ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR RESTRICTION OF FREE SPEECH

Abstract

Despite the importance of free speech, it is very vulnerable. This is also true in democracies where illegal ways of violation of free speech coexist with legal ones. The latter option is less obvious but more dangerous, since it is associated with adoption of laws contrary to constitutional provisions, as well as with theunacceptable broad interpretation of existing legal regulations. As a matter of practice, prevalence of such phenomena leads to the search and disclosure of criteria based on which they can be identified. This function is performed by the eligibility criteria, which are examined in the article based on the integrative approach. In view of the foregoing, the term “eligibility criteria” is given and validated by the author based on the dialectical method. The author also proposes a list of principal and supplementary criteria. It is believed that their use at all stages of legislative and law enforcement activities will help to solve this issue.