EN
The author presents the history of the system of protection of basic rights and liberties which had been in force before the establishment of the Republic of Slovakia (before 1993). The paper casts some historical light on the legal status of protection of rights and freedoms in the first Republic of Czechoslovakia (before the Second World War) and afterwards. The author shows how the law was changing at the time of the existence of Czechoslovakia (as a commonwealth of the Czech and the Slovak), which influenced the legal regulations of the independent Republic of Slovakia. In the final part, the author presents the role of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Liberties of 1991. Today, the Charter is one of the acts protecting rights and freedoms in Slovakia and holds the same legal position as the Slovakian Constitution. The paper aids the reader in understanding the sources of present legal constructions related to the system of protection of rights and liberties in the Republic of Slovakia.