NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Constitution of Italy

The Constitution of the Italian Republic (Italian, trans. Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has been amended 13 times, was published in Gazzetta Ufficiale (no.298) on 27 December 1947. The Constituent Assembly was elected by universal suffrage on 02 June 1946 at the same time as the institutional referendum on abolition of the monarchy. The Constitution had effect from 01 January 1948, one century after the Statuto Albertino was conceded.^[1] Although this remained in force after the March on Rome in 1922, it became devoid of substantial value. Under disposition XIII, male descendants of the House of Savoy were forbidden from entering the territory of the Republic. This provision was repealed in 2002.^[2]^[3] The President of the Italian Republic is the head of State of Italy, and represents national unity. ... Giorgio Napolitano (born June 29, 1925), is an Italian politician and former lifetime senator, the eleventh and current President of the Italian Republic. ... In Italy, the President of the Council of Ministers (Italian: Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri) is the countrys prime minister or head of government. ... Prodi redirects here. ... The Prodi II Cabinet has been the cabinet of the government of Italy since May 17, 2006. ... The Parliament of Italy (Italian: Parlamento Italiano) is the national parliament of Italy. ... Palazzo Madama house of the Senate of the Republic. ... Back side of Palazzo Montecitorio designed by architect Ernesto Basile. ... The Constitutional Court of Italy (Italian: Corte costituzionale della Repubblica Italiana) is the supreme court of Italy. ... The Court of Cassation (Corte di Cassazione in Italian) is the main court of last resort in Italy. ... Political parties in Italy are organized into two dominant political coalitions. ... The Democratic Party (Partito Democratico, PD) is a proposed political party in Italy. ... Elections in Italy gives information on election and election results in Italy. ... A general election for the renewal of the two Chambers of the Parliament of Italy was held on April 9 and April 10, 2006. ... The Constitution of Italy provides for legally binding referenda. ... The Regions of Italy were granted a degree of regional autonomy in the 1948 constitution, which states that the constitutions role is: to recognize, protect and promote local autonomy, to ensure that services at the State level are as decentralized as possible, and to adapt the principles and laws... In Italy, a province (in Italian: provincia) is an administrative division of intermediate level between municipality (comune) and region (regione). ... Municipalities of Italy In Italy, the comune, (plural comuni) is the basic administrative unit of both provinces and regions, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality. ... This article describes the foreign relations of Italy. ... Information on politics by country is available for every country, including both de jure and de facto independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. ... The Parliament of Italy (Italian: Parlamento Italiano) is the national parliament of Italy. ... Elections Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box: Universal suffrage (also general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of the right to vote to all adults, without distinction as to race, sex, belief, intelligence, or economic or social status. ... Elections Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box: A referendum (plural referendums or referenda), ballot question, or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita, originally a decree of the Concilium Plebis) is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ... For the documentary series, see Monarchy (TV series). ... The so-called Statuto Albertino (Albertine Statute) is the constitution that King Charles Albert of Savoy conceded to the Kingdom of Sardinia (including also most parts of north-western Italy, such as Piedmont) on March 4, 1848. ... For the movie by Dino Risi, see March on Rome (film) The March on Rome was a pseudo-coup dÃ©tat by which Mussolinis National Fascist Party came to power in Italy. ... The House of Savoy or in Italian, La Casa di Savoia, or simply Casa Savoia, (or Savoie, French) is a dynasty of nobles who traditionally had their domain in Savoy, a region that includes present-day Piemonte, other parts of Northern Italy, and a smaller region in France. ...

Context

The forces that enlivened debate in the Assembly fell into three tendencies, christian democratic solidaristic, socialist/communist and liberal. Each deeply anti-fascist, there was general agreement against an authoritarian form of constitution. However, each tendency was concerned about its success in new elections after the promulgation of the Constitution, and fought to insert something reflecting their values; the result was that some aspects of the text (concerning marriage and the family for example) refer to Roman Catholic-orientated christian democratic themes, whilst others (concerning workers' rights for example) are more reminiscent of communist and socialist thinking. This has been repeatedly described as the constitutional compromise.^[4] Christian Democracy is a political ideology, born at the end of the 19th century, largely as a result of the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII, in which the Vatican recognizes workers misery and agrees that something should be done about it, in reaction to the rise of... Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... Look up liberal on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Liberal may refer to: Politics: Liberalism American liberalism, a political trend in the USA Political progressivism, a political ideology that is for change, often associated with liberal movements Liberty, the condition of being free from control or restrictions Liberal Party, members of... Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

The Constitution is composed of 139 articles (four of which were later abrogated) and arranged into three main parts: Fundamental Principles or Principi Fondamentali (articles 1–12); Part I concerning the Rights and Duties of Citizens or Diritti e Doveri dei Cittadini (articles 13–54); and Part II the Organisation of the Republic or Ordinamento della Repubblica (articles 55–139); followed by 18 Transitory and Final Provisions or Disposizioni transitorie e finali. Articles 13–28 are the Italian equivalent of a bill of rights in common law jurisdictions. Power is divided among the executive, the legislative and judicial branches; the Constitution establishes the balancing and interaction of these branches, rather than their rigid separation.^[5] A bill of rights is a list or summary of rights that are considered important and essential by a group of people. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...

