Bratislava Law Review is an international legal journal published by the Faculty of Law of the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia (till the end of 2019 it was published by Wolters Kluwer in cooperation with the Faculty of Law of the Comenius University in Bratislava). It seeks to support legal discourse and research and promote the critical legal thinking in the global extent. The journal offers a platform for fruitful scholarly discussions via various channels – be it lengthy scholarly papers, discussion papers, book reviews, annotations or conference reports. Bratislava Law Review focuses on publishing papers not only from the area of legal theory and legal philosophy but also other topics with international aspects (international law, EU law, regulation of the global business). Comparative papers and papers devoted to interesting trends and issues in national law that reflect various global challenges and could inspire legal knowledge and its application in other countries are also welcomed.
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The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in INGSTEEL II (C-547/22) appears, at first glance, to mark a significant step in the development of damages remedies for breaches of EU public procurement law, by precluding national legislation or practice that categorically excludes compensation for harm resulting from the loss of an opportunity to obtain a public contract. This commentary argues, however, that the judgment is less transformative than it initially seems. Although the Court confirmed that loss of opportunity cannot be excluded as a matter of principle from the scope of Article 2(1)(c) of the Remedies Directive, it neither recognised loss of opportunity as an autonomous head of damage under EU law nor clarified its content, conditions, or quantification. The paper situates INGSTEEL II within the broader context of the Remedies Directive’s minimal harmonisation, the Court’s fragmented case law on damages (including Commission v Portugal, Strabag, Spijker, and the Fosen-Linjen saga), and the tension between EU-level effectiveness requirements and Member States’ procedural autonomy. Particular attention is paid to the Slovak legal context underlying the reference, revealing that the judgment does not substantially alter Slovak law, which already allows—at least in theory—compensation for loss of opportunity within the concept of lost profit. The analysis demonstrates that INGSTEEL II employs a “double-negative” approach: rather than defining compensable harm, the Court merely prohibits its absolute exclusion. As a result, key issues—such as causation, evidentiary standards, and damages in the context of framework agreements—remain unresolved and are left to national law. The commentary concludes that judicial harmonisation through case law cannot provide a coherent or comprehensive system of compensation for unlawfully excluded tenderers and argues that meaningful clarification requires legislative reform of the Remedies Directive, potentially inspired by the structure of Directive 2014/104/EU on antitrust damages.
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The 1st Evaluation Seminar of the National Project “Chance for Return 2”
On September 9, 2025, the 1st Evaluation Seminar of the national project Chance for Return 2 was held in Moyzes Hall, organised by the Corps of Prison and Court Guard in cooperation with the Faculty of Law of Comenius University Bratislava. The aim of the evaluation seminar, held under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic, was to present and evaluate, within the framework of the project’s sub-activities (1. Professional coordination of the steering committee, 2. Creation and provision of information and counselling services for clients, 3. Introduction and modification of standardised educational programs, 4. Digitalisation of services, programs and electronic tools, 5. Evaluation, and 6. Training of professional staff), in particular the implemented partial, and innovative elements of linking separate penitentiary and post-penitentiary care policies.
Turay, Lukáš – Turayová, Yvetta: Praktická učebnica trestného práva hmotného [Practical Textbook of Substantive Criminal Law]
A practical textbook of substantive criminal law by the author duo JUDr. Lukáš Turay, PhD. and doc. Yvetta Turayová, CSc. represents an exemplary breakthrough in the methodology of university teaching of legal branches in Slovakia and goes beyond the boundaries of ordinary textbook literature. This publication, published by the renowned author's publishing house C. H. Beck in 2025 as an output of the VEGA 1/0722/24 project focused on the Principles of the Rule of Law in Criminal Law, achieves an exceptional space within the Slovak legal literature with its innovative pedagogical model, detailed interpretation and practical-theoretical anchoring.
