Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental
When these principles are written down into a single document or set of legal documents, those documents may be said to embody a written constitution; if they are encompassed in a single comprehensive document, it is said to embody a codified constitution.
Constitutions concern different levels of organizations, from sovereign countries to companies and unincorporated associations. A treaty that establishes an international organization is also its constitution, in that it would define how that organization is constituted. Within states, a constitution defines the principles upon which the state is based, the procedure in which laws are made and by whom. Some constitutions, especially codified constitutions, also act as limiters of state power, by establishing lines which a state's rulers cannot cross, such as fundamental rights. Changes to constitutions frequently require consensus or supermajority.[3]
The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any country in the world,[4] with 146,385 words[5] in its English-language version,[6] while the Constitution of Monaco is the shortest written constitution with 3,814 words.[7][5] The Constitution of San Marino might be the world's oldest active written constitution, since some of its core documents have been in operation since 1600, while the Constitution of the United States is the oldest active codified constitution. The historical life expectancy of a constitution since 1789 is approximately 19 years.[8]
Etymology
The term constitution comes through
William Blackstone used the term for significant and egregious violations of public trust, of a nature and extent that the transgression would justify a revolutionary response. The term as used by Blackstone was not for a legal text, nor did he intend to include the later American concept of judicial review: "for that were to set the judicial power above that of the legislature, which would be subversive of all government".[10]
General features
Generally, every modern written constitution confers specific powers on an organization or institutional entity, established upon the primary condition that it abides by the constitution's limitations. According to Scott Gordon, a political organization is constitutional to the extent that it "contain[s]
Activities of officials within an organization or polity that fall within the constitutional or statutory authority of those officials are termed "within power" (or, in Latin, intra vires); if they do not, they are termed "beyond power" (or, in Latin,
In most but not all modern states the constitution has supremacy over ordinary
Scholars debate whether a constitution must necessarily be
History and development
Since 1789, along with the
In the late 18th century, Thomas Jefferson predicted that a period of 20 years would be the optimal time for any constitution to be still in force, since "the earth belongs to the living, and not to the dead".[15] Indeed, according to recent studies,[14] the average life of any new written constitution is around 19 years. However, a great number of constitutions do not last more than 10 years, and around 10% do not last more than one year, as was the case of the French Constitution of 1791.[14] By contrast, some constitutions, notably that of the United States, have remained in force for several centuries, often without major revision for long periods of time.
The most common reasons for these frequent changes are the political desire for an immediate outcome[clarification needed] and the short time devoted to the constitutional drafting process.[16] A study in 2009 showed that the average time taken to draft a constitution is around 16 months,[17] however there were also some extreme cases registered. For example, the Myanmar 2008 Constitution was being secretly drafted for more than 17 years,[17] whereas at the other extreme, during the drafting of Japan's 1946 Constitution, the bureaucrats drafted everything in no more than a week. Japan has the oldest unamended constitution in the world.[18] The record for the shortest overall process of drafting, adoption, and ratification of a national constitution belongs to the Romania's 1938 constitution, which installed a royal dictatorship in less than a month.[19] Studies showed that typically extreme cases where the constitution-making process either takes too long or is extremely short were non-democracies.[20]
In principle, constitutional rights are not a specific characteristic of democratic countries. Autocratic states have constitutions, such as that of
Pre-modern constitutions
Ancient
Excavations in modern-day
After that, many
In 621 BC, a scribe named
The Romans initially codified their constitution in 450 BC as the Twelve Tables. They operated under a series of laws that were added from time to time, but Roman law was not reorganized into a single code until the Codex Theodosianus (438 AD); later, in the Eastern Empire, the Codex repetitæ prælectionis (534) was highly influential throughout Europe. This was followed in the east by the Ecloga of Leo III the Isaurian (740) and the Basilica of Basil I (878).
The
Early Middle Ages
Many of the Germanic peoples that filled the power vacuum left by the
The
In Wales, the Cyfraith Hywel (Law of Hywel) was codified by Hywel Dda c. 942–950. It served as the main law code in Wales until it was superseded by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542.
