Publication details
Justice Under Party Control: Structure and Personnel of the Czechoslovak Socialist Judiciary (1948–1989)
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Pázmány Law Review |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://ojs.mtak.hu/index.php/pazmany_law_review/article/view/20865 |
| Doi | https://doi.org/10.55019/plr.2025.1.25-49 |
| Keywords | Czechoslovakia; socialism; judiciary; Communist Party; judges; Prosecution |
| Attached files | |
| Description | This article explores the judiciary’s structure, personnel, and day-to-day operations in socialist Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1989. Drawing on fragmented archival materials, legislative sources, and select biographical profiles, it reconstructs how judicial authority was subjected to political control, particularly through Party oversight, selective recruitment, and internal discipline mechanisms. The analysis emphasises the regime’s strategic approach to institutional memory, characterised by the systematic destruction, displacement, or failure to preserve judicial records. It further examines the evolution of judicial practice – from the ideological extremism of the early 1950s to the more routine yet still tightly regulated legal environment of the normalisation period. Through the careers of prominent court presidents and judges, the article illustrates how professional advancement was determined not by legal merit but by political loyalty and conformity. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of law as an instrument of governance under state socialism. It addresses the methodological challenges inherent in reconstructing legal history in an environment of archival silence. |