Constitution of the Republic of San Marino | |
---|---|
Created | 8 October 1600 |
Location | San Marino |
Purpose | Constitutional statutes |
The Constitution of the Republic of San Marino (also called the Constitution of the Most Serene Republic of San Marino) is distributed over a number of legislative instruments, the most important of which are the Statutes of 1600 and the Declaration of Citizen Rights of 1974, as amended in 2002.
The constitutional system shows influences of Roman customary law and Justinian I's Corpus Juris Civilis (529–534).
It is the world's oldest surviving constitution of any sovereign state, barring England's Magna Carta (1215). [1]
The current legal system of the Most Serene Republic of San Marino began on 8 October 1600. The government gave binding force to a compilation of Statuti written by Camillo Bonelli, covering the institutions and practices of Sammarinese government and justice at that time. It was written in Latin and contained in six books. The title in Latin is Statuta Decreta ac Ordinamenta Illustris Reipublicae ac Perpetuae Libertatis Terrae Sancti Marini.
The new system was an update on the Statuti Comunali (Town Statute) which had served San Marino from about 1300. Existing institutions, such as the Council of the Sixty, were carried forward from this period. The Statutes form the basis of all law in effect today, and so it may be the oldest constitution of any existing nation.
The first book contains 62 articles. It is constitutional in character and describes the various councils of San Marino, courts, a number of administrative positions, including the Captains-Regent, and the powers assigned to them. The last two articles explain how the law is to be interpreted and altered, including how the law is to be promulgated.
The second book, called Civilium Causarum, contains 75 articles. The first half provides for civil law procedures covering subpoenas, evidence, examination of witnesses and judicial expenses. The second half covers minors, education, the salaries of the civil service and wills. There is a section which promotes compromise to resolve disputes and another which regulates the salary of lawyers.
The third book, called Maleficiorum, contains 74 articles and covers criminal law. Prosecution of criminal acts is reserved for the state alone. The laws provide a formula by which a punishment shall be proportional to the offense and any mitigating circumstances. Special attention is given to protecting the assets of the state and church, and to preventing the pollution of water sources.
The fourth book, called De Appellationibus, contains 15 articles. The volume explains how judges are nominated, the classification of sentences, appeals and appellant guarantees.
The fifth book, called Extraordinarium, contains 46 articles covering a range of topics. These include the sale of meat, sanitation and health, water reserves and roads.
The sixth book contains 42 articles and covers compensation, weights and plant cultivation. In particular, it explains that family heads are responsible for the actions of their sons and any servants.
On 12 July 1974 the Captains-Regent signed a law (59/1974) adopted by the Grand and General Council containing a declaration of citizen rights and the fundamental principles of the juridical order of San Marino. The Declaration begins with a repudiation of war. It states the people are sovereign and explains how the separation of powers doctrine is applicable to San Marino. Citizens are guaranteed certain rights including equality, inviolability, freedom, and universal suffrage.
Jorri Duursma describes the 1974 law as the fundamental law of the Republic. [2]
The Declaration was amended in 2002, providing further constitutional detail on the organisation of government and establishing the Guarantors’ Panel on the Constitutionality of Rules, which is a court responsible for assessing the compliance of laws with respect to the Declaration of Rights.
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
As the only surviving medieval commune in the Italian Peninsula, the history of San Marino is intertwined with the medieval, Renaissance and modern-day history of the Italian peninsula, according to tradition beginning with its foundation in 301 AD.
A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the subject of the statute. It is distinct from the long title or enacting formula of a law.
The Constitution of the Irish Free State was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922. In accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution, the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 of the British Parliament, which came into effect upon receiving the royal assent on 5 December 1922, provided that the Constitution would come into effect upon the issue of a Royal Proclamation, which was done on 6 December 1922. In 1937 the Constitution of the Irish Free State was replaced by the modern Constitution of Ireland following a referendum.
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the fundamental governing document of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the 50 individual states that make up the United States of America. It consists of a preamble, declaration of rights, description of the principles and framework of government, and articles of amendment.
The regions of Italy are the first-level administrative divisions of the Italian Republic, constituting its second NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, five of which are autonomous regions with special status. Under the Constitution of Italy, each region is an autonomous entity with defined powers. With the exception of the Aosta Valley and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (2018–2020), each region is divided into a number of provinces.
The Fifth Republic is France's current republican system of government. It was established on 4 October 1958 by Charles de Gaulle under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic.
The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic(French: la Constitution de la Cinquième République), and it replaced the Constitution of the Fourth Republic of 1946 with the exception of the preamble per a 1971 decision of the Constitutional Council. The current Constitution regards the separation of church and state, democracy, social welfare, and indivisibility as core principles of the French state.