Middle Ages after 1000
The Pravda Yaroslava, originally combined by
In England,
No free man shall be arrested, or imprisoned, or deprived of his property, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor shall we go against him or send against him, unless by legal judgement of his peers, or by the law of the land.
This provision became the cornerstone of English liberty after that point. The
The
In 1222, Hungarian King Andrew II issued the Golden Bull of 1222.
Between 1220 and 1230, a
Around 1240, the
In the
The Kouroukan Founga was a 13th-century charter of the Mali Empire, reconstructed from oral tradition in 1988 by Siriman Kouyaté.[30]
The Golden Bull of 1356 was a decree issued by a Reichstag in Nuremberg headed by Emperor Charles IV that fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, an important aspect of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire.
In
The oldest written document still governing a sovereign nation today is that of San Marino.[31] The Leges Statutae Republicae Sancti Marini was written in Latin and consists of six books. The first book, with 62 articles, establishes councils, courts, various executive officers, and the powers assigned to them. The remaining books cover criminal and civil law and judicial procedures and remedies. Written in 1600, the document was based upon the Statuti Comunali (Town Statute) of 1300, itself influenced by the Codex Justinianus, and it remains in force today.
In 1392 the
The
Modern constitutions
In 1634 the
In 1639, the
English civil war era
On 4 January 1649, the Rump Parliament declared "that the people are, under God, the original of all just power; that the Commons of England, being chosen by and representing the people, have the supreme power in this nation".[33]
The
The Instrument of Government was replaced in May 1657 by England's second, and last, codified constitution, the
British colonies in North America
All of the British colonies in North America that were to become the 13 original United States, adopted their own constitutions in 1776 and 1777, during the American Revolution (and before the later
Democratic constitutions: 18th century
What is sometimes called the "enlightened constitution" model was developed by philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment such as Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke. The model proposed that constitutional governments should be stable, adaptable, accountable, open and should represent the people (i.e., support democracy).[39]
Corsican Constitutions of 1755 and 1794 were inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The latter introduced universal suffrage for property owners.
The
The
The
Another landmark document was the French Constitution of 1791.
The
On 19 March 1812, the
In Brazil, the Constitution of 1824 expressed the option for the monarchy as political system after Brazilian Independence. The leader of the national emancipation process was the Portuguese prince Pedro I, elder son of the king of Portugal. Pedro was crowned in 1822 as first emperor of Brazil. The country was ruled by Constitutional monarchy until 1889, when it adopted the Republican model.
In
The first Swiss Federal Constitution was put in force in September 1848 (with official revisions in 1878, 1891, 1949, 1971, 1982 and 1999).
The
The Constitution of Canada came into force on 1 July 1867, as the British North America Act, an act of the British Parliament. Over a century later, the BNA Act was patriated to the Canadian Parliament and augmented with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.[53] Apart from the Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982, Canada's constitution also has unwritten elements based in common law and convention.[54][55]
Principles of constitutional design
After tribal people first began to live in cities and establish nations, many of these functioned according to unwritten customs, while some developed autocratic, even tyrannical monarchs, who ruled by decree, or mere personal whim. Such rule led some thinkers to take the position that what mattered was not the design of governmental institutions and operations, as much as the character of the rulers. This view can be seen in Plato, who called for rule by "philosopher-kings".[56] Later writers, such as Aristotle, Cicero and Plutarch, would examine designs for government from a legal and historical standpoint.
The
A seminal juncture in this line of discourse arose in England from the Civil War, the Cromwellian Protectorate, the writings of Thomas Hobbes, Samuel Rutherford, the Levellers, John Milton, and James Harrington, leading to the debate between Robert Filmer, arguing for the divine right of monarchs, on the one side, and on the other, Henry Neville, James Tyrrell, Algernon Sidney, and John Locke. What arose from the latter was a concept of government being erected on the foundations of first, a state of nature governed by natural laws, then a state of society, established by a social contract or compact, which bring underlying natural or social laws, before governments are formally established on them as foundations.
