CYIL vol. 7 (2016)

492

ANDREA BARŠOVÁ

CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ

Harald Ch. Scheu, René Petráš (eds.)

Legal regulations for and practices of the use of minority languages / Legal

status of kin states within the system of the international protection

of national minorities.

[Právní úprava menšin a praxe užívání menšinových jazyků / Právní postavení

mateřských států v systému ochrany národnostních menšin]

Charles University in Prague, Publishing Karolinum, Prague 2015, Acta

Universitatis Carolinae, Iuridica 4/2015, Vol. LXI

The annexation of Crimea by Russia under the pretext of protecting the

local Russian population in 2014 shows that the situation of national minorities

remains an issue of potentially global impact. Seen against this background, we

must appreciate that the discipline of minority law has not been neglected by the

Czech legal scholarship. In particular, the Faculty of Law at Charles University has

made a significant contribution by establishing a unique team of researchers.

After

publishing a series of works focused mainly on domestic issues (e.g. restitution of the

Jewish property), the team has extended its interests globally. The two monothematic

issues of Acta Universitatis Carolinae Iuridica (AUCI No. 4/2015 and No. 1/2016)

document this trend.

Harald Ch. Scheu and René Petráš, the editors of the AUCI issue No. 4/2015, to

which this review is devoted, divided it in two parts. The first part puts together twelve

contributions under the heading

Legal regulations for and practices of the use of minority

languages

. It informs about the minority languages regulations at the international

level, represented by the well-developed Council of Europe legal framework (Monika

Forejtová on names of municipalities, their parts, streets and other public places),

as well as on national and regional levels. It includes studies on the Czech Republic

(David Kryska) and its neighbouring countries, Slovakia (Jaroslav Větrovský), Poland

(Jarosław Sułkowski) and Germany (Martina Fraňková) and the two specific regions,

South Tyrol (Harald Ch. Scheu) and Wales (Klára Hrdličková). Some articles reveal

weaknesses of national legislation. David Kryska argues compellingly that the Czech

legislation on the use of minority languages in official intercourse and in local names

and topographical indications (the two core blocks of linguistic rights) is incoherent as

the constitutional provisions and specific legal regulations are not fully compatible.

In a similar vein, Jaroslav Větrovský identifies several controversial aspects of the

Slovak legislation when evaluated against the “standards of linguistic justice” (e.g.

In 2012, a broad interdisciplinary team of researchers with core participants from the Faculty of Law at

Charles University was established around the four year project “Problems of legal status of minorities

in practice and their long term development”. The project is led by Prof. Jan Kuklík.