Title Constitutions Around the World : a View from Latin America Author(S) Cordeiro, Jose Luis Citation IDE Discussion Paper. No
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Title Constitutions around the world : A View from Latin America Author(s) Cordeiro, Jose Luis Citation IDE Discussion Paper. No. 164. 2008.7 Issue Date 2008-07 URL http://hdl.handle.net/2344/782 Rights <アジア経済研究所学術研究リポジトリ ARRIDE> http://ir.ide.go.jp/dspace/ INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPING ECONOMIES IDE Discussion Papers are preliminary materials circulated to stimulate discussions and critical comments IDE DISCUSSION PAPER No. 164 Constitutions around the World: A View from Latin America Jose Luis CORDEIRO* This paper gives a global summary of the number of constitutions and the number of articles in each constitution for many representative countries around the world. Several works have already been written comparing different legal systems and different constitutional traditions around the world; the purpose of this paper is just to compare the numbers of constitutions and articles in the diverse regions of the world, namely: North America, Latin America, Europe, Oceania, Middle East, Asia and Africa. Around the world, on average, Latin America has had the most convoluted constitutional history. The Dominican Republic has had a total of 32 constitutions, the largest number of constitutions of any country, since its independence in 1844. Three other countries have also had 20 or more constitutions throughout their history, all of them in Latin America: Venezuela (26), Haiti (24) and Ecuador (20). On the other hand, there are economies and societies that do not even have codified constitutions, like the United Kingdom in Europe, Hong Kong in Asia and New Zealand in Oceania. The United States has had only one constitution, even if it has been amended several times. There is also the special case of Israel and Saudi Arabia, both in the Middle East, that do not have official written constitutions for historical and religious reasons. Comparative constitutional numbers and history help to explain several things about the stability of political systems, but not necessarily their quality. Keywords: constitutions, law and economics, Latin America JEL classification: K00, K10, K40 * Visiting Research Fellow (VRF), Institute of Developing Economies, IDE-JETRO The Institute of Developing Economies (IDE) is a semigovernmental, nonpartisan, nonprofit research institute, founded in 1958. The Institute merged with the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) on July 1, 1998. The Institute conducts basic and comprehensive studies on economic and related affairs in all developing countries and regions, including Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Oceania, and Eastern Europe. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s). Publication does not imply endorsement by the Institute of Developing Economies of any of the views expressed within. INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPING ECONOMIES (IDE), JETRO 3-2-2, WAKABA, MIHAMA-KU, CHIBA-SHI CHIBA 261-8545, JAPAN ©2008 by Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the IDE-JETRO. Constitutions around the World: A View from Latin America José Luis Cordeiro * July 2008 Abstract This paper gives a global summary of the number of constitutions and the number of articles in each constitution for many representative countries around the world. Several works have already been written comparing different legal systems and different constitutional traditions around the world; the purpose of this paper is just to compare the numbers of constitutions and articles in the diverse regions of the world, namely: North America, Latin America, Europe, Oceania, Middle East, Asia and Africa. Around the world, on average, Latin America has had the most convoluted constitutional history. The Dominican Republic has had a total of 32 constitutions, the largest number of constitutions of any country, since its independence in 1844. Three other countries have also had 20 or more constitutions throughout their history, all of them in Latin America: Venezuela (26), Haiti (24) and Ecuador (20). On the other hand, there are economies and societies that do not even have codified constitutions, like the United Kingdom in Europe, Hong Kong in Asia and New Zealand in Oceania. The United States has had only one constitution, even if it has been amended several times. There are also the special cases of Israel and Saudi Arabia, both in the Middle East, that do not have official written constitutions for historical and religious reasons. Comparative constitutional numbers and history help explain several things about the stability of political systems, but not necessarily about their quality. Keywords: constitutions, law and economics, Latin America JEL classification: K00, K10, K40 * Visiting Research Fellow (VRF), Institute of Developing Economies, IDE-JETRO Invited Professor, Universidad Central de Venezuela Academic Committee, CEDICE, Venezuela Chair, Venezuela, The Millennium Project Email: [email protected] The author gratefully acknowledges the conversations with and feedback from Dora de Ampuero (IEEP, Ecuador), Alexandra and Lee Benham (Saint Louis University, USA), Pedro Cordeiro (Bain & Company, Brazil), Enrique Ghersi (CITEL, Peru), Klaus Jaffe (Universidad Simón Bolívar, Venezuela), Walter Justiniano (FULIDE, Bolivia), Oscar Ortiz (Podemos, Bolivia), Pedro Romero (George Mason University, USA), José Luis Sardón (UPC, Peru