Procedural means of protecting the constitution against changes

Abstract

This article discusses procedural means of protecting the constitution against changes. The starting point is the general remark that the constitution should be a durable and stable act, as it is the permanency of any constitution that is its inherent feature. Nevertheless, any rational legislator of the constitutional system must allow for the possibility of changing the constitution. However, any implementation of changes ought to be carried out with caution and only if absolutely necessary. Therefore, the mode of changing the constitution must be difficult enough (in comparison to passing ordinary laws) but also accomplishable. Consequently, the procedural side of any change of the constitution must be designed so as to, on the one hand, make the procedures of amending the constitution possibly complicated, but on the other hand those procedures must be realistic and implementable. That is why nowadays we can observe a whole range of procedural solutions concerning the process of changing the constitution, e.g. provisions relatively unchanged. The prerequisite of obtaining a qualified majority in the parliament is also a common mechanism in the process of changing the constitution. Sometimes changing the constitution must be approved by two consecutive parliaments, but a more frequent solution is a referendum-based procedure