The current Constitution of Romania is the seventh permanent constitution in modern Romania's history. It is the fundamental governing document of Romania that establishes the structure of its government, the rights and obligations of citizens, and its mode of passing laws. It stands as the basis of the legitimacy of the Romanian government. Adopted on 21 November 1991, it was approved on 8 December 1991 in a national referendum and promulgated on the same day.
Captains Regent are the two heads of state of the Republic of San Marino. They are elected every six months by the Grand and General Council, the country's legislative body. Normally the Regents are chosen from parties in coalition and serve a six-month term. The investiture of the Captains Regent takes place on 1 April and 1 October every year. This tradition dates back at least to 1243.
The Constitutional Council is the highest constitutional authority in France. It was established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958 to ensure that constitutional principles and rules are upheld. It is housed in the Palais-Royal in Paris. Its main activity is to rule on whether proposed statutes conform with the Constitution, after they have been voted by Parliament and before they are signed into law by the President of the Republic, or passed by the government as a decree, which has law status in many domains, a right granted to the government under delegation of Parliament.
The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation of 18 April 1999 is the third and current federal constitution of Switzerland.
The present Constitution of the Republic of Albania was adopted by the Parliament of Albania on 21 October 1998 and certified by presidential decree on 28 November 1998, following a public referendum which approved the new Constitution. It is split up over many different acts. The document succeeded the 1976 Constitution, originally adopted at the creation of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania on 28 December 1976 and heavily amended on 29 April 1991.
The Constitution of Latvia is the fundamental law of the Republic of Latvia. Satversme is the oldest Eastern or Central European constitution still in force and the sixth oldest still-functioning republican basic law in the world. It was adopted, as it states itself in the text, by the people of Latvia, as represented in the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia, on 15 February 1922 and came into force on 7 November 1922. It was heavily influenced by Germany's Weimar Constitution and the Swiss Federal Constitution. The constitution establishes the main bodies of government ; it consists of 116 articles arranged in eight chapters.
The Constitution of Armenia was adopted by a nationwide Armenian referendum on July 5, 1995. This constitution established Armenia as a democratic, sovereign, social, and constitutional state. Yerevan is defined as the state's capital. Power is vested in its citizens, who exercise it directly through the election of government representatives. Decisions related to changes in constitutional status or to an alteration of borders are subject to a vote of the citizens of Armenia exercised in a referendum. There are 117 articles in the 1995 constitution. On November 27, 2005, a nationwide constitutional referendum was held and an amended constitution was adopted. The constitution was amended again in a national referendum on December 6, 2015 that changed the political structure from a semi-presidential system to a parliamentary republic.
San Marino and the United States enjoy friendly diplomatic relations.
An uncodified constitution is a type of constitution where the fundamental rules often take the form of customs, usage, precedent and a variety of statutes and legal instruments. An explicit understanding of such a constitution can be developed through in commentary by the judiciary, government committees or legal experts. In such a constitutional system, all these elements may be recognized by courts, legislators and the bureaucracy as binding upon government and limiting its powers. Such a framework is sometimes imprecisely called an "unwritten constitution"; however, all the elements of an uncodified constitution are typically written down in a variety of official documents, though not codified in a single document. However, there may be truly "unwritten" constitutional conventions which while not usually legally enforceable may hold just as much sway as the letter of the law.
The Guarantors' Panel on the Constitutionality of Rules is the highest court of San Marino in matters of constitutional law. The institution was established with Constitutional Revising Law no. 36 of 26 February 2002, which has amended Article 16 of the "Declaration on the Citizens' Rights and Fundamental Principles of San Marino Constitutional Order". The Guarantors' Panel on the Constitutionality of Rules is the youngest body of San Marino constitutional order. Constitutionality review was previously entrusted to the Great and General Council, but throughout the years this solution had presented several limits.
The Statute Governing the Transition to Democracy to Re-establish the Validity of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a statute adopted by the Venezuelan National Assembly that defines the "duration of a transition government and its political and economic responsibilities". Approved on 5 February 2019, through its seven chapters and thirty-nine articles, the Transition Statute "governs the installation of a provisional Government and the convocation of free elections", and "establishes the election of new rectors of the National Electoral Council, new magistrates of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and new representatives of the Citizen Power." It also establishes that – in the absence of a constitutionally elected president – the National Assembly President is the Acting President of Venezuela.
The 1973 Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic was adopted on 13 March 1973 and was in use until 27 February 2012. It describes Syria's character to be Arab, democratic, socialist and republican. Further, in line with pan-Arab ideology, it positions the country as a region of the wider Arab world and its people as an integral part of the Arab nation. The constitution entrenched the power of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and its 8th Article described the party as "the leading party in the society and the state", effectively ruling Syria as a one-party socialist state under emergency laws.