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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CJEU: Cupriak-Trojan and Trojan v. Wojewoda Mazowiecki (Case C-713/23)
The present commentary examines the recent judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Cupriak-Trojan case, which addresses the obligation of Member States to recognise the civil status of same-sex marriages lawfully concluded in another Member State in the context of free movement. The commentary first outlines the factual background of the case and the CJEU’s conclusions. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between Cupriak-Trojan and the earlier judgment in Coman and Others, highlighting both continuity and development in the CJEU’s approach to the recognition of same-sex relationships. While Coman concerned derived residence rights, Cupriak-Trojan extends the CJEU’s reasoning to the broader issue of civil status recognition in the Member State of origin. Subsequently, the commentary assesses the implications of the judgment for the relationship between Union citizenship and Member State competence in the field of family law. It highlights the CJEU’s approach to balancing the free movement of Union citizens with considerations of national identity and public policy, as well as the role of non-discrimination and the protection of family life. Finally, the commentary evaluates the broader significance of the Cupriak-Trojan judgment within the evolving case-law of the CJEU on the cross-border recognition of civil status, and its potential impact on national legal systems which do not provide for same-sex marriage, particularly with regard to the requirement to ensure effective and non-discriminatory mechanisms of recognition.
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Berdisová, Lucia: Ludwig Wittgenstein a kopernikovský obrat v práve [Ludwig Wittgenstein and a Copernican Revolution in Law]
"...when we talk about legal science, everything is even more complicated, because law has been transcended by philosophy, subverted by economics, surpassed by anthropology, and taken over by sociology." In addition to being part of Lucia Berdisová's reviewed work, the quote above could easily, with some distance, function as a concise indication of why the monograph is worth reading. It captures the book’s principal strength: its thematic diversity, presented within a coherent whole that is rich in content while remaining relatively modest in scope when compared to parts of the broader literature in legal philosophy.
Effective Sanctioning of Environmental Offences: Cooperation between the Slovak Inspectorate of the Environment, the Prosecutor's Office and the Police – A Round Table
On 5 March 2026, Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Law organised a scientific event titled "Roundtable - Effective Sanctioning of Environmental Offences: Cooperation between the Slovak Inspectorate of the Environment, the Prosecutor's Office and the Police". The event was organised in the scope of the scientific project supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under Contract No. APVV-23-0645.
If You Cannot Prohibit or Divide It, Go for It
Competition protection in the EU faces the question of how to deal with two simultaneous challenges. The first challenge is that modern technologies, especially digital technologies, have definitively become the driving force behind innovation, competitiveness, and the future shape of the economy. Traditional competition models do not fully capture digital, platform-based, and ecosystem markets. At the same time, EU competition policy is to be integrated into a broader industrial strategy aimed at strategic autonomy vis-à-vis powers outside the EU. Both challenges, each in their own way, put pressure on traditional assumptions and criteria for protecting economic competition. The paper seeks to enrich the discussion by proposing a joint solution to these two challenges, re-balancing the traditional concept of competitive rivalry with an alternative concept of competitive uncertainty, which could offer a meaningful response. Using the concept of uncertainty, EU competition policy and law could adequately respond to the need for competition regulation both in the digital environment and in those selected sectors in which the EU wants to ensure its strategic autonomy by supporting the growth of companies and their clusters. An initial analysis of this concept reveals not only its benefits but also its limitations, which argue for its judicious use only in selected sectors.
Labour Law as a Guarantor of Decent Work – Retrospective and Outlook
On the 20th of November 2025, a scientific conference titled “Labour Law as a Guarantor of Decent Work – Retrospective and Outlook” was held at the Faculty of Law of Comenius University in Bratislava. The conference was organised by the Department of Labour Law and Social Security Law of the Faculty of Law of Comenius University Bratislava on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of its establishment.