PRACTICAL TEXTBOOK OF SUBSTANTIVE CRIMINAL LAW
When we think about weapons of war, guns, bullets, and bombs come to our mind, not rape or sexual violence. But rape does more than just wound, it is a military strategy used to deny and destroy the identity of a targeted community. Historically, sexual violence in armed conflicts was considered a byproduct of war, simply as unrestrained sexual behaviour amid lawlessness and a breakdown of societal infrastructure. By digging deeper into the aims and intentions, sexual violence developed into a strategic tool of discrimination and hate, and a weapon of warfare, largely targeted at humiliation, torture, demoralisation, and individual or collective shaming. This article will discuss the evolution of recognising sexual violence as a crime from ancient times, when it was not a crime at all. By spotlighting these facts, this article will define a comprehensive understanding of sexual violence acts in armed conflict considered as a crime. There will be a discussion on the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s prosecutorial strategy on perpetrators and some existing obstacles of the ICC in addressing and charging sexual violence.
International Criminal Court's prosecutorial strategy
The Conditions of Possibility for Nomostasis
The purpose of this paper is to provide for a theoretical reflection concerning the continued use of certain legal institutions, concepts, rules or principles outside the socio-economic or political context in which such legal morphemes (known as “legal survivals”), were created. In order to refer to the phenomenon of endurance of legal survivals following a transformation, transition or revolution, the paper will use the term “nomostasis,” coined from the Greek words denoting “law” (nomos) and “resistance to change” or “stability” (stasis). The goal of the present paper is to formulate a number of hypotheses concerning the conditions of possibility of nomostasis with view to creating a theoretical scaffolding to be later filled with empirical, sociohistorical case-studies. For this purpose, the paper isolates and groups two types of factors enabling or favouring nomostasis: (1) endogenous ones, i.e., those pertaining to the juristic community as such and (2) exogenous ones, i.e., those pertaining to the environment within which that community functions, most notably the political and ideological climate. By contrast, the present paper does not address the question of intrinsic features of legal morphemes that may or may not favour nomostasis. The main theoretical hypothesis advanced in the paper is that for nomostasis to occur, one can typically expect there to be a need for a favourable combination of endogenous and exogenous factors. The paper is intended to provide elements of a theoretical framework for further empirical sociohistorical research on nomostasis within the broader framework of the historical sociology of law as a specific sub-discipline at the interstices of sociology of law and legal history.
Thresholds for Authorship and Originality in AI-generated and AI-assisted works
This paper examines the intersection of originality and authorship in copyright law, focusing on the treatment of AI-generated and AI-assisted works in China and the European Union. It identifies the conceptual oscillation between the two terms and addresses it by introducing a unified analytical scaffold, the Two-Tier Matrix, distinguishing between an objective layer of originality (independent creation and minimal creativity) and a subjective layer of authorship (free and creative choices by a natural person). The analysis traces how statutory provisions, doctrinal debates, and judicial decisions in both jurisdictions can be mapped onto this two-tier structure. In China, courts and scholars emphasise the objective tier, lowering the threshold for minimal creativity while requiring demonstrable human involvement. By contrast, the EU situates protection firmly within the subjective tier, demanding discernible human creative choices as established in Court of Justice of the European Union case law such as Infopaq and Painer. The comparative framework reveals not only the different doctrinal trajectories of the two systems but also highlights their convergences and the challenges they face in regulating AI creativity. By adopting the Two-Tier Matrix, this study provides a coherent tool for evaluating emerging copyright questions and contributes to the broader academic discussion on the future governance of AI-authored works.
2nd Czecho-Slovak Symposium on Challenges of AI for Administrative Law: “The Robot: a Good Servant, a Lord Malevil”
2nd Czecho-Slovak Symposium on Challenges of AI for Administrative Law was organised by the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law at the Law Faculty, University of Košice, at the beginning of October 2025 in the picturesque Tokaj Region. This conference report aims to present the symposium to the readers of the Bratislava Law Review.
