The

Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

of Republika Srpska with the description: the

flag of Republika Srpska The flag of Republika Srpska within Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted on 24 November 1992. The flag is a rectangular tricolor with three equal horizontal bands of red, blue and white.Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

letters "РС" ("RS"), the red-blue-white tricolor are in the center of the seal, twisted with the golden

Oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

leaves, a traditional pre-Christian symbol sacred to most

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

. On the edge of the seal there is an inscription ''Republika Srpska'' (in

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

). The open crown of Kotromanić is shown in the bottom of the seal and the seal itself is topped with a heraldic royal crown.

Former coat of arms

The former coat of arms of Republika Srpska showed, on a red shield, over headed by the Nemanjić crown, a bicephalic silver eagle in take off, armed with gold, with golden tongue and legs, the chest covered by a red shield with the

Serbian cross The Serbian Cross ( sr, Cрпски крст / Srpski krst) is a national symbol of Serbia, part of the coat of arms and flag of Serbia, and of the Serbian Orthodox Church. It is based on the tetragrammic cross emblem/flag of the Byzantine Palaio ...

, a silver cross with four

firesteel A fire striker is a piece of carbon steel from which sparks are struck by the sharp edge of flint, chert or similar rock. It is a specific tool used in fire making. History In early times, percussion fire making was often used to start fir ...

s. File:Former COA Republika Srpska.svg, Former coat of arms of Republika Srpska (1992-2007) File:Proposal coat of arms of Republika Srpska.png, Unconstitutional coat of arms of Republika Srpska

Decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

On 12 April 2004,

Sulejman Tihić Sulejman Tihić (26 November 1951 – 25 September 2014) was a Bosnian politician who served as the 4th Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2002 to 2006. He was a member and later president of the Party of Democratic ...

, then Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, filed a request with the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the review of constitutionality of Articles 1 and 2 of the Law on the Coat of Arms and Flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (''Official Gazette of Federation of BiH No. 21/96 and 26/96''), Articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Constitutional Law on the Flag, Coat of Arms and Anthem of the Republika Srpska (''Official Gazette of the Republika Srpska No. 19/92''), Articles 2 and 3 of the Law on the Use of Flag, Coat of Arms and Anthem (''Official Gazette of the Republika Srpska No. 4/93'') and Articles 1 and 2 of the Law on the Family Patron-Saint’s Days and Church Holidays of the Republika Srpska (''Official Gazette of Republika Srpska No. 19/92''). On 2 December 2004 the applicant submitted a supplement to the request. Two partial decisions were made in 2006, when the Court found that the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

and

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

of the Federation of B&H, and

, anthem, family patron-saint days and church holidays of Republika Srpska were unconstitutional. In its decision, among other things, the Court stated: The formal name of the item is ''U-4/04'', but it is widely known as "Decision on the insignia of entities" (Bosnian: ''Odluka o obilježjima entiteta''), since its merritum was about the symbols of entities. The Court has ordered the

Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serbo-Croat-Bosnian: ''Parlament Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine''/Парламент Федерације Босне и Херцеговине) is the bicameral legislature of the Federati ...

and the

National Assembly of Republika Srpska The National Assembly of Republika Srpska (, abbr. НСРС/NSRS) is the legislative body of Republika Srpska, one of two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The current assembly is the ninth since the founding of the entity. History The Nation ...

to bring the contested legal documents in line with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina within six months from the publishing date of its decision in the ''Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina''. Since the harmonisation was not done in that granted time-limit, that Court has, on January 27, 2007, adopted the Ruling on failure to enforce in which it established that the contested articles of the interpreted legal documents shall cease to be in force as of the date following the publishing date of the Ruling in ''Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina''. On June 16, 2007, the Government of Republika Srpska had adopted the provisional emblem of Republika Srpska, until it adopted the new Coat of Arms of Republika Srpska. It had also decided to use the melody of its former anthem "

Bože pravde "" ( sr-Cyrl, Боже правде, , "God of Justice") is the national anthem of Serbia, as defined by the Article 7 of the Constitution of Serbia. "Bože pravde" was the state anthem of the Kingdom of Serbia until 1919 when Serbia became a par ...

" as its new intermezzo anthem, but the

Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska The Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska ( Bosnian and Serbian: ''Ustavni sud Republike Srpske''/Уставни суд Републике Српске) plays a central role within Bosnia and Herzegovina entity of Republika Srpska. This is a j ...

has declared such use of melody as unconstitutional as well, so the new anthem, "

Moja Republika ''Moja Republika'' (, en, My Republic) is the regional anthem of Republika Srpska, an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was written and composed by Mladen Matović and replaced the previous regional anthem ''Bože pravde'', which was decl ...

" was adopted. Both the new anthem (in relation to words ''moja zemlja'' - "my land") and new coat of arms have been contested by Bosniak members of National Assembly of Republika Srpska in front of the Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska. The Court declared the coat of arms to be unconstitutional since it did not represent Bosniaks in any way, while it rejected the claim in relation to the anthem."Novim grbom Republike Srpske povrijeđen vitalni nacionalni interes Bošnjaka"
December 22, 2008. Čelinac.eu. Retrieved on March 6, 2009.

References

External links

{{Republika Srpska Culture of Republika Srpska

Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Feder ...

Coat of arms of Republika Srpska

Former coat of arms

Decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

See also

References

External links