The Origins of a Constitution

Ryszard Małajny

Abstract


The author starts his paper with some introductory remarks. He advances the thesis that the first constitutions have been passed by the end of the 18th century, however, their originals could be found 150 years before. In addition, he presents the socio-economic background of the genesis of a constitution and demonstrates that a constitution was to petrify social progress won by the bourgeois revolution. There is also discussed the ideological background of the mentioned genesis, i.e. such mental currents as rationalism and liberalism as well as the idea of natural rights, popular sovereignty, social contract, distribution of power and legal positivism. Briefly mentioned is the influence of the codification movements of judicial law upon the constitutional processes of the age of Enlightenment, as well as the specification of five “waves” of passing constitutions in Europe.


Keywords


constitution; genesis; socio-economic background; ideological background

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/g.2019.66.1.307-319
Date of publication: 2019-07-17 08:29:41
Date of submission: 2017-11-22 11:24:39


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