Along the way several writers examined how the design of government was important, even if the government were headed by a monarch. They also classified various historical examples of governmental designs, typically into democracies, aristocracies, or monarchies, and considered how just and effective each tended to be and why, and how the advantages of each might be obtained by combining elements of each into a more complex design that balanced competing tendencies. Some, such as Montesquieu, also examined how the functions of government, such as legislative, executive, and judicial, might appropriately be separated into branches. The prevailing theme among these writers was that the design of constitutions is not completely arbitrary or a matter of taste. They generally held that there are underlying principles of design that constrain all constitutions for every polity or organization. Each built on the ideas of those before concerning what those principles might be.
The later writings of Orestes Brownson[60] would try to explain what constitutional designers were trying to do. According to Brownson there are, in a sense, three "constitutions" involved: The first the constitution of nature that includes all of what was called "natural law". The second is the constitution of society, an unwritten and commonly understood set of rules for the society formed by a social contract before it establishes a government, by which it establishes the third, a constitution of government. The second would include such elements as the making of decisions by public conventions called by public notice and conducted by established rules of procedure. Each constitution must be consistent with, and derive its authority from, the ones before it, as well as from a historical act of society formation or constitutional ratification. Brownson argued that a state is a society with effective dominion over a well-defined territory, that consent to a well-designed constitution of government arises from presence on that territory, and that it is possible for provisions of a written constitution of government to be "unconstitutional" if they are inconsistent with the constitutions of nature or society. Brownson argued that it is not ratification alone that makes a written constitution of government legitimate, but that it must also be competently designed and applied.
Other writers[61] have argued that such considerations apply not only to all national constitutions of government, but also to the constitutions of private organizations, that it is not an accident that the constitutions that tend to satisfy their members contain certain elements, as a minimum, or that their provisions tend to become very similar as they are amended after experience with their use. Provisions that give rise to certain kinds of questions are seen to need additional provisions for how to resolve those questions, and provisions that offer no course of action may best be omitted and left to policy decisions. Provisions that conflict with what Brownson and others can discern are the underlying "constitutions" of nature and society tend to be difficult or impossible to execute, or to lead to unresolvable disputes.
Constitutional design has been treated as a kind of metagame in which play consists of finding the best design and provisions for a written constitution that will be the rules for the game of government, and that will be most likely to optimize a balance of the utilities of justice, liberty, and security. An example is the metagame Nomic.[62]
Political economy theory regards constitutions as coordination devices that help citizens to prevent rulers from abusing power. If the citizenry can coordinate a response to police government officials in the face of a constitutional fault, then the government have the incentives to honor the rights that the constitution guarantees.[63] An alternative view considers that constitutions are not enforced by the citizens at-large, but rather by the administrative powers of the state. Because rulers cannot themselves implement their policies, they need to rely on a set of organizations (armies, courts, police agencies, tax collectors) to implement it. In this position, they can directly sanction the government by refusing to cooperate, disabling the authority of the rulers. Therefore, constitutions could be characterized by a self-enforcing equilibria between the rulers and powerful administrators.[64]
Key features
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Most commonly, the term constitution refers to a set of rules and principles that define the nature and extent of government. Most constitutions seek to regulate the relationship between institutions of the state, in a basic sense the relationship between the executive, legislature and the judiciary, but also the relationship of institutions within those branches. For example, executive branches can be divided into a head of government, government departments/ministries, executive agencies and a
Classification
Classification
Type | Form | Example |
---|---|---|
Codified | In single act (document) | Most of the world (first: United States) |
Uncodified | Fully written (in few documents) | San Marino, Israel, Saudi Arabia |
Partially unwritten (see constitutional convention) | Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom |
Codification
A fundamental classification is codification or lack of codification. A codified constitution is one that is contained in a single document, which is the single source of constitutional law in a state. An uncodified constitution is one that is not contained in a single document, consisting of several different sources, which may be written or unwritten; see constitutional convention.
