Historical basis and The Legal System in Bosnia and Herzegovina

History of Bosnia and HerzegovinaFrom 1918 to 1992 Bosnia-Herzegovina was a constituent republic of the country of Yugoslavia. In the years 1918 to 1941, the new country of Yugoslavia was dominated by Serbs because they had had a relatively large, independent country before Yugoslavia was formed.

In the spring of 1992, Bosnians held their own referendum about secession. Even with most of the Serbian population boycotting the vote, the motion to secede still passed.

• In all, at least 150,000-200,000 people are known to have been killed in the Bosnian War before the United States pressured the Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians into signing the Dayton Peace Accord in November 1995.

Dayton Agreement

Dayton Agreement is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on 14 December 1995. These accords put an end to the three and a half year long war in Bosnia, one of the armed conflicts in the former Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina Today

FBIH and RS• Inter-Entity Boundary Line • Capital: Sarajevo• Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

controlled by the Ministry of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( army at state level)

• FBIH ( 10 cantons, municipalities, 51% area, 62% population)

• RS ( 63 muncipalities, 49% area, 38% population)

Brčko District• neutral, self-governing administrative unit, under

the sovereignty of BIH• formally part of both BIH entities• Brčko was the only element in the Dayton Peace

Agreement which was not finalized• the arbitration agreement was finalized in March

1999• arbitration process undertaken by the High

Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (OHR)

Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the highest legal document of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The current Constitution is the Annex 4 of The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement.

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian: Ustavni sud Bosne i Hercegovine) is a special court sui generis, whose main role is to be the interpreter and guardian of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it is considered to be the highest judicial authority.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS

Presidency. The Chairmanship of the Presidency in Bosnia and Herzegovina rotates every 8 months among three Presidency members (Bosniak, Serb, Croat), each elected for a 4-year term. The three members of the Presidency are directly elected (the Federation votes for the Bosniak and Croat, and the Republika Srpska for the Serb).

• The Chair of the Council of Ministers is nominated by the Presidency and approved by the House of Representatives. He is then responsible for appointing a Foreign Minister, Minister of Defense, Minister of Foreign Trade, and others as appropriate. The Council is responsible for carrying out the policies and decisions in the fields of defense, intelligence, foreign policy; foreign trade policy; customs policy; monetary policy;

• Legislature. • The Parliamentary Assembly is the lawmaking

body in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It consists of two houses: the House of Peoples-Dom naroda (15 delegates) and the House of Representatives -Zastupnički dom ( 42 members).

• The Parliamentary Assembly is responsible for enacting legislation as necessary to implement decisions of the Presidency or to carry out the responsibilities of the Assembly under the constitution; deciding upon the sources and amounts of revenues for the operations of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and international obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina; approving a budget for the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Judiciary. • Bosnia and Herzegovina has a multi-layered

and decentralized judicial system consisting of 14 Justice Ministries and numerous courts.

Conclusion

• The territorial and political structure of BIH is extremely complicated and unbalanced, but it is crucial to understand the legal situation in order to harmonize it and regulate at the state level, which will be necessary in future for international operations and associations, especially as a matter to EU accession and international integration.