National System of Human Rights and Constitutional Review in Georgia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47078/2026.1.115-138Keywords:
Georgia, Constitutional Court, Human Rights, strict scrutiny, rational differentiation, Constitutional ReviewAbstract
This article examines the structural characteristics and doctrinal logic of the national human rights system in Georgia, understood as a complex synthesis of Soviet legacy, post-Soviet transformation, and the reception of European legal standards. It is primarily informative in nature and employs a hermeneutical method to analyse the constitutional foundations of fundamental rights protection, their realisation in domestic law, and the role of constitutional review in preventing and remedying rights violations.
The study maps the architecture of Chapter Two of the Constitution, emphasising the Constitution’s treatment of rights as directly applicable law and as value norms operating throughout the legal order. It analyses the subject and addressee of rights, the predominantly vertical concept of fundamental rights (with limited horizontal effect), and the constitutional design of permissible interferences. Special attention is given to the Constitutional Court’s interpretive and adjudicative methodology, including legal certainty review, proportionality analysis, and equality assessment through strict scrutiny and rational differentiation.
The article further addresses the separation of jurisdictions between the Constitutional Court and common courts, procedural specificities of constitutional proceedings, and doctrinal innovations such as review of a norm’s normative content. It concludes that the Constitutional Court functions as a pivotal institutional guarantee of constitutional supremacy and human rights protection in Georgia.
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