Role of the Constitutional Decree "on the Restoration of Legal Order" in the Course of Restoration of Independent Czechoslovakia
Abstract
During the period of the Provisional State Apparatus of the Czechoslovak Republic in London in exile (1940-1945) the Decrees of the President of the Republic dealt mainly with issues related to the reestablishment of a pre-Munich Czechoslovak state. In this respect they symbolize the ongoing and uninterrupted existence of the Czechoslovak Republic.
In 1944-1945 the Decrees of the President of the Republic served in order to prepare not only the constitutional and legal restoration of Czechoslovakia but also its economic reconstruction. The restoration of Czechoslovakia prepared in London was based mainly on the political views of Edvard Benes, but they took into account also proposals prepared by the Czechoslovak resistance movement at home.
In 1943 Benes reached a compromise also with the Czechoslovak Communists, who had their exile centre in Moscow. The main role in solving constitutional and legal issues associated with the restoration of Czechoslovakia was played by Constitutional Decree "on the Restoration of Legal Order", No. 11/1944 of the Official Czechoslovak Bulletin.
It dealt with the validity of laws enacted after Munich, with the problems of validity of judicial and administrative decisions as well as with the possible restitution of property The decree was enacted to declare the period between September, 30 1938 and May, 4 1945 as a period of loss of national liberty. It also confirmed the idea that the Decrees of the President were subject to the scrutiny and approval of constitutional bodies of the Czechoslovak Republic following the liberation.
After the Slovak National Uprising in the second half of 1944 the decree was confronted with a different situation on the liberated territories of pre-Munich Czechoslovakia and in 1945 it was implemented only in the Czech lands and subsequently modified by other Presidential decrees and legislation of National Assembly.