Lietuviškai
           THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF           
                            LITHUANIA                            

                            DECISION                             
     ON  THE  PETITION  OF  THE  VISAGINAS  CITY LOCAL COURT, THE
PETITIONER,   REQUESTING   TO  INVESTIGATE  WHETHER  PARAGRAPH  3
(WORDING  OF  11  NOVEMBER  2004)  OF  ARTICLE 3.194 OF THE CIVIL
CODE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC  OF LITHUANIA IS NOT IN CONFLICT WITH THE
CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
  
                         16 January 2006                         
                             Vilnius                             

     The  Constitutional  Court  of  the  Republic  of Lithuania,
composed  of  the  Justices  of  the Constitutional Court Armanas
Abramavičius,   Toma   Birmontienė,   Egidijus   Kūris,  Kęstutis
Lapinskas,   Zenonas   Namavičius,   Ramutė   Ruškytė,   Vytautas
Sinkevičius, Stasys Stačiokas, and Romualdas Kęstutis Urbaitis,
     with the secretary of the hearing-Daiva Pitrėnaitė,
     at  the  procedural  sitting  of  the  Constitutional  Court
considered  the  15  November 2005 petition of the Visaginas City
Local  Court,  requesting  to  investigate  whether  Paragraph  3
(wording  of  11  November  2004)  of  Article 3.194 of the Civil
Code   of   the   Republic   of  Lithuania  to  the  extent  that
establishes  that  "the  court may adjudge support <...> when the
support  is  necessary  to  the  child when he learns at day-time
departments   of   secondary,   higher  education  or  vocational
schools  and  he  is  not  older  than  24  years  old" is not in
conflict  with  Paragraph  6 of Article 38 of the Constitution of
the Republic of Lithuania.

     The Constitutional Court
                        has established:                         

     The   Visaginas   City  Local  Court,  the  petitioner,  was
investigating  a  civil  case.  By its ruling of 15 November 2005
the  said  court  suspended  the  consideration  of  the case and
applied  to  the  Constitutional Court with a petition requesting
to  investigate  whether  Paragraph  3  (wording  of  11 November
2004)  of  Article  3.194  of  the  Civil Code of the Republic of
Lithuania  to  the  extent  that establishes that " the court may
adjudge  support  <...>  when  the  support  is  necessary to the
child  when  he  learns  at  day-time  departments  of secondary,
higher  education  or vocational schools and he is not older than
24  years  old" is not in conflict with Paragraph 6 of Article 38
of   the   Constitution.  The  petition  of  the  petitioner  was
received by the Constitutional Court on 5 December 2005.

     The Constitutional Court
                           holds that:                           

     1.  Under  Article 67 of the Law on the Constitutional Court
of  the  Republic  of  Lithuania, the courts shall apply by their
rulings  with  the petition requesting to decide whether a law or
other  legal  act  is  in  compliance  with the Constitution. The
suspended  case  of  the  court  as  well as the duplicate of the
whole  text  of  the  disputed  legal act must be attached to the
ruling hereto.
     Under  Item  15  of  Section 1 of Chapter VI of the Rules of
the  Constitutional  Court of the Republic of Lithuania, the text
of  the  legal  act  which  is  announced in the official gazette
"Valstybės žinios" is to be considered such a duplicate.
     The  ruling  of  the court and the duplicate of the disputed
legal  act  are provided to the Constitutional Court in 30 copies
each.
     2.   The   Visaginas   City  Local  Court,  the  petitioner,
provided  the  Constitutional  Court with 30 copies of the ruling
of  15  November 2005 of this court signed by the judge. It is to
be  noted  that  these copies do not conform to the ruling of the
court  in  the  civil  case  investigated  by  the Visaginas City
Local  Court,  attached  to  the  petition for the Constitutional
Court  because  this  ruling  is  not  signed  by  the  judge who
adopted it.
     3.   Even   though  the  Visaginas  City  Local  Court,  the
petitioner,  is  disputing the compliance of Paragraph 3 (wording
of  11  November  2004)  of  Article 3.194 of the Civil Code with
the  Constitution,  he provided the Constitutional Court with the
duplicates  of  Paragraph  3 (wording of 18 July 2000) of Article
3.194  of  the  Civil  Code  (in  30  copies)  that  are  not the
duplicates   of  the  text  announced  in  the  official  gazette
"Valstybės žinios".
     4.  It  is  to  be  held  that  the petition provided to the
Constitutional  Court  by  the  Visaginas  City  Local Court, the
petitioner,  and  the attachments thereto fail to comply with the
requirements   set  forth  in  Article  67  of  the  Law  on  the
Constitutional Court.
     5.  Under  Article  70  of  the  Law  on  the Constitutional
Court,  a  petition  that  fails  to comply with the requirements
set  forth  in  Article  67 of this law, shall be returned to the
petitioner.  The  return  of  a  petition shall not take away the
right  to  apply  to  the  Constitutional  Court according to the
common procedure after removal of the deficiencies thereof.

     Conforming  to  Paragraph  3  of  Article 22, Paragraph 2 of
Article  25,  Articles 28 and 70 of the Law on the Constitutional
Court  of  the  Republic of Lithuania and Chapter VI of the Rules
of  the  Constitutional  Court  of the Republic of Lithuania, the
Constitutional  Court  of  the  Republic of Lithuania has adopted
the following
                            decision:                            

     To  return  the  Visaginas City Local Court, the petitioner,
the  petition,  requesting  to  investigate,  whether Paragraph 3
(wording  of  11  November  2004)  of  Article 3.194 of the Civil
Code   of   the   Republic   of  Lithuania  to  the  extent  that
establishes  that  " the court may adjudge support <...> when the
support  is  necessary  to  the  child when he learns at day-time
departments   of   secondary,   higher  education  or  vocational
schools  and  he  is  not  older  than  24  years old", is not in
conflict  with  Paragraph  6 of Article 38 of the Constitution of
the Republic of Lithuania.

Justices of the Constitutional Court:	Armanas Abramavičius
					Toma Birmontienė
					Egidijus Kūris
					Kęstutis Lapinskas
					Zenonas Namavičius
					Ramutė Ruškytė
					Vytautas Sinkevičius
					Stasys Stačiokas
					Romualdas Kęstutis Urbaitis