Codified constitution
Most states in the world have codified constitutions.
Codified constitutions are often the product of some dramatic political change, such as a revolution. The process by which a country adopts a constitution is closely tied to the historical and political context driving this fundamental change. The legitimacy (and often the longevity) of codified constitutions has often been tied to the process by which they are initially adopted and some scholars have pointed out that high constitutional turnover within a given country may itself be detrimental to separation of powers and the rule of law.
States that have codified constitutions normally give the constitution supremacy over ordinary statute law. That is, if there is any conflict between a legal statute and the codified constitution, all or part of the statute can be declared ultra vires by a court, and struck down as unconstitutional. In addition, exceptional procedures are often required to amend a constitution. These procedures may include: convocation of a special constituent assembly or constitutional convention, requiring a supermajority of legislators' votes, approval in two terms of parliament, the consent of regional legislatures, a referendum process, and/or other procedures that make amending a constitution more difficult than passing a simple law.
Constitutions may also provide that their most basic principles can never be abolished, even by amendment. In case a formally valid amendment of a constitution infringes these principles protected against any amendment, it may constitute a so-called unconstitutional constitutional law.
Codified constitutions normally consist of a ceremonial preamble, which sets forth the goals of the state and the motivation for the constitution, and several articles containing the substantive provisions. The preamble, which is omitted in some constitutions, may contain a reference to God and/or to fundamental values of the state such as liberty, democracy or human rights. In ethnic nation-states such as Estonia, the mission of the state can be defined as preserving a specific nation, language and culture.
Uncodified constitution
As of 2017[update] only two sovereign states, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, have wholly uncodified constitutions. The Basic Laws of Israel have since 1950 been intended to be the basis for a constitution, but as of 2017 it had not been drafted. The various Laws are considered to have precedence over other laws, and give the procedure by which they can be amended, typically by a simple majority of members of the Knesset (parliament).[65]
Uncodified constitutions are the product of an "evolution" of laws and conventions over centuries (such as in the
Mixed constitutions
Some constitutions are largely, but not wholly, codified. For example, in the Constitution of Australia, most of its fundamental political principles and regulations concerning the relationship between branches of government, and concerning the government and the individual are codified in a single document, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia. However, the presence of statutes with constitutional significance, namely the Statute of Westminster, as adopted by the Commonwealth in the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942, and the Australia Act 1986 means that Australia's constitution is not contained in a single constitutional document.[citation needed] It means the Constitution of Australia is uncodified,[dubious ] it also contains constitutional conventions, thus is partially unwritten.
The
The terms written constitution and codified constitution are often used interchangeably, as are unwritten constitution and uncodified constitution, although this usage is technically inaccurate. A codified constitution is a single document; states that do not have such a document have uncodified, but not entirely unwritten, constitutions, since much of an uncodified constitution is usually written in laws such as the Basic Laws of Israel and the Parliament Acts of the United Kingdom. Uncodified constitutions largely lack protection against amendment by the government of the time. For example, the U.K. Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 legislated by simple majority for strictly fixed-term parliaments; until then the ruling party could call a general election at any convenient time up to the maximum term of five years. This change would require a constitutional amendment in most nations.
Amendments
A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a
Most constitutions require that amendments cannot be enacted unless they have passed a special procedure that is more stringent than that required of ordinary legislation.
