Legal agreements (contracts) of local government: theoretical and practical problems

It could be thought that this dissertation is one of the first efforts to define the concept of the participation of Local Government in private legal relationship. The concept of the participation of Local Government in private legal relationship, based on representation of public interests (these interests reflect the local community), shall not be clarified as the invention of recent years. It could be said that this concept comes from Lithuanian legal tradition, and what is more, participation in private legal relationship is closely related to social nature of Local Government. However, most of the achievements, which set principles of the participation of Local Government in private legal relationship, were adopted in recent decade. These achievements could be defines as the separate legal personality of Local Government (not of the representative institution of Local Government), which clearly defined the liability of Local Government for its own contractual duties, reforms made on the control regime of the contracts of Local Government, clarification of the doctrine of ultra vires. Local Government, as the public legal person, through its representative institutions acts in two different ways. On the one hand, Local Government shall perform duties as the subject of public administration, but on the other hand, Local Government shall perform duties in accordance with representation of the interests of local community and enter into private legal relationship. Legal contract is one of the main instruments for the Local Government to enter into private legal relationship and represent the interests of local community. The legal contract of Local Government could be defined as the legally binding agreement between Local Government (as the separate legal personality) and other subjects (state, other local government, or private subjects), that sets private rights and duties of the parties of the contract. Representation of the interests of local community defines the reason of entering into private legal relationship, while constitutional guarantee of economical, financial independence and the freedom of performance defines the authorization for Local Government to enter into private legal relationship