It is important to note that the Constitution primarily contains general principles; it is not possible to apply them directly. As with many written constitutions, only few articles are considered to be self-executing. The majority require enabling legislation, referred to as accomplishment of constitution.^[6] This process has taken decades and some contend that, due to various political considerations, it is still not complete. In order to make it virtually impossible to replace with a dictatorial regime, it is difficult to modify the Constitution; to do so (under Article 138) requires a substantial majority in both Houses of Parliament and, in some cases, a referendum. Under Article 139, the republican form of government cannot be reviewed. When the Constituent Assembly drafted the Constitution, it made a deliberate choice in attributing to it a supra-legislative force, so that ordinary legislation could not amend or derogate from it.^[7] Legislative acts of parliament in conflict with the Constitution are subsequently annulled by the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court of Italy (Italian: Corte costituzionale della Repubblica Italiana) is the supreme court of Italy. ...

While Article 8 establishes the liberty of all religions before the law, Article 7 recognises the special status given to the Roman Catholic Church by the Lateran Treaty in 1929. That status was modified by a new agreement between church and state in 1984.^[8] The Lateran Treaties of February 11, 1929 provided for the mutual recognition of the then Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican City. ...

Amendments

Three Parliamentary Commissions have been convened in 1983–1985, 1992–1994 and 1997–1998 respectively, with the task of preparing major revisions to the 1948 text (in particular Part II), but in each instance the necessary political consensus for change was lacking.^[9]

The text of the Constitution has been amended 13 times. Amendments have affected articles 48 (postal voting), 51 (women's participation), 56, 57 & 60 (composition and length of term of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate of the Republic); 68 (indemnity and immunity of members of Parliament); 79 (amnesties and pardons); 88 (dissolution of the Houses of Parliament); 96 (impeachment); 114 to 132 (Regions, Provinces and Municipalities in its entirety); 134 & 135 (composition and length of term of the Constitutional Court). In 1967 articles 10 and 26 were integrated by a constitutional provision which established that their last paragraphs (which forbid the extradition of a foreigner for political offences) do not apply in case of crimes of genocide. Four amendments were passed during the thirteenth legislature (1996–2001), these concerned parliamentary representation of Italians living abroad; the devolution of powers to the Regions; the direct election of Regional Presidents; and guarantees of fair trials in courts.^[10] A constitutional law and one amendment have been passed in the first part of the fourteenth legislature (2001–2006), the repealing of disposition XIII insofar as it limited the civil rights of the male descendants of the House of Savoy;^[11] and a new provision intended to encourage women's participation in politics. Further amendments are being debated, but for the time being 61.32% of those voting in the 25–26 June 2006 referendum rejected a major Reform Bill approved by both Houses on 17 November 2005 and the attempt to revise Part II appears to have been abandoned or at least postponed indefinitely after almost 25 years.^[12]^[13] Image File history File links Firma_costituzione_italiana. ... Image File history File links Firma_costituzione_italiana. ... Enrico De Nicola (Naples, November 9, 1877 - Torre del Greco, Naples, October 1, 1959) was an Italian jurist, journalist, politician, and the first provisional Head of State of the newborn republic in 1946-1948. ... Back side of Palazzo Montecitorio designed by architect Ernesto Basile. ... Palazzo Madama house of the Senate of the Republic. ... Â¹ at Italian general election, 2001 thew was with centre-left ... A general election for the renewal of the two Chambers of the Parliament of Italy was held on April 9 and April 10, 2006. ...

References

^ Einaudi, Mario The Constitution of the Italian Republic The American Political Science Review vol.42, no.4 (pp.661-676) August 1948
^ Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia: "Fedeltà alla Costituzione" La Repubblica, 03 febbraio 2002
^ Willan, Philip Exiled Italian royals go home The Guardian, 24 December 2002
^ Smyth, Howard McGaw Italy: From Fascism to the Republic (1943–1946) The Western Political Quarterly vol.1, no.3 (pp.205-222) September 1948
^ Tesauro, Alfonso The Fundamentals of the New Italian Constitution (trans. Ginevra Capocelli) The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science / Revue canadienne d'Economique et de Science politique vol.20, no.1 (pp. 44-58) February 1954
^ Adams, John Clarke and Barile, Paolo The Implementation of the Italian Constitution The American Political Science Review vol.47, no.1 (pp.61-83) March 1953
^ How the Court Was Born What is the Constitutional Court? (p.9) The Italian Constitutional Court (retrieved 28 October 2007)
^ Agreement Between the Italian Republic and the Holy See reproduced in International Legal Materials vol.24, no.6 (p.1589) The American Society of International Law, November 1985
^ Pasquino, Gianfranco Reforming the Italian constitution Journal of Modern Italian Studies vol.3, no.1, Spring 1998
^ De Franciscis, Maria Elisabetta Constitutional Revisions in Italy, the Amending Process in Janni, Paolo (ed.) Italy in Transition: the Long Road from the First to the Second Republic The 1997 Edmund D. Pellegrino Lectures on Contemporary Italian Politics, Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change, Series IV: West Europe and North America vol.1 The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 1998
^ LEGGE COSTITUZIONALE 23 ottobre 2002, n.1 See Gazetta Ufficiale 26 ottobre 2002, n.252
^ Italy Senate passes reform bill BBC News, 16 November 2005 19:24 GMT
^ Italy resoundingly rejects reform BBC News, 26 June 2005 19:27 BST

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Contents

Context

Amendments

References

See also

External links