Emeriti Justices and Court Officials

vzpis soudci

prof. JUDr. Jan Filip, CSc.

Justice (from 3 May 2013 to 3 May 2023)

prof. JUDr. Jan Filip CSc.

Prof. JUDr. Jan Filip, CSc. Judge of the Constitutional Court (as of May 3, 2013)
 
Professor Filip (*1950) graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Jan Evangelista Purkyne (UJEP), today Masaryk University, in Brno. During the studies he worked part-time, and after graduation full-time, as an assistant teacher at the Department of Theory of Law and Constitutional Law, Faculty of Law, UJEP (1974-1993). In 1975, he earned his JUDr. degree. His thesis was titled "Constitution in the Legal System of the CSSR". He become an assistant professor in 1977. The degree Candidate of Sciences in Constitutional Law was conferred on him in 1984 (dissertation: "The Concept, Substance, Content and Forms of a Socialist-Type Constitution"). In 1992, he received his associate professor's degree. His habilitation thesis was on "Basic Voting Rights Issues in the Czechoslovak Federal Republic" that summarized his experience from the preparation of electoral laws in 1990. The Professor of Constitutional Law degree was conferred on him in 1998. In the years 1995-2013, Professor Filip headed the Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science at the Faculty of Law, Masaryk University in Brno, which soon gained prominence as a thriving centre of legal studies as well as of education of young professionals. Here he lectured mostly on subjects like constitutional law, constitutional development in the territory of the Czech Republic, lawmaking, constitutional basis of public authority, litigation before the Constitutional Court and voting rights. He also provided instruction to foreign students (Constitutional Law, Verfassungsrecht der TchR) and the students working toward the LL.M and MPA degrees. In the period of 2002-2006, Professor Filip taught Constitutional Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, and Methodology of Creative Work at the University of T. Bata in Zlín. In the late 1980s, he held a secondary employment as an independent researcher at the Institute for State and Law of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and, in 1990, as a specialist at the State Administration Institute. He served on the scientific boards of Masaryk University and Palacky University. He is currently a member of the scientific boards at the Faculty of Law, Masaryk University, and the Faculty of Law, Charles University.
 
Aside from his pedagogical activities, Professor Filip often participates in solving  practical problems that arise in formulating legal regulations or writing expert opinions for governmental agencies. From 1992 onward, he worked at the Constitutional Court of CFSR as an assistant to judge Vojen Güttler, and at the Constitutional Court of CR as an assistant to constitutional judges Vojtěch Cepl and Jiří Mucha. He also worked in the Legislative Depatment of the Federal Assembly Chancellery (1973, 1987-1989), and subsequently in the Legislative Department of the Senate Chancellery (1997-2007). For a number of years, he was a member of the Government Legislative Council (1998-2006), following the membership in the government commission for public law in the years 1990-1992. In the same period, he worked in the Czech National Council’s commission for the preparation of the constitution. 

Professor Filip has taken part in a variety of foreign internships and conferences. He published hundreds of scholarly papers in the Czech Republic and abroad, focusing on the theory of constitution, voting rights, theory of legislation, parlamentarism, and especially constitutional jurisprudence. Updated editions of his textbook on constitutional law have appeared regularly since 1993. He co-authored a textbook of political science and a commentary on the constitution of the Czech Republic and its Constitutional Court. Professor Filip also serves on editorial boards of domestic and foreign professional journals. His gained practical experience in constitutional judicature during his felowship stays at the constitutional courts of Yugoslavia (1978), Austria (1992, 1995, 1996), Poland (1993) and Germany (2006).

On May 3, 2013, the President of the Republic appointed Professor Filip as judge to the Constitutional Court.