ECtHR: BRD – Groupe Société Générale S.A. v. Romania (Application No. 38798/13, 18 March 2025)
Dawn raids, or inspections conducted by competition authorities in the EU (whether by the Commission or by a National Competition Authority), are subject to decades of discussions when it comes to their compatibility with human rights. It has been established that legal persons also have the right to privacy. Undertakings, which are addressees of (EU and national) competition law rules are usually legal persons (whether they are private or owned by municipalities or States). In general, any intrusion into legal persons’ premises shall be in compliance with Article 8(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Several cases assessed this issue, such as Société Colas Est and Delta Pekárny. The latter was especially noted in the region of central Europe, as the case basically annulled an inspection which took place in the Czech Republic and, as some might viewed it, questioned the possibility to carry out inspections without an ex ante judicial review. This paper focuses on a newer case of the Strasbourg court assessing the compatibility of an inspection conducted by the Romanian Competition Council with Article 8(2). The paper seeks to identify the specific features of Romanian law at the relevant time that provided the procedural safeguards surrounding the inspection and ultimately led the ECtHR to conclude that the interference was compatible with Article 8(2) of the Convention. More broadly, it examines whether the judgment in BRD – Groupe Société Générale S.A. v. Romania marks a development in the Court's case law and, if so, whether that development should be regarded as a desirable direction in the Strasbourg Court's jurisprudence.
Kováč, Peter et al.: Súdne lekárstvo [Forensic Medicine]
In 2025, the Slovak book market was enriched by a scientific publication entitled Súdne lekárstvo [Forensic Medicine], prepared by distinguished experts. In many respects, the work exhibits attributes of uniqueness, as it offers a high-quality and comprehensive perspective on this traditional yet exceptionally fascinating medical discipline, which is closely intertwined with law and other fields. Particular appreciation must be given to the integration of medical knowledge with legal practice, as well as to the strong emphasis placed on objectivity and the scientific approach, both of which are indispensable in this area. The text clearly explains the importance of forensic medicine in the investigation of criminal offences, the determination of causes of death, and the assessment of bodily harm, while also highlighting its role in protecting individual rights and in the pursuit of justice.
This analytically oriented, theoretically, practically, and empirically grounded article examines the key premise of autonomy. Namely, acting upon one's will approved by law has eventual negative effects on individual concerned only while rest of society remains intact. The text critically evaluates the issue, claiming that legally permissible action has direct and indirect effects on individuals and society at three levels. First, realising one group’s autonomy limits that of others. Autonomy operates as a trade-off: what is gained in one part of society is lost in another. Second, the realisation of autonomous choices impacts others' use of autonomy. Autonomy has spillover effects, positive or negative, depending on the nature of the choice at stake. And finally, too much autonomy in society is in tension with democracy that requires basic homogeneity of people also in morality. Current focus on autonomy neglects that morality is above all a societal value.
Conceptualising Waste Prevention under EU Law in the Context of the Circular Economy
The transition from a linear to a circular economy is one of the principal goals of contemporary European Union policy and law, with waste prevention being the top priority. Even though EU policy documents keep emphasising the importance of the circular economy, progress remains slow, as indicated by rather low circularity rates and high levels of waste generation. The EU’s circular economy policy initially relied mostly on voluntary measures which proved insufficient in driving significant change. A major shift came with the adoption of the second Circular Economy Action Plan in 2020 which eventually led to the adoption of many new legislative acts aimed at strengthening waste prevention. However, the theoretical foundations of waste prevention in EU law remain underdeveloped. This study examines the legal definition and scope of waste prevention in EU law, assessing its adequacy in addressing current challenges, such as product obsolescence. By critically analysing existing legislation and policy frameworks, the study identifies key issues and argues for a re-conceptualisation of waste prevention in EU law. The study also includes a systematic analysis of the case law of the Court of Justice related to waste prevention. The proposed re-definition seeks to align with the practical needs of our society and the issues we must face. It aims to improve the enforceability and effectiveness of waste prevention measures within the EU’s circular economy framework.
3rd Czecho-Slovak Symposium on the Challenges of AI for Administrative Law: A Fleet of Autonomous Vehicles on the Horizon!
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation technologies is increasingly impacting the functioning of public administration in European countries. In recent years, considerable attention has been paid not only to the use of AI in administrative decision-making, but also to the broader impact of intelligent and autonomous systems on legal regulation and the administrative law system. One of the most prominent technological trends currently under active discussion is the development of autonomous vehicles, which represent an important step towards the wider integration of AI technologies into everyday social and economic life. In this regard, European states, in particular the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, are gradually addressing the legal, ethical and administrative challenges associated with the introduction of such technologies. Autonomous vehicles, often described as the “fleet on the horizon”, raise a wide range of regulatory issues for public authorities. These include, in particular, issues of liability, safety, personal data protection, administrative oversight, and the role of automated systems in management decision-making in transport regulation. Consequently, administrative law must adapt existing legal mechanisms to ensure that the introduction of AI-based mobility systems complies with fundamental legal principles, including transparency, accountability, the protection of human rights, and the safeguarding of the public interest. At the same time, public authorities must strike a balance between supporting technological innovation and ensuring adequate legal safeguards. These developments are taking place in parallel with broader European initiatives to regulate AI technologies, including the establishment of comprehensive legal frameworks and a greater focus on the principles of safe, ethical and human-centred use of AI. In this context, academics and practitioners are actively exploring how administrative law should respond to new technological realities and what limits should be set on the use of automated systems in the exercise of public authority.
