Jasna Omejec (born 9 January 1962) is a Croatian jurist who served as the 4th President of the Constitutional Court of Croatia. She was the first woman to have held the position. Since 1990, Omejec is a professor at the Chair of Administrative Law of the Zagreb Faculty of Law.

Early life and education

Jasna Omejec was born on January 9, 1962, in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

where she finished elementary and high school. She graduated law from the Faculty of Law of the

University of Osijek The Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek ( hr, Sveučilište Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, la, Universitas studiorum Mursensis), commonly known as the University of Osijek (UNIOS), is a public university based in Osijek, Croatia. ...

in 1985.

Career

After graduation, Omejec started working as an assistant at the Department of Administrative Law of the Osijek Faculty of Law (1986-1990). In 1990 she transferred to the

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

of the University of Zagreb where she worked as a post-graduate lecturer in administrative law and political sciences, and had started her postgraduate studies. Omejec gained her PhD in Administrative Law in 1994. In year 1999, she was elected judge of the Constitutional Court of Croatia by the

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabor ...

. Her election was supported by the Liberal Party, Croatian Peasant Party, Istrian Democratic Assembly and

Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats The Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats ( hr, Hrvatska narodna stranka – Liberalni demokrati or HNS – LD) is a social-liberal political party in Croatia. As of April 2015 HNS forms a parliamentary club with 5 members in the Croati ...

. She served as a vice-president and deputy president of the Court. On June 12, 2008, Omejec was elected first woman president of the Constitutional Court. On June 12, 2012, Parliament elected her for the second term as judge of the Constitutional Court. She was also reelected as Court's president. During her term in office she administered the presidential oath of office to the 3rd

President of Croatia The president of Croatia, officially the President of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Predsjednik Republike Hrvatske), is the head of state, commander-in-chief of the military and chief representative of the Republic of Croatia both within the ...

Ivo Josipović on 18 February 2010 and the 4th President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on 15 February 2015 (for a term beginning on 19 February 2015). The latter instance marked the first time that two women had taken part in the presidential inauguration ceremony.

Controversies during appointment

The law on the Constitutional Court which was valid at the time of her first appointment prescribed that the Judge of the Constitutional Court had to have at least 15 years of work experience in the field of law, while Omejec had 12.

then changed the law and determined that the Judge of the Constitutional court could have 12 years of service but in that case had to hold Ph.D. in law. Because of these changes Omejec was appointed as a judge. This was heavily criticized by many including Đurđa Adlešić and Željko Jovanović. Adlešić, a member of the Croatian Social Liberal Party, stated in 1999 that Zlatko Kramarić ( Liberal Party) and

Mato Arlović Mato Arlović (born 4 October 1952) is a Croatian lawyer and former politician who has been Associate Justice of the Constitutional Court of Croatia since 21 July 2009, had previously served five consecutive terms as a member of the Croatian Parl ...

(

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

) were secretly arranging Omejec's election with

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Croa ...

Other

Omejec is a member and founder of the Croatian Academy of Legal Sciences since 2001. She was a longtime member of the Liberal Party. She is the author of many scientific works among which ''Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights'' stands out. Omejec's curriculum vitae includes: * Co-authoring the first Croatian

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...

environmental law Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...

in 1997 * Authoring "The Council of Europe and the European Union: Institutional and Legal Framework", in 2008. * Authoring several papers and articles in the fields of real estate law, citizenship rights, intergovernmental relations between the federal and local Croatian self-government, and electoral law. * Co-authoring several compendia on constitutional court practice. * She was Croatian lead member of the Statelessness/Citizenship in the Former Yugoslavia Project, a part of the UNHCR, in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

in 1995. * Member of the Croatian Government Commission for equality issues in 1998. * Founder-member of the Croatian Academy of Legal Sciences. * Member of the Institute for Public Administration in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

. * Substitute member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) from the Republic of Croatia in 2005; was re-appointed in 2009, and in 2010 was elected a member of the Commission. * Lecturer in the post-graduate doctoral studies "Public Law and Public Administration", "Administrative Law - National and European Aspect" and "Post-graduate Specialised University Studies of Public Administration" at Zagreb University. * Post-graduate guest-lecturer in Civil Law at the Faculty of Law; in European Law at the Faculty of Political Sciences; and in Environmental Law at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, all at Zagreb University. * Organizer, lecturer and participant at numerous scientific and professional domestic and international conferences, seminars, and symposiums.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Omejec, Jasna 1962 births Living people Croatian judges Constitutional court women judges People from Osijek