Methods of amending
Approval by | Supermajority needed | Countries |
---|---|---|
Legislature (unicameral, joint session or lower house only) | >50% + >50% after an election | Iceland, Sweden |
>50% + 60% after an election | Estonia, Greece | |
60% + >50% after an election | Greece | |
60% | France, Senegal, Slovakia | |
2⁄3 | Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Djibouti, Ecuador, Honduras, Laos, Libya, Malawi, North Korea, North Macedonia, Norway, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Yemen | |
2⁄3 after an election | Ukraine | |
2⁄3 after an election | Belgium | |
3/4 | Bulgaria, Solomon Islands (in some cases) | |
4/5 | Estonia, Portugal (in the five years following the last amendment) | |
Legislature + referendum | >50% + >50% | Djibouti, Ecuador, Venezuela |
>50% before and after an election + >50% | Denmark | |
3/5 + >50% | Russia, Turkey | |
2/3 + >50% | Albania, Andorra, Armenia (some amendments), Egypt, Slovenia, Tunisia, Uganda, Yemen (some amendments), Zambia | |
2/3 + >60% | Seychelles | |
3/4 + >50% | Romania | |
3/4 + >50% of eligible voters | Taiwan | |
2⁄3 + 2⁄3 | Namibia, Sierra Leone | |
75% + 75% | Fiji | |
Legislature + sub-national legislatures | 2⁄3 + >50% | Mexico |
2⁄3 + 2⁄3 | Ethiopia | |
Lower house + upper house | 2⁄3 + >50% | Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
2⁄3 + 2⁄3 | Bahrain, Germany, India, Italy, Jordan, Namibia, Netherlands, Pakistan, Somalia, Zimbabwe | |
60% + 60% | Brazil, Czech Republic | |
75% + 75% | Kazakhstan | |
Lower house + upper house + joint session | >50% + >50% + 2⁄3 | Gabon |
Either house of legislature + joint session | 2⁄3 + 2⁄3 | Haiti |
Lower house + upper house + referendum | >50% + >50% + >50% | Algeria, France, Ireland, Italy |
>50% + >50% + >50% (electors in majority of states/cantons)+ >50% (electors) | Australia, Switzerland | |
2⁄3 + 2⁄3 + >50% | Japan, Romania, Zimbabwe (some cases) | |
2⁄3 | Antigua and Barbuda | |
2⁄3 + >50% + >50% | Poland (some cases)[66][67] | |
75% + 75% + >50% | Madagascar | |
Lower house + upper house + sub-national legislatures | 12/12 | Canada (in some cases) |
>50% + >50% + 2⁄3 | Canada (in most cases) | |
2⁄3 + 2⁄3 + >50% | India (in some cases) | |
2⁄3 + 2⁄3 + 75% | United States | |
2⁄3 + 2⁄3 + 50% | Ethiopia[68] | |
Referendum | >50% | Estonia, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Malawi, Palau, Philippines, Senegal, Serbia (in some cases), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan |
Sub-national legislatures | 2⁄3 | Russia |
75% | United States | |
Constitutional convention | Argentina | |
2⁄3 | Bulgaria (some amendments) |
Some countries are listed under more than one method because alternative procedures may be used.
Entrenched clauses
An entrenched clause or entrenchment clause of a
Constitutional rights and duties
Constitutions include various rights and duties. These include the following:
- Duty to pay taxes[74]
- Duty to serve in the military[75]
- Duty to work[76]
- Right to vote[77]
- Freedom of assembly[78]
- Freedom of association[79]
- Freedom of expression[80]
- Freedom of movement[81]
- Freedom of thought[82]
- Freedom of the press[82]
- Freedom of religion[83]
- Right to dignity[84]
- Right to civil marriage[85]
- Right to petition[86]
- Right to academic freedom[87]
- Right to bear arms[88]
- Right to conscientious objection[89]
- Right to a fair trial[90]
- Right to personal development[91]
- Right to start a family[92]
- Right to information[93]
- Right to marriage[94]
- Right of revolution[95]
- Right to privacy[96]
- Right to protect one's reputation[97]
- Right to renounce citizenship[98]
- Rights of children[99]
- Rights of debtors[100]
Separation of powers
Constitutions usually explicitly divide power between various branches of government. The standard model, described by the
Accountability
In
In
Other independent institutions
Other independent institutions which some constitutions have set out include a
Power structure
Constitutions also establish where sovereignty is located in the state. There are three basic types of distribution of sovereignty according to the degree of centralisation of power: unitary, federal, and confederal. The distinction is not absolute.
