Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic

The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic is the supreme constitutional court in the Czech Republic and the de facto highest and most powerful court in the land. It has its basis in the Constitution and it is the one created with the greatest specificity among all levels of judiciary. The Constitution states that the Court is "charged with protection of constitutional rule" and as such its primary and appellate jurisdiction is to review and rule on questions of constitutionality and constitutional law. It is also the only venue for impeachment proceedings brought by the Parliament against the president. The Court has the power of judicial review which allows it to invalidate and strike down laws enacted by the Parliament. The decisions of the Court are final, cannot be overturned except by amending the constitution, and are considered a source of law, similar to precedents in a common law system. Although the Court itself was established only in 1993, its Czechoslovak predecessor was already provided for in the Constitution of 1920, making Czechoslovakia the first country in the world with a system of judicial review by a specialized court (although the court itself first convened after the Austrian one). It was later adopted by many other countries.