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THE RULE OF LAW REVISITED — FINNISH APPROACH
international treaties reguiring the penalization of certain acts, leads to the
conclusion that the Finnish courts are not allowed to sentence for an act which
only constitutes a criminal offence under international law. This conclusion
differs from the Decision 53/1993 (X.13) of the Hungarian Constitutional Court,
where individual responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity was
established irrespective of their punishability under domestic law, and it was
based on the general cogency of the relevant international law.”
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RATIFICATION
OF THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE REFORMED
BILL OF RIGHTS IN THE FINNISH CONSTITUTION
Remarkable changes in Finnish legal ideology have taken place since
1990, as far as the concepts of the rule of law and Rechtsstaatlichkeit
are concerned. In May 1990 Finland ratified the European Convention
on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), accepted the
jurisdiction of the ECtHR, and recognized the right of individual petition.
Before that an in-depth study on the compliance of Finnish legislation
with the ECHR and Strasbourg case-law was conducted. Several Acts
of Parliament were amended, for example with respect to pre-trial
investigation and aliens’ rights”. Finland joined the Council of Europe so late
as in 1990, due to foreign policy reasons. Therefore, the ratifications of the ECHR
occurred in Finland and Hungary in 1990 and 1993, timely near to each other.
Both countries and their authorities faced similar problems in changing their
legislation and judicial practices to comply with the ECHR provisions and the
Strasbourg case-law. Karoly Bard had a key role in Hungary when the compliance
with the ECHR was under scrutiny in Hungary.
The ECHR and other important human rights conventions have been
incorporated through an Act of Parliament in blanco. Because of the predominance
?! See Mohicsi, Péter — Polt, Péter, Estimation of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity
according to the Decision of the Constitutional Court of Hungary, Revue Internationale de
Droit Pénal 67 (1996), 333-339. Cf. Bard, Karoly, Division of Jurisdiction between National
and International Courts — What Role Should the European Human Rights Court Play? in
Liget (ed.), Homage to Imre A. Wiener, 35-48: ECtHR ruled that Korbely did not fall under
the category of crimes against humanity, although between October 23 and November 4,
1956, there were such atrocities in Hungary.
2 See Matti Pellonpää, The Implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights
in Finland, in Rosas, Allan (ed.), International Human Rights Norms in Domestic Law,
Helsinki, Finnish Lawyers’ Publishing Company, 1990, 44-67. Pellonpää, the first Finnish
Judge in the ECtHR, made the in-depth study in Finland.
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