The Constitution of the Republic of Latvia
The Constitution of the Republic of Latvia is called Satversme. It was adopted 15th of February 1922. Satversme is one of the oldest constitutions still in force in Europe. However, it is still successfully applied nowadays - its laconic language enables the norms to be translated in accordance with the time. It is also one of the shortest constitutions in the world. Because of this it is crucial that Satversme is correctly interpreted, and here Satversme's Comments in three volumes (1500 pages) come in handy.
Satversme consists of eight chapters and a preamble. We will focus on the most recent chapter - "Chapter VIII - Fundamental Human Rights", that was added to Satversme in 1992.
According to it Latvia recognizes and protects fundamental human rights stated both in national and international documents. Everyone has the right to know their rights and to be treated without any discrimination. Everybody has the right to defend their rights, be assisted by counsel and to ask for compensation if their rights have been violated. Everybody has the right to life, liberty and security of person. The state has to protect human honor and dignity. Torture or other cruel or degrading treatment of human beings is prohibited. Everyone has the right to his or her private life, home and correspondence.
