Constitutional Unchangeability and the Material Limits of Constitutional Changes in the Practice of Constitutional Courts

The article deals with a comparative legal study of constitutional unchangeability and material limits of constitutional changes in the practice of constitutional courts. The material limits of constitutional changes are prohibitions on changing certain constitutional norms. The unchangeability of constitutional norms is not identical with their eternity. Unchangeable constitutional norms cannot be changed within the framework of the current constitution, but can be revised in a particularly complicated manner, in fact, meaning the adoption of a new constitution. The first attempts to formulate the material limits of constitutional changes can be found already in the first constitutional acts of the late 18th — 19th centuries, however, the practice of establishing material limits of constitutional changes reached its spread only in the second half of the 20th century. Being provided for in constitutional law, the material limits of constitutional changes are explicit, i.e. established in the constitution and/or legislation, and/or implicit, i.e. proclaimed in the practice of constitutional courts.