In a unitary state, sovereignty resides in the state itself, and the constitution determines this. The territory of the state may be divided into regions, but they are not sovereign and are subordinate to the state. In the UK, the constitutional doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty dictates that sovereignty is ultimately contained at the centre. Some powers have been devolved to Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales (but not England). Some unitary states (Spain is an example) devolve more and more power to sub-national governments until the state functions in practice much like a federal state.
A federal state has a central structure with at most a small amount of territory mainly containing the institutions of the federal government, and several regions (called states, provinces, etc.) which compose the territory of the whole state. Sovereignty is divided between the centre and the constituent regions. The constitutions of Canada and the United States establish federal states, with power divided between the federal government and the provinces or states. Each of the regions may in turn have its own constitution (of unitary nature).
A confederal state comprises again several regions, but the central structure has only limited coordinating power, and sovereignty is located in the regions. Confederal constitutions are rare, and there is often dispute to whether so-called "confederal" states are actually federal.
To some extent a group of states which do not constitute a federation as such may by
State of emergency
Many constitutions allow the declaration under exceptional circumstances of some form of state of emergency during which some rights and guarantees are suspended. This provision can be and has been abused to allow a government to suppress dissent without regard for human rights – see the article on state of emergency.
Facade constitutions
Italian political theorist Giovanni Sartori noted the existence of national constitutions which are a facade for authoritarian sources of power. While such documents may express respect for human rights or establish an independent judiciary, they may be ignored when the government feels threatened, or never put into practice. An extreme example was the Constitution of the Soviet Union that on paper supported freedom of assembly and freedom of speech; however, citizens who transgressed unwritten limits were summarily imprisoned. The example demonstrates that the protections and benefits of a constitution are ultimately provided not through its written terms but through deference by government and society to its principles. A constitution may change from being real to a facade and back again as democratic and autocratic governments succeed each other.
Constitutional courts
Constitutions are often, but by no means always, protected by a legal body whose job it is to interpret those constitutions and, where applicable, declare void executive and legislative acts which infringe the constitution. In some countries, such as Germany, this function is carried out by a dedicated constitutional court which performs this (and only this) function. In other countries, such as Ireland, the ordinary courts may perform this function in addition to their other responsibilities. While elsewhere, like in the United Kingdom, the concept of declaring an act to be unconstitutional does not exist.
A constitutional violation is an action or legislative act that is judged by a constitutional court to be contrary to the constitution, that is, unconstitutional. An example of constitutional violation by the executive could be a public office holder who acts outside the powers granted to that office by a constitution. An example of constitutional violation by the legislature is an attempt to pass a law that would contradict the constitution, without first going through the proper constitutional amendment process.
Some countries, mainly those with uncodified constitutions, have no such courts at all. For example, the
See also
- Basic law, equivalent in some countries, often for a temporary constitution
- Apostolic constitution (a class of Catholic Church documents)
- Consent of the governed
- Constitution of the Roman Republic
- Constitutional amendment
- Constitutional court
- Constitutional crisis
- Constitutional economics
- Constitutionalism
- Corporate constitutional documents
- International constitutional law
- Judicial activism
- Judicial restraint
- Judicial review
- Philosophy of law
- Rule of law
- Rule according to higher law
Judicial philosophies of constitutional interpretation (note: generally specific to
- List of national constitutions
- Originalism
- Strict constructionism
- Textualism
- Proposed European Union constitution
- Treaty of Lisbon (adopts same changes, but without constitutional name)
- United Nations Charter
Further reading
- Zachary Elkins and Tom Ginsburg. 2021. "What Can We Learn from Written Constitutions?" Annual Review of Political Science.
References
- ISBN 0-19-517077-6.
