Edita Gruodyte

Vytautas Magnus University · Department of Public Law

The meaning of the general principles of EU law has been broadly developed by the Court of Justice of the European Union; however, for many years it had only limited competence in deciding criminal cases. The principle of direct effect is important for ensuring the efficient functioning of EU law. The aim of this research is to find out if and how...

This article analyzed the significance of the ultimatum as a means of declaring aggression against another state in international law, and what influence it has in evaluating the actions of the head of USSR in the context of the events of January 13th 1991. The first part of the article analyzed the classical concept of ultimatum and its meaning in...

The need to compensate for material and moral damage caused to a person is a constitutional principle, which is implemented in Article 6.272 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania, establishing the non-contractual liability of the State for damage caused by pre-trial investigation officers, a prosecutor, a judge, or a court (hereinafter ref...

This article examines the intersection differing the supremacy of law, the effectiveness of the protection of the financial interests of the European Union, and the principles of legality the same as predictability of the law in EU criminal law. The authors analyze the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice, assessing cases where the principle of th...

Trijų Lietuvos teisės mokyklų (Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto, Mykolo Romerio universiteto ir Vilniaus universiteto) autorių kolektyvo tikslas – parengti vadovėlį, skirtą ne plačioms mokslininkų diskusijoms, bet studentams, perkopusiems baudžiamosios teisės bendrosios dalies barjerą ir pradėjusiems studijuoti atskirus specialiosios dalies skyrius. R...

As the processes of globalization become more intense, the legislation adopted by international institutions occupies an increasingly important place in national criminal law, including crimes related to corruption. However, the regulation of some acts of corruption, in the context of sustainable development, raises questions about its compliance w...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the main drivers of what has been described as the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, as well as the most innovative technology developed to date. It is a pervasive transformative innovation, which needs a new approach. In 2017, the European Parliament introduced the notion of the “electronic person”, which spark...

With the enactment of the Lisbon Treaty, EU law gained supremacy over national law in ten areas of criminal law (with the possibility of extension in the future) treated as particularly serious crimes with a cross-border dimension and the right to enact directives. The question arises if and when direct effect is possible in criminal law, taking ac...

The European arrest warrant system is one of the greatest achievements in the development of cooperation in judicial matters among EU Member States. However, its implementation has raised many questions, resulting in referrals by national courts to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for preliminary rulings. This article analyses the...

Until 2018 public trust in judiciary in Lithuania was more negative than positive. Results of 2018 are exceptional as show the highest rates of trust in 22 years. The aim of this article – to find out if these results are coincidence or indicate increase of public trust in judiciary. To explore this issue this paper will analyze the concept and dyn...

The right to know the truth is established as one of the rights constituting the right to effective remedy but in post-Communist countries this right is limited to victims of the Communist regime because of failure to access the files of former secret services on two different grounds: certain victim’s information is protected as personal data on t...

This section of the book is devoted to the presentation of the basic institutes of Lithuanian public law: the constitutional, administrative, criminal, tax, financial, and labor law institutes. These are surveyed in two essential sections. First is the historical perspective, which provides coverage of the historical development of certain institut...

This is the first book to present the law of the Baltic States in one comprehensive and coherent volume in English. The Baltic States region, which was incorporated by the Soviet Union for 50 years and now is the only such territory in the EU, continues to be characterized by a number of unique traits, problems and developmental trends. This book a...

In Lithuania rules for the anonymization of court decisions were introduced in 2005. These rules require automatic anonymization of all court decisions, which in the opinion of the authors violates the public interest to know and freedom of expression is unjustifiably restricted on behalf of the right to privacy. This issue covers two diametrically...

Article 36 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) enables third parties to intervene in cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Access to justice is a very important principle which has been developed both in international law and in the context of the ECHR. There is, however, no clear answer regarding the question of ho...

The collapse of the communist regime at the end of the twentieth century resulted in a wave of democratization in Central and Eastern Europe. While trying to establish democracy, many states in this region had to demonstrate their ability to protect human rights and to deal with the past of the repressive regime. As these states decided to join var...

In many countries, legal aid is an indispensable tool in order to ensure that everybody has access to the judicial system. Effective access to the judicial system is necessary in order to enliven fair trial guarantees. The rule of law requires not only that all are under, that is, bound by, the law but also that all can take refuge under the law in...

