Spring 2017 Joseph P. Kazickas Visiting Associate Professor in European Studies
Vaidotas Vaičaitis is Associate Professor of Law at Vilnius University. He received a master’s degree in Legal Theory from the European Academy of Legal Theory (Brussels) in 2000 and a Ph.D. in Law from Vilnius University in 2001. He also holds graduate degrees in Religious Studies and History from Vilnius University. His particular interests are in Lithuanian and comparative constitutional law. He is the editor of Lietuvos konstitucionalizmo istorija [History of Lithuanian constitutionalism] (Vilnius: Vilnius University Press, 2016).
At Yale Professor Vaičaitis is furthering his research on the principles of the rule of law, democracy, and the protection of human rights as values of modern constitutionalism. He has written on these concepts as reflected in the history of law in Lithuania. As Lithuania is a member of the European Union (since 2004), these principles now must be implemented within a broader European context. The study of Lithuanian constitutional law thus needs reconsideration given the complexities resulting from a tradition of national legal order that now exists within processes of European integration. Professor Vaičaitis is also studying the history of US constitutional law, including case law of the US Supreme Court, as comparisons to aid in developing Lithuanian and European constitutionalism.
Professor Vaičaitis is active in international scholarly societies, including the International Association for the Philosophy of Law and the International Association of Constitutional Law. Together with some of his students at Vilnius University, he reestablished in 2014 the law fraternity Iustitia as a Catholic association fostering civic and religious values in Lithuania based on social justice and human dignity.