- ^ R (HS2 Action Alliance Ltd) v Secretary of State for Transport [2014] UKSC 3 Archived March 5, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, [207]
- ^ King, Brett W. "The Use of Supermajority Provisions in the Constitution: The Framers, The Federalist Papers and the Reinforcement of a Fundamental Principle." Seton Hall Const. LJ 8 (1997): 363.
- ISBN 978-81-219-0403-2.
- ^ a b "Constitution Rankings". Comparative Constitutions Project. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
- ^ "Constitution of India". Ministry of Law and Justice of India. July 2008. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- ^ "Monaco 1962 (rev. 2002)". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-511-81759-5
- ISBN 9780754621140– via Google Books.
- ISBN 978-0-19-957861-0.
- ISBN 978-0-674-16987-6.
- ISBN 978-0-19-957861-0.
- ^ (Jordan, Terry L. (2013). The U.S. Constitution and Fascinating Facts About It (8th ed.). Naperville, IL: Oak Hill Publishing Company. p. 25.)
- ^ a b c (Zachary, Elkins; Ginsburg, Tom; Melton, James (2009). The Endurance of National Constitutions. New York: Cambridge University Press.)
- ^ ("Thomas Jefferson to James Madison". Popular Basis of Political Authority. September 6, 1789. pp. 392–97. Archived from the original on October 14, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2015.)
- ^ (Ginsburg, Tom; Melton, James. "Innovation in Constitutional Rights" (PDF). NYU. Draft for presentation at NYU Workshop on Law, Economics and Politics. Archived from the original on July 17, 2014. Retrieved July 29, 2015.)
- ^ a b (Ginsburg, Tom; Zachary, Elkins; Blount, Justin (2009). "Does the Process of Constitution-Making Matter?" (PDF). University of Chicago Law School. Chicago, IL: Annu. Rev. Law Soc. Sci.5. pp. 201–23 [209]. Archived from the original on April 17, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2015.)
- ^ "The Anomalous Life of the Japanese Constitution". Nippon.com. August 15, 2017. Archived from the original on August 11, 2019. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- ^ (Ginsburg, Tom; Zachary, Elkins; Blount, Justin (2009). "Does the Process of Constitution-Making Matter?" (PDF). University of Chicago Law School. Chicago, IL: Annu. Rev. Law Soc. Sci.5. pp. 201–23 [204]. Archived from the original on April 17, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2015.)
- ^ (Ginsburg, Tom; Zachary, Elkins; Blount, Justin (2009). "Does the Process of Constitution-Making Matter?" (PDF). University of Chicago Law School. Chicago, IL: Annu. Rev. Law Soc. Sci.5:201–23. p. 203. Archived from the original on April 17, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2015.)
- SSRN 2477530.)
- ^ See:
- Reuven Firestone, Jihād: the origin of holy war in Islam (1999) p. 118;
- "Muhammad", Encyclopedia of Islam Online
- ^ Watt. Muhammad at Medina and R.B. Serjeant "The Constitution of Medina." Islamic Quarterly 8 (1964) p. 4.
- ^ R.B. Serjeant, The Sunnah Jami'ah, pacts with the Yathrib Jews, and the Tahrim of Yathrib: Analysis and translation of the documents comprised in the so-called "Constitution of Medina." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 41, No. 1. (1978), p. 4.