The article presents basic findings about courts of honor in Lithuania. The data about disciplinary violations in five legal professions-judges, lawyers, prosecutors, notaries, and bailiffs-was obtained while implementing a scientific project on certain issues of legal ethics. The article provides data on the following issues: subjects initiating d...

Communication technologies play an important role in society. Global cybercrime is one of the biggest underworld industries, much of this crime is unreported, new forms of crimes occur. In the light of the new EU Directive (2013/40/EU of the European Parliament and of The Council on attacks against information systems and replacing Council Framewor...

In the context of the widespread moral nihilism, and the issues and critique of classical moral realism, the possibility for the values of legal ethics to acquire more or less discernible real contours and to take the shape of the acceptable model appears to be uncertain. On the other hand, in academic and, especially, professional legal community...

Išplitusio moralinio nihilizmo bei klasikinio moralinio realizmo problemų ir kritikos kontekste teisininkų etikos vertybių galimybė įgyti daugiau ar mažiau realų pavidalą bei įgauti priimtino modelio formą yra tapusi neapibrėžta. Kita vertus, akademinėje ir ypač profesinėje teisininkų bendruomenėje teisininko buvimo etišku reikšmė ir poreikis vis l...

In many jurisdictions middle- and low-income individuals obtain only a relatively modest share of lawyers’ services. In a society ruled by law, every person should be able to expect key principles of justice to apply. Among the most important dimensions of a right to a fair trial is the right to equal access to an attorney. After all, the attorney...

The university law school experience unites all practicing lawyers. Unfortunately, many new lawyers practicing in Lithuania do not seem to meet the minimum expectations established by Lithuanian society. It makes one wonder whether such new lawyers actually learned the values, knowledge and skills that are indispensable to modern lawyers while they...

Legal ethics is important for the daily work of attorneys; yet, it hardly receives enough attention in the training of lawyers. This article seeks to show how legal ethics matters and which consequences seemingly small ethics violations can have for attorneys. One key aspect of the client-attorney relationship is the trust which is placed in the at...

Bankruptcy 1 of natural persons is not legalized in Lithuania. It means, individuals have to fulfill their obligations to the creditors to the end of their life. During the social welfare crisis period that is present in Lithuania at the moment this issue is especially relevant. In spring of 2009 the project of legal act concerning bankruptcies was...

One of the measures which is able to ensure the implementation of sustainable development aims is the institute of legal entities' environmental legal liability and its effective application. Three sorts of legal entities' legal liability can be applied in Lithuania, namely, civil, criminal and administrative liability. Evaluating from the prospect...

The purpose of the article is to analyze a new Criminal code of the Republic of Lithuania (in force from the 1st of May, 2003), with the aim to highlight its differences from the old one, and, thereby, to discern the most important novelties while discussing their advantages and possible difficulties (if any) in applying the new norms in practice....

The author of the article discusses the possibility to institute drug testing policy in the workplace. In reaching the aforementioned goal the author first of all discusses problems in society related to abuse of alcohol and other drugs, then looks to USA policy and practice implementing drug testing policy in the workplace and related legal proble...

The authors of the article bring forward hypothesis that EU law influences the national criminal law of the Member States and this impact both accepting new treaties and analyzing Jurisprudence of the Court of Justice increases. The authors discuss if there is the possibility of direct application of EU norms in criminal law, and how real is the id...

2012 m. sausio 6 d. įsigaliojo naujai priimtas Lietuvos Respublikos baudžiamojo kodekso (toliau – ir BK) 292-1 straipsnis, įtvirtinantis baudžiamąją atsakomybę asmenims, įdarbinusiems nelegaliai esančius trečiųjų šalių piliečius. Baudžiamasis kodeksas papildytas šiuo straipsniu siekiant Lietuvai įgyvendinti 2009 m. birželio 18 d. priimtą Europos Pa...

In the article the author introduces one kind of specialized courts, which are popular and spreading especially in the USA. The author discusses their aims, principles of activity, their effectiveness in fighting with drug addicts making crimes because of their bad habit and their meaning for decreasing the level of criminality. The author decided...

Lithuanian criminal code lays strict sanctions for distribution of drugs and psychotropic substances and other activities related to distribution. There is no special law, where together with imprisonment one could obtain alternative sanctions or lesser sanctions if one distributed drugs being dependent from them and in small amounts trying to fina...