Judge Tomáš Langášek shares his experience in the field of disciplinary proceedings

The Czech partner court has been hearing and deciding disciplinary cases for fifteen years and thus has more experience in disciplinary proceedings of judges, prosecutors and executors than the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic.

Lecture by Judge Tomáš Langášek on the legal regulation of disciplinary justice in the Czech Republic. Photo © Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic.

Disciplinary justice in both countries is based on similar principles, and therefore the judges of the local court were honoured to welcome Judge Langášek, who has served for the past five years as chairman of the Disciplinary panel for Judges at the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic.

Tomáš Langášek began by giving an overview of the legal regulation of disciplinary justice in the Czech Republic and at the same time described the perceived problems of legislative grounding. He also pointed out the fundamental decisions of the partner court concerning disciplinary offences of judges, especially in the context of delays in the proceedings. Subsequently, the floor was opened for a discussion on both substantive and procedural problems and issues that judges face when deciding on disciplinary cases, such as the passage of subjective and objective time limits for filing a disciplinary petition. The discussion was spirited and enriching for both sides.

Disciplinary proceedings and the imposition of disciplinary measures are a form of holding judges, prosecutors, executors and notaries public accountable for breaches of the law in the exercise of public authority. Since December 2021, the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic has been deciding on the disciplinary liability of several legal professions in five-member Panels.

The two presiding judges of the disciplinary Panel are always of the same profession as the disciplinary defendant (except in disciplinary cases involving judges, where three judges of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic are already members of the Panel, and the presiding judges are lawyers from other spheres, such as attorneys or academics). This set-up is intended to guarantee the necessary degree of transparency of the proceedings and the legitimacy of the members of the Disciplinary panel.

To this date, the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic has dealt with 160 cases in the disciplinary agenda, two of which concerned appeals against decisions of the Disciplinary panel. The number of live disciplinary cases is 51, of which 5 are appeals. The Minister of Justice of the Slovak Republic is the most frequent disciplinary petitioner, having filed 109 disciplinary petitions to this date. The second most active petitioners are presidents of courts (61 petitions).