[2] The Court has the power of judicial review which allows it to invalidate and strike down laws enacted by the Parliament.

Although the attempt to democratize the Habsburg monarchy failed at the time, it marked the beginning of Czech political activization which ultimately brought about personalities such as Karel Kramář or Tomáš Masaryk, who later took part in the establishment of the First Czechoslovak Republic and its constitutional tradition.

The new constitution was influenced by the following models: The new constitution was further influenced by the Czech humanist tradition (Jan Hus, Petr Chelčický, Jan Amos Komenský, František Palacký, František Rieger, Tomáš Masaryk) as well as the peace conferences which took place after the first world war.

Later, a similar system of judicial review on national level was adopted by Austria (1920) which came into force before the Czechoslovak Constitutional Court took up its duties.

The Constitutional Court of Czechoslovakia itself came into existence in the assembly hall of the presidium of the Council of Ministers at Prague Castle on 17 November 1921.

[5] The Constitutional Court had the jurisdiction to decide about constitutionality of the enactments of the Republic, of Assembly of the Carpathian Ruthenia (this was only theoretical, as the presumption of its autonomy was not reached until 1938) and of legal measures of Permanent Committee (which consisted of 16 members of the Chamber of the Deputies and 8 Senators and took action in urgent cases when the Parliament was not in session).

The motions for review of enactments could be brought by the Supreme Court, Supreme Administrative Court, Chamber of Deputies, Senate and the Assembly of the Carpathian Ruthenia, while the legal measures of the Permanent Committee were subject to automatic review immediately after being passed.

[7] Due to extermination of a large number of Czechoslovak elites by the Nazi Germans, disillusion with the Western countries following the Munich Agreement and high influence of the Soviet Union, which liberated almost whole of the country, the post-war era may be characterized by the growing influence of the communists, which culminated in February 1948 Communist coup.

It was essentially a 1920 constitution modified by socialist ideas in order to serve the ideology of the communist party.

In reality, however, democracy was curbed with the communist party controlling the state and the fundamental rights not being observed by the authorities.

Officially the need for the Court had not arisen as the presumed disputes over competencies between the Federation and the Republics never took place.

[12] The Court is composed of 15 justices who are named for a renewable period of 10 years by the President subject to the Senate's approval.

[15] A majority of at least 9 justices must be reached in order to repeal a law, to impeach the President or to adopt a legal opinion differentiating from one previously held.