Inter-State Applications against the United Kingdom in the European Regional Human Rights Protection System
The subject of this article is the inter-state application operating within the European regional human rights protection system. The inter-state application is an important element of the monitoring mechanism created to ensure respect for the rights and freedoms set out in the European Convention on Human Rights and its Additional Protocols. This paper focuses on applications brought against the United Kingdom. This country, despite being one of the founders of the Council of Europe, is also the addressee of the largest number of inter-state applications right after the Russian Federation and Turkey. The article attempts to answer why this is the case.
Prityi, Marek: Human Rights and Environmental Protection
This review examines Marek Prítyi’s Human Rights and Environmental Protection: Environmental Procedural Rights in the EU, India and China, published within Routledge’s Transnational Law and Governance series. The book offers a rigorous and timely contribution to the scholarship on the intersection of human rights and environmental protection, with a focus on procedural rights across three distinct legal and political systems. Its comparative breadth, methodological transparency, and ability to link conceptual debates with empirical practice stand out as major strengths. By analysing the EU, India, and China side by side, Prítyi provides a nuanced understanding of how environmental procedural rights function in democratic, supranational, and authoritarian contexts. The review highlights the book’s capacity to bridge theory and practice, making it relevant to both academics and practitioners. At the same time, it notes that future editions could integrate a deeper engagement with the substantive right to a healthy environment, as well as the role of digital participation tools. Overall, the book is assessed as a well-executed, influential contribution that sets a benchmark for comparative scholarship on environmental human rights, while leaving space for further enrichment in subsequent editions.
Human Rights and Environmental Protection
On the Regulation of Selected Externalities in the Modern Urban Environment in Slovakia
This paper analyses local authorities' ability in Slovakia to regulate negative externalities of selected urban services, specifically shared micromobility, short-term tourist rentals, and outdoor advertising. The authors explore the current legal framework and identify significant regulatory gaps at the local level. Drawing from international experiences, they propose measures such as operator registration, mandatory data sharing, geofencing implementation, and empowering municipalities to establish binding rules. The study emphasises that effective regulation requires legislative changes at the national level combined with enhanced local competencies, aiming to minimise adverse impacts while preserving the benefits of these services.
ECtHR: Bădescu and Others v. Romania (Application No. 22198/18, 15 April 2025)
The criminal liability of judges is significantly limited by judicial independence, of which the criminal immunity of judges constitutes one of its facets. The judicial reform introduced by the 2020 amendment to the Constitution of the Slovak Republic created a framework for criminal prosecution of judges for so-called “bending of the law”. Given the lack of practical experience with its application, it is important to examine the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Bădescu and Others v. Romania. In this case, an analysis was made of what constitutes judicial decision-making and what constitutes preparation for it. Preparation for the issuance of a judicial decision enjoys a lower level of criminal immunity than the actual judicial decision-making itself.
Artificial Intelligence in the Ukrainian Public Administration System
The study explores the integration of AI into the Ukrainian public administration system in the context of global regulatory developments. It identifies the main development vectors, legal challenges, and governance risks associated with AI implementation. The research combines comparative legal analysis, systemic interpretation, and predictive modelling to assess the current state and future trajectories of AI regulation. Based on international and Ukrainian experience, the paper proposes key directions for developing a coherent legal and institutional framework to ensure transparency, accountability, and human-rights protection in AI governance, as well as the capabilities of the “state in a smartphone” and the use of AI in local self-government.
Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration
Technology, AI and Sustainability in Labour Law
On September 11, 2025, the Faculty of Law at Charles University in Prague hosted a scientific conference entitled “Technology, AI, and Sustainability in Labour Law.” The event was organised by the Department of Labour Law and Social Security Law as part of the deliverables of the Specific University Research project no. 260748, titled “Challenges of Private Law: Sustainability and Technology.” The main objective of the conference was to offer young legal researchers a platform to present the findings of their work on this highly relevant topic. The conference centred on examining the effects of technological progress and the growing integration of artificial intelligence on the evolution of labour law, with particular attention to the accompanying legal, ethical, and social challenges.
