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The Doctrine of Necessity in Constitutional Law Constantios Kombos Sakkoulas Publications (Athens-Thessaloniki, 2015), 257 pp. ISBN 978-960-568-283-5
In his monograph, The doctrine of necessity in Constitutional Law, Constantinos Kombos approaches a classic issue in Cypriot law. There is no doubt that the doctrine of necessity represents the most characteristic aspect of the idiosyncrasy of constitutional law in the Cypriot legal order. The deep concern to safeguard constitutional law under the specific historic circumstances in Cyprus had led to a judicial commitment on interpreting the constitutional provisions so as to ensure the functional continuity of the State. In other words, the self-preservation and continuation of the State, as well as the pressing need to find solutions for situations which had not been taken into consideration or foreseen by those who had drafted the constitutional text, led the legal praxis to develop the doctrine of necessity.
Since 16 August 1960, the Republic of Cyprus was established as an independent and sovereign state and obtained a constitution which was a result of major compromises, not really reflecting the free will of people living on the island.1 Although the constitutional provisions were supposed to form a sovereign state, in fact, this was not exact: the United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey disposed remarkable authority of intervention in Cyprus. As a result of the violent disturbances between the Greek and Turkish communities in 1963 - armed conflicts, extensive damage to property, victims on both sides and rebellion against the established government - the two highest tribunals of the Republic, the Supreme Constitutional Court and the High Court, had become inoperative: the President of the Supreme Court resigned and the Turkish judges vacated their offices. In view of the aforementioned situation the dilemma was existential: 'to follow the letter of the Constitution or to resort to the only constitutional alternative that would enable the functioning of the State until a political compromise was reached'.2 Under this pressure for the survival of the Republic, the House of Representatives proceeded, in the absence of Turkish Cypriot members, to adopt Law 33/64 on the Administration of Justice Miscellaneous Provisions). According to this law, the Supreme Constitutional Court and the High Court, provided in the Constitution as appellate courts, were merged into a new court: the...