INTRODUCTION

The legal order of the Czech Republic has recently been in a rather difficult situation. Although the process of its transformation, i.e., its return to a standard democratic system, started in 1989, it has not yet come to its termination. The present shape of the legal order takes the form of recodifications that have been drafted and already partly implemented (cf. the Labour Code) in almost all areas of private law, criminal law, and procedural administrative law. This internal process is simultaneously confronted, on the supranational level, with the needs of a further harmonization of the Czech legal order with EC/EU law, while facing the challenges of major projects of unification as well as the need to react to the realities of global developments with the aim of reducing its risks.The legal order of the Czech Republic has recently been in a rather difficult situation. Although the process of its transformation, i.e., its return to a standard democratic system, started in 1989, it has not yet come to its termination. The present shape of the legal order takes the form of recodifications that have been drafted and already partly implemented (cf. the Labour Code) in almost all areas of private law, criminal law, and procedural administrative law. This internal process is simultaneously confronted, on the supranational level, with the needs of a further harmonization of the Czech legal order with EC/EU law, while facing the challenges of major projects of unification as well as the need to react to the realities of global developments with the aim of reducing its risks