(Re)definition of a Criminal Group in Slovak Legislation as a Means of a More Effective Fight against Organised Crime
We consider organised crime to be one of the most dangerous types of criminal activity. At the same time, it is one of the most significant problems in the globalised world, in which this phenomenon took root in people's consciousness hand in hand with progress. Organised crime significantly threatens a democratic society and violates the basic human rights and freedoms of its inhabitants. The main motive for committing organised criminal activity is a deliberate, long-term and purposeful effort to achieve maximum profit or other benefit, regardless of the means used. Committing a criminal activity is therefore not a goal, but a means to achieve the set goal. Organised crime is classified as a type of crime characterised by a more sophisticated way of committing criminal activity than other types of crime. With the above in mind, we believe that ensuring protection against organised crime is currently one of the biggest challenges both from a social and legal point of view.
Démuth, Andrej (ed.): Cognitive, Semantic and Evolutionary Aspects of Aesthetic and Moral Emotions
The collective of authors - Démuthová, Kišoňová, Démuth, Batka, and Meteňkanyč - has produced a stimulating monograph that explores selected aspects of aesthetic and moral emotions. The authors examine these emotions primarily from cognitive, semantic, and evolutionary perspectives, analysing, for example, their dictionary definitions, antonyms and synonyms, as well as their evolutionary and neurobiological underpinnings. The monograph aims to advance research on aesthetic and moral emotions by addressing themes such as beauty, admiration, disgust, anger, guilt, and (in)justice. A unifying feature of the work is its attempt to develop an integrated concept that accounts for both the subjective experience of emotions and their objective understanding, highlighting important connections and similarities among individual aesthetic and moral emotions. From these perspectives, this book offers a valuable source of inspiration for future legal research, as it ventures into interdisciplinary perspectives that are not typically considered in standard legal scholarship.
Interdisciplinary Cooperation in the Czech Republic and Cochem Practice
The following article aims to present the principles of interdisciplinary cooperation with a focus on the Cochem practice and to show the possibilities of its application in courts not only in the Czech Republic – attention will also be paid to the situation in Slovakia. In proceedings in family law matters, in which the arrangements between parents and minor children are regulated, it involves a relatively new and still not yet institutionalised approach. The basic characteristic of the Cocham practice is the attempt to minimise parental conflict and to make parents find an amicable solution together. The process involves professionals from different sectors to help parents in the divorce period to find a joint solution to their conflict, one that works best for their child. In this article, I mainly point out how this method of interdisciplinary cooperation is applied in practice in Czech courts, with a comparative overlap to the Slovak court environment.
The Right to a Firm in the Legal Doctrine and Judicial Practice of the Russian Empire
The article examines scientific, theoretical and practical approaches to the issue of the right to a firm in the law of the Russian Empire in the period from the 1880s to 1917. In pre-revolutionary law, doctrine and practice, the right to a firm was understood as the right of a merchant or industrialist to carry out entrepreneurial activity under a certain designation, called in commercial life “firm”. Both legal science and then judicial practice understood a firm as a trade (commercial) name. Unlike many Western countries, as well as the Far East (e.g., Japan), this concept was never codified, although such attempts were repeatedly made. The authors conclude that the doctrine that emerged during this period of time significantly outpaced the adoption of relevant legislation, and sometimes even the judicial practice. The treatises of such researchers as A. Bashilov (1887), G. Shershenevich (1888), A. Hol’msten (1895), Vs. Udintsev (1907), A. Fyodorov (1911), A. Kaminka (1912), and others were used as an analysis of the doctrine; the authors also conducted an analysis of a number of judgments of the 4th (later the Judicial department) of the Governing Senate on the issue of the right to a firm, as well as the judgments of some courts of the European states.
right to a firm, commercial name, corporate law, competition
Conference on the Contemporary Issues of International Environmental Law
Under the auspices of the Department of International Law and International Relations of the Faculty of Law of Comenius University Bratislava, an international scientific conference on "Contemporary Issues of International Environmental Law" was held on 30 April 2025. The conference was held within the framework of VEGA project No. 1/0713/23 titled: "International Legal Protection of Environmental Rights - Quo Vadis?". The conference opened with the current topic of environmental protection and focused on the latest challenges and solutions in this area not only from the perspective of public international law, but also from the perspective of private international law. It was also held in the form of an online webcast, which ensured access not only for domestic, but especially for foreign participants.
Contemporary Issues of International Environmental Law
Reconciling Administrative Efficiency with Procedural Safeguards in the ADM System
The use of automated systems for making administrative decisions has recently increased to improve efficiency and speed in completing tasks. However, ensuring that administrative effectiveness aligns with procedural safeguards when using an Automated Decision-Making (ADM) system is crucial to maintaining adequate performance and ensuring that ADM use remains safe for individuals. Using a descriptive methodology, the article collected and analysed data on striking a reconcile between administrative efficiency and procedural protections in the ADM system to present a precise and straightforward overview of current literature. Sources for data included books, reports, conferences, conventions, and internet resources. The article revealed several key mechanisms that help reconcile administrative efficiency with procedural safeguards in the use of ADM for administrative tasks. These include compliance with the law, ensuring fairness, exercising rights freely, pursuing justice, adding human oversight, avoiding decisions made solely by automated systems, ensuring transparency, explainability, and interpretability of ADM-based decisions, and maintaining accountability. The analysis suggested that future investigations should examine how core elements of administrative decisions, such as jurisdiction, form, and purpose, are influenced by ADM, and should also evaluate the principles of reason-giving and nondelegation of power.
The increasing use of wearable technologies like smartwatches has revolutionised personal health tracking, offering features such as heart rate monitoring and atrial fibrillation detection. Despite their advanced health-monitoring capabilities, these devices are still classified as consumer electronics rather than medical devices within the legal frameworks of the European Union and Slovakia. This legal distinction poses significant challenges related to user safety, device reliability, and regulatory oversight. Current regulations, including the European Union’s Medical Devices Regulation, impose strict standards on medical devices that smartwatches, as wellness products, are not required to meet. This paper examines the legal rationale behind the non-classification of smartwatches as medical devices and highlights the gaps in regulatory frameworks. Through a comparative analysis of Slovak and European laws, the study reveals the challenges in regulating AI-driven wearables and suggests the need for legal reforms to better integrate these technologies into healthcare, ensuring a balance between innovation, safety, and accountability.
Targeted Financial Sanctions and the Evolving European Union AML/CFT Framework
This paper aims to examine two recent legislative initiatives of the European Union (EU)—the 6th AML Directive and the new AML Regulation, focusing particularly on the provisions that reform targeted financial sanctions as part of the EU's anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework. The paper explores why the reform was considered necessary, highlights the key objectives and rules governing targeted financial sanctions in the context AML/CFT, and discusses the challenges, as well as the opportunities that arise. The article argues that the integration of TFS into AMLD6 and AMLR represents more than a technical adjustment. It transforms sanctions from primarily foreign-policy tools into core preventive obligations embedded in the compliance frameworks of public authorities and private actors. This reorientation, however, raises challenges of consistency, resource allocation, and rights protection that will ultimately determine the effectiveness of the EU’s new sanctions architecture.
The Principle of Proportionality and Cash Payment Limits
This paper examines the European Central Bank's evolving interpretation and application of the principle of proportionality regarding national legislation limiting cash payments within the EU. Through a comprehensive analysis of ECB opinions issued over the past decade, the study traces how the ECB's assessment framework has developed from general considerations of compatibility with legal tender status to a more nuanced evaluation encompassing the appropriateness, necessity, and proportionality stricto sensu of proposed measures. It contributes to the understanding of how the principle of proportionality operates as a crucial legal standard in balancing legitimate public policy objectives with the preservation of cash as legal tender in the European monetary system in the view of ECB.