. Legal and executive authority
Besides the general text, composed of 11 articles, The General Peace Agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina (Dayton Peace Accord) contains 11 annexes, by which the basic principles of the various aspects of the legal and state system of Bosnia and Herzegovina were founded.
The bases for the new constitutional and general legal and state system of Bosnia and Herzegovina were established by the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore, the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has a wide range of authorities given to the entities, and still leaving to the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina the authorities of the vital importance for the functioning of an internationally recognized state. The Constitutions of the entities have to be adopted in accordance with this Constitution, and also the system of the government at the level of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina according to the competencies stated by this constitution. Regarding the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is interesting to mention that it is the case of so called "Octroyed Constitution" because no parliament declared itself about it, nor have its citizens did so by any means of personal declaration.
The English version of the text is available, among other sources, on the web site of the Constitutional Court of BH (alternately here: http://confinder.richmond.edu/).
2.1 Parliamentary assembly
The Parliamentary assembly of B&H has two chambers: the House of Peoples and the House of Representatives. It is a legislative authority whose legislative decisions require the both chambers approval. All laws brought by parliamentary assembly of B&H are published in the official gazette Sluzbeni glasnik Bosne i Hercegovine, while international agreements are published in the official gazette Sluzbeni glasnik Bosne i Hercegovine - međunarodni ugovori. Subscriptions to these official gazettes go via Sluzbeni list B&H.
One can find laws and decisions which are adopted in parliamentary procedure on Parliament's web site, but this part of the site is only in constitutional languages of B&H.
It is of great importance for legal researcher to know that laws and regulations of different law branches one can't find in organized codes, as it is possible in other European countries (Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland etc.). There have been a few collections of B&H laws published as special publications. But they are not consolidated codes and one can never use these completely, because of potential amendments (the last one was published in 1999).
One has to have in mind that basic texts of many B&H laws go back in the period of Socialistic Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while it was part of Yugoslavia, and they were amended in nowadays period of the Republic Bosnia and Herzegovina as independent country. Basically, to find a certain law or regulation and to follow its basic text and levels on which it has been brought (state, entities, cantons) one can use the annual official publication Pravni vodič (Legal guide). Pravni vodič is a register of laws and regulations which contains an index with subject terms in alphabetical order. After one finds a wanted term, one gets all the information needed about laws and regulations regarding it. Pravni vodič is published by Sluzbeni list B&H as well.
2.2 Presidency and Council of Ministers
The presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of three members from three constitutional nations: one Bosniak and one Croat, each directly elected from the territory of the Federation and one Serb directly elected from the territory of the Republic of Srpska. From 1996 to 1998, Alija Izetbegovic carried out the duties of the Chair of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.Since 1998, in accordance with the Constitution and Rules of Procedure, every eight months the Chair of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina rotates. Since June 2005 Chair of Presidency is Ivo Miro Jovic. But whole presidency's mandatory lasts four years (during which they have rotations every eight months). One can find more information about the Presidency in English here.
The Presidency nominates the Chair of the Council of Ministers, who takes office upon the approval of the House of Representatives. The Chair nominates a Foreign Minister, a Minister for Foreign trade and other Ministers who take office upon the approval of the House of Representatives. Together the chair and the Ministries constitute the Council of Ministries with responsibility for carrying out the policies and decisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the fields such as foreign affairs, monetary policies, and international and inter-entity criminal law enforcement. All further information about the Council of Ministers can be found on its official web site.
2.3 Office of High Representative (OHR)
One of the most relevant and at the same time ambivalent institutions in the B&H political and administrative organization is a High Representative. High Representative is a person designated to oversee the implementation of the civilian aspects of the Peace Agreement on behalf of the international community. He is also tasked with coordinating the activities of the civilian organizations and agencies operating in the Bosnia and Herzegovina. The mandate of the High Representative is set out in Annex 10 of Dayton Peace Agreement. It declares the High Representative the final authority in theatre to interpret the agreement on the civilian implementation of the peace settlement. The Peace Implementation Council (PIC), a group of 55 countries and international organizations that sponsor and direct the peace implementation process, has subsequently elaborated on his mandate. The Steering Board of the PIC nominates the High Representative. The United Nations Security Council, which approved the Dayton Peace Agreement and the deployment of international troops in Bosnia and Herzegovina, then endorses the nomination. Current High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina is Paddy Ashdown.
All previously said on High Representative are official explanations of his service as they are written in Annex 10 of Dayton Peace Agreement and officially declared from the Office of High Representative, but designation of High Representative has many interpretations, not only within current local government and public, but international as well. Designation of High Representative caused interpretation of a country as a protectorate of international community, of course not de jure, but de facto. The main reasons for this are Decisions of High Representative, which are brought to solve different kind of issues and among them legislative as well. In case that parliamentary of B&H from many different reasons can't enact certain law, the High Representative will enact it through his decisions, for example: Decision Enacting the Law on Amendments to the Law on the Sales Tax on Products and Services, or Decision Enacting the Law on the Temporary Prohibition of Disposal of State Property of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are no many scholar papers devoted to the role of High representative, at least not in local languages. In case, one would like to gain more information on OHR, their web site is recommended. It is also possible to find some laws in English, but information is not updated from November 2004, which means that this information is rather old and one should try to find amendments. The best way to do that is through official gazettes which are in local languages. However, a good online source of all High Representative's decisions is the above mentioned web site.