Asiantuntijainstituutio perustuslakivaliokunnassa - valtiosääntöoikeudellisen asiantuntijavallan taustaa, muotoja ja kipukohtia
Avainsanat:
perustuslainmukaisuuden valvonta, perustuslakivaliokunta, valtiosääntöasiantuntijat, asiantuntijavalta, haastattelututkimusAbstrakti
Expert evidence in the Constitutional Law Committee of the Parliament of Finland – Background, forms, and problems of the authority of constitutional law experts
In the Finnish legal system, the Constitutional Law Committee of the Parliament (‘CLC’) has the main responsibility for previewing the constitutionality of legislation. This system is unique in international comparison, as the supervision of theconstitutionality of laws is normally assigned to the courts. Like any parliamentary committee, the CLC is composed of Members of Parliament and its composition follows the general political distribution of seats in Parliament. In its deliberations, the CLC regularly takes evidence from external constitutional law experts to assess the bill’s relationship with the Constitution and international human rights treaties. Constitutional law experts are regularly consulted on
every statement and opinion of the CLC. Unlike other parliamentary committees, the experts determine the limits within which the CLC can make decisions. The relevance of the experts’ opinions is made concrete by the fact that when experts are unanimous, the CLC is de facto bound by that position. The role of constitutional law experts in Finnish constitutional preview is thus very important, but their actual influence on the CLC’s decision-making has been little studied. It has been repeatedly pointed out in the legal literature that questions relating to the selection of experts by the CLC, the authority of these experts, and their control should be further examined.
The author analyses the authority of constitutional law experts in the CLC. Firstly, she explains what makes the authority possible and what kind of authority is involved. Secondly, she answers the question of how the authority of experts is distributed in the CLC and how the experts exercise that authority. Thirdly, she examines how the authority of experts is controlled and the general consequences of expert authority for the CLC. The article is based on thematic interviews (N=49) with civil servants, members of the CLC, and constitutional law experts consulted by the CLC.