- ^ Watt. Muhammad at Medina. pp. 227–228 Watt argues that the initial agreement was shortly after the hijra and the document was amended at a later date specifically after the battle of Badr (AH [anno hijra] 2, = AD 624). Serjeant argues that the constitution is in fact 8 different treaties which can be dated according to events as they transpired in Medina with the first treaty being written shortly after Muhammad's arrival. R. B. Serjeant. "The Sunnah Jâmi'ah, Pacts with the Yathrib Jews, and the Tahrîm of Yathrib: Analysis and Translation of the Documents Comprised in the so called 'Constitution of Medina'." in The Life of Muhammad: The Formation of the Classical Islamic World: Volume iv. Ed. Uri Rubin. Brookfield: Ashgate, 1998, p. 151 and see same article in BSOAS 41 (1978): 18 ff. See also Caetani. Annali dell'Islam, Volume I. Milano: Hoepli, 1905, p. 393. Julius Wellhausen. Skizzen und Vorabeiten, IV, Berlin: Reimer, 1889, pp. 82ff who argue that the document is a single treaty agreed upon shortly after the hijra. Wellhausen argues that it belongs to the first year of Muhammad's residence in Medina, before the battle of Badr in 2/624. Wellhausen bases this judgement on three considerations; first Muhammad is very diffident about his own position, he accepts the Pagan tribes within the Umma, and maintains the Jewish clans as clients of the Ansars see Wellhausen, Excursus, p. 158. Even Moshe Gil a skeptic of Islamic history argues that it was written within 5 months of Muhammad's arrival in Medina. Moshe Gil. "The Constitution of Medina: A Reconsideration." Israel Oriental Studies 4 (1974): p. 45.
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- ISBN 978-0-299-06270-5.in 1825. Italian liberalism in 1820–1821 relied on junior officers and the provincial middle classes, essentially the same social base as in Spain. It even used a Hispanized political vocabulary, for it was led by giunte (juntas), appointed local capi politici (jefes políticos), used the terms of liberali and servili (emulating the Spanish word serviles applied to supporters of absolutism), and in the end talked of resisting by means of a guerrilla. For both Portuguese and Italian liberals of these years, the Spanish constitution of 1812 remained the standard document of reference.
The Spanish pattern of conspiracy and revolt by liberal army officers ... was emulated in both Portugal and Italy. In the wake of Riego's successful rebellion, the first and only pronunciamiento in Italian history was carried out by liberal officers in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The Spanish-style military conspiracy also helped to inspire the beginning of the Russian revolutionary movement with the revolt of the Decembrist army officers
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- ^ The official English language translation of the Greek Constitution as of May 27, 2008 Archived November 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, Article 110 §1, p. 124, source: Hellenic Parliament, "The provisions of the Constitution shall be subject to revision with the exception of those which determine the form of government as a Parliamentary Republic and those of articles 2 paragraph 1, 4 paragraphs 1, 4 and 7 , 5 paragraphs 1 and 3, 13 paragraph 1, and 26."
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- ^ "Read about "Duty to pay taxes" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Duty to serve in the military" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Duty to work" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Claim of universal suffrage" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Freedom of assembly" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Freedom of association" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Freedom of expression" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Freedom of movement" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ a b "Read about "Freedom of opinion/thought/conscience" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Freedom of religion" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Human dignity" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Provision for civil marriage" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Right of petition" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Right to academic freedom" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Right to bear arms" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Right to conscientious objection" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Right to fair trial" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Right to development of personality" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Right to found a family" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Right to information" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Right to marry" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Right to overthrow government" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Right to privacy" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Right to protect one's reputation" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Right to renounce citizenship" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Rights of children" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Rights of debtors" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ A synchronic comparative perspective were before the founding fathers of Italian Constitution, when they were faced with the question of bicameralism and related issues of confidence and the legislative procedure, Buonomo, Giampiero (2013). "Il bicameralismo tra due modelli mancati". L'Ago e Il Filo Edizione Online. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
- ^ "Read about "Central bank" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Counter corruption commission" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Electoral commission" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Establishment of judicial council" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Human rights commission" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Media commission" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Ombudsman" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Read about "Truth and reconciliation commission" on Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
External links
- Constitute, an indexed and searchable database of all constitutions in force
- Amendments Project
- Dictionary of the History of Ideas Constitutionalism
- Constitutional Law, "Constitutions, bibliography, links"
- International Constitutional Law: English translations of various national constitutions
- United Nations Rule of Law: Constitution-making, on the relationship between constitution-making, the rule of law and the United Nations.
- Works related to Portal:Constitution at Wikisource
- constitution | Theories, Features, Practices, & Facts | Britannica
- Constitutionalism | Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Constitutions and Constitutionalism | Encyclopedia.com