Private Enforcement of Competition Law and Public Procurement in Selected Central and Eastern European Union Countries: A Conference Report
On 16 December 2025, the Institute of European Law of the Faculty of Law, Comenius University Bratislava, hosted the conference “Private Enforcement of Competition Law and Public Procurement Rules in Selected Central and Eastern European Union Countries”, organised within VEGA project No. 1/0710/23, “Damages in Competition and Public Procurement – Limits and Challenges of Effective Enforcement of European Union Law”.
The article explores the principle of human dignity in criminal law in Europe, with a focus on its application in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). As one of the core values underpinning modern democratic societies, human dignity plays a crucial role in guiding the interpretation and development of legal norms, including those in the field of criminal law. Although not always explicitly codified, it remains a powerful interpretative tool that influences judicial reasoning and the constitutional identity of European legal orders. This paper provides a doctrinal and comparative analysis of how human dignity is respected, interpreted, and enforced in criminal proceedings, drawing on landmark decisions from the ECtHR and CJEU, and situating them within broader European legal, cultural, and philosophical traditions. By emphasising the normative force of dignity, the article illustrates how it functions as a constraint on punitive power and as a benchmark for legal legitimacy.
Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Face of Climate-Induced Mobility
The impact of climate change on cultural heritage is a relatively new topic. The primary reason for its previous neglect lies in the fact that the consequences of climate change have caused existential threats, such as the submergence or uninhabitability of certain parts of the world, in light of which the preservation of cultural heritage, as a non-existential issue, has remained in the background. When the two legal frameworks, one concerning climate change and the other concerning cultural heritage, began to be connected in the 2000s, the focus was primarily on tangible heritage. However, the consequences of climate change, especially population migrations, have led to an awareness that climate change significantly impacts intangible heritage, which also requires safeguarding. This paper highlights the diverse ways in which climate change can negatively affect the preservation of intangible cultural heritage. It then examines the legal framework for protecting intangible cultural heritage in the context of climate change, identifying a normative gap in that protection. Finally, it explores initiatives designed to bridge this gap, as well as the role that Indigenous knowledge plays in this process.
Cultural rights remain underdeveloped and marginalised within international human rights law, often defined by vague or state-centric frameworks that reflect Eurocentric values. This article critically re-examines the normative foundations of cultural rights as articulated in core instruments such as the ICCPR, ICESCR, UNESCO declarations, and ILO Convention 169 which conceive culture as place-based, collective, and evolving. It argues that dominant interpretations of cultural rights are shaped by Western liberal assumptions, privileging individual expression and minority recognition while neglecting the collective, historically situated, and self-determined character of culture in non-Western societies. Drawing on decolonial theory, the article exposes how existing legal regimes systematically exclude Indigenous, African, and other Global South epistemologies. It highlights the persistence of “epistemic injustice” through institutional biases, colonial legacies, and the suppression of customary norms. Through case studies from Latin America and Africa including Bolivia’s and Ecuador’s plurinational constitutions, the Atrato River case, and the African Charter’s communitarian ethos, the article illustrates how Indigenous peoples have advanced alternative models rooted in legal pluralism and cultural autonomy. It proposes a practicable, inclusive framework that entails recognising communities as rights-holders, making FPIC and cultural impact assessment binding, entrenching legal pluralism with equality safeguards, and securing remedies and resources are realised. The article concludes with concrete statutory and judicial design tools to make cultural rights justiciable and enforceable.
Customary Norms of International Environmental Law
International environmental law is understood as a set of norms and principles regulating the relations of subjects of international law in the field of environmental protection, rational use of natural resources, ensuring environmental safety and environmental human rights. This is a relatively new and at the same time dynamic branch of modern international law. Global warming, desertification, pollution of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and world ocean, and loss of biodiversity have contributed to the awareness of the global community of the need to develop and implement joint measures to minimise the negative impact of human activity on the environment and its individual components (the ozone layer of the Earth, oceans, rivers, air, etc.), as well as to eliminate the consequences of human anthropogenic activity and natural disasters. International environmental law has the largest number of international treaties compared to other branches of international law. But at the same time, it is necessary to note a number of shortcomings of these treaties: their framework nature and often too general wording, a wide possibility of making reservations, a large number of treaties do not enter into force due to a limited number of ratifications. All this requires the implementation of customary norms by states in order to ensure environmental protection. The article analyses existing customary norms of international environmental law and clarifies their content. General and special features of the principles of customary international environmental law were disclosed. We also analysed the question whether the right to a healthy environment has customary nature and came to a conclusion that it has not yet attained the status of customary international law
The paper discusses the teleological-functionalism of Criminal Law and its paradox between freedom and control, promoting an interpretative economic analysis of Criminal Law. To this end, the following question was formulated: what is meant by an Interpretative Economic Analysis of Criminal Law, considering the methodological framework of the objects investigated within Criminal Law and the Economics of Crime? It presents paradigms of efficiency, optimal criminal intervention, and systemic dysfunctions depending on the criminological school chosen by the interpreter. The general objective is to propose an interdisciplinary methodological framework between teleological-functionalism and microeconomics, highlighting the objects of an interpretative economic analysis of Criminal Law. This is a qualitative, documentary research with a hypothetical-deductive approach, utilising Aristotelian syllogism for hypothesis construction and, from a utilitarian perspective, presenting deductions that are falsifiable, particularly in empirical research on the economic efficiency of criminal policy.
Education-to-Work Transition and the Risk of Exploitation
Law graduates are entering a progressively competitive labour market, marked by the expectation of many employers to recruit “work-ready” job candidates. This imposes significant pressure on law students to gain work experience even before graduation, often through unregulated, unpaid, or underpaid open-market traineeships, which can be exploitative and socially exclusive for students from low socio-economic backgrounds. Furthermore, qualification processes exacerbate the precarious position of many recent law graduates, since completing the training stage is necessary for entry into regulated legal professions. Simultaneously, the proliferation of different pathways to acquiring work experience creates two parallel worlds of work for young people: those undergoing unpaid training often receive little or no protection. At the same time, those fortunate enough to secure an apprenticeship contract enjoy the full catalogue of labour rights. The hybrid nature of these activities is particularly concerning, since it complicates their legal qualification, alongside the risk of exploiting and discriminating against young people based on age and socio-economic status. The article aims to highlight the most pressing challenges associated with work-integrated learning and training for law students and graduates, particularly the risk of labour exploitation through university-controlled work-integrated legal learning, open-market traineeships, legal apprenticeships, and volunteering. In conclusion, the author underlines the need for labour rights to transcend the preferential treatment of specific categories of young people based on their contractual status or socio-economic background, by extending the personal scope of labour legislation to encompass all law graduates. Alongside desirable normative development, the conclusion provides a concise set of proposals for the design of complementary public policies, as well as measures through which universities and other stakeholders could contribute to improving the position of law students and graduates while acquiring the best possible education and training for independent professional practice.
Cybersecurity and the Slovenian Electrical Grid
This article examines cybersecurity risks to the Slovenian electrical grid, a critical infrastructure asset, amid escalating global threats from state-sponsored actors, geopolitical tensions, and technological vulnerabilities, including ICT interdependencies, legacy systems, IoT devices, and supply chain weaknesses. Adopting an interdisciplinary lens from law, public policy, and cybersecurity, it addresses three research questions: identifying cyber threats, evaluating Slovenia's policy framework and legal regime, and proposing enhancements to resilience. Through normative-dogmatic, dialectical methods and a Xanthakian qualitative assessment of legislative quality, focusing on effectiveness, clarity, precision, and unambiguity, it uncovers gaps such as inconsistent strategic prioritisation, scattered provisions, and reactive approaches. Recommendations include formalising stakeholder cooperation, developing grid-specific strategies, mandating annual cyber stress tests, integrating AI-driven modelling, and refining drafting to ensure unified terminology. The study highlights Slovenia's need for proactive, EU-harmonised measures to bolster energy security amid an evolving cyber landscape.
The Intersection of Medical Factors and Legal Responsibility in Surrogacy Arrangements
The contribution addresses the complex issues and legal dilemmas that arise—or will increasingly arise in the future—for courts when dealing with questions of liability related to surrogacy. As explained in the article, the very arrangement per se entails certain risks associated not only with assisted reproduction procedure followed by potential obstetric complications during the childbirth but also generally with the protection of the health of the pregnant woman and the foetus. The contribution explores how questions of liability could be approached through the loss of chance doctrine in tort law, a concept originating in the common law tradition. However, it emphasizes that these approaches are far from straightforward, given the significant evidentiary challenges in establishing causation in medical disputes, as well as the ethical and moral considerations regarding the allocation of responsibility. By analysing these issues, the article aims to provide a conceptual framework for understanding the legal and ethical complexities surrounding surrogacy liability, highlighting the potential role of comparative perspectives and doctrinal analysis in informing future judicial decisions.
The Consequences of Breaking Unwritten Moral Rules
This article examines the critical role of individual and situational factors in fostering unethical corporate behaviour within the highly regulated healthcare sector. Utilising two landmark cases—the Theranos technological fraud and the Purdue Pharma opioid crisis—the study analyses how leadership character traits, cognitive biases, and systemic governance failures converge to produce catastrophic social harm. The analysis is grounded in Schwartz’s Integrated Ethical Decision-Making Model (I-EDM), focusing on ‘moral capacity’ as a decisive individual moderator. The analysis indicates that the leadership styles of both Elizabeth Holmes and the Sackler family aligned with distinctive behavioural archetypes—characterised by self-centredness, strategic manipulation, and a lack of interpersonal empathy—which served to foster institutionalised moral disengagement and ‘ethical blindness’. These behavioural tendencies were compounded by pervasive cognitive biases, specifically overconfidence and confirmation bias, which created a psychological framework for leaders to rationalise deceptive commercial practices as necessary instruments for achieving broader visionary or altruistic objectives. Situational analysis highlights how these companies exploited regulatory loopholes, such as ‘trade secret’ protections and flaws in FDA oversight, to shield technological failures and deceptive marketing from public scrutiny. Furthermore, both organisations suffered from insular governance models; boards lacked technical expertise and functioned primarily to validate executive strategy rather than provide independent oversight. To mitigate the recurrence of such scandals, the author advocates for a hybrid governance approach. This model integrates enforceable ‘hard law’ mandates, such as clinical trial transparency and whistleblower protections, with adaptive ‘soft law’ frameworks. Specific recommendations include mandating independent board protocols, enhancing conflict-of-interest disclosures, and providing ethical leadership training to sensitise decision-makers to cognitive biases. Ultimately, the article argues that aligning technological ambition with moral responsibility is essential to safeguarding public welfare.
Restorative Justice: At the Border between Criminal Law and Morality
In this paper, I examine the criminal law institutions of restorative justice within Hungarian law through the lens of morality. In my view, in an era characterised by increasingly self-aware citizens, compliance with the law cannot be solely enforced through the fear of retribution. Consequently, the significance of any legal institution that facilitates emotional identification with legal consequences is amplified. In alignment with these considerations, my study will first elucidate the relationship between morality and law, subsequently explore the emergence of restorative institutions on the international stage, and finally concentrate on Hungarian legislation.
Effectiveness and Legal Compliance of Sanctions for Corruption-Related Criminal Offences
Corruption represents a global phenomenon, particularly pronounced in states characterised by weak institutions, economic crises, and challenges in the rule of law. In order to address corruption, states establish both normative and institutional frameworks, whereby, as regards the normative aspect, the fundamental legal act is the Criminal Code, which contains the criminal offences related to corruption. The focus of this research is the effectiveness and legal compliance of the sanctions imposed by the courts in the Republic of North Macedonia for corruption-related criminal offences-specifically, the most frequently sanctioned corruption offences, the type and severity of sanctions, and their compliance with the provisions of the Criminal Code. The research covers a period of eight (8) years, namely from 2017 to 2024, and is based on data obtained from the State Statistics Office and the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of North Macedonia. The findings of the research indicate several conclusions, in particular that the Macedonian judiciary tends to apply a relatively “lenient” penal policy in cases related to corruption, often imposing sentences below the prescribed statutory minimum. What is particularly striking is that 70% of the sanctions imposed during the observed period for perpetrators of corruption offences consisted of the alternative measure of suspended sentence (with a determined term of imprisonment), a measure that is not subject to supervision by the Probation Service. Regarding methodology, the research employed several methods from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives, including the method of content analysis, statistical method, and the method of secondary data analysis.