State Council of Lithuania

The State Council of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Valstybės Taryba) was a legislative institution in interwar Lithuania. It was an advisory institution that codified existing and proposed new laws. It was established by the constitution adopted on 15 May 1928. President Antanas Smetona dismissed the Third Seimas in March 1927. Although the constitution of 1928 retained the Seimas as the legislative body, new elections were not called until June 1936. In the absence of a parliament, the State Council performed some legislative functions of the Lithuanian government. It was liquidated on 26 July 1940 by the People's Government of Lithuania. Its chairman in 1928–1938 was Stasys Šilingas who became the prime legal architect of the authoritarian regime of Smetona. The archives of the council were lost after the Soviet occupation. Therefore, its activities are known mainly from the press (which was censored by Smetona's regime), memoirs of its members, and documents of other institutions.

The law governing the State Council was adopted on 21 September 1928. The council convened for its first official meeting on 9 October 1928. In its functions, the council superseded the Commission of Legal Advisers of the Ministries (Lithuanian: Ministerijų juriskonsultų komisija) which was liquidated in November 1928. The council's statute was drafted by its member Mykolas Römeris. One of the most discussed and debated aspects became the council's competence to rule whether directives, orders, instructions, and other acts by various institutions of the executive branch violated state laws. Römeris envisioned the council as at least a partial solution for the lack of an administrative court in Lithuania though it lacked any kind of binding decision power. The council rejected proposals to accept public complaints fearing that it would become overburdened. Prime Minister Augustinas Voldemaras opposed council's desire to independently "notice" conflicts between laws and various orders and instructions. Therefore, its statute was not published and in practice the council "noticed" conflicts only when asked for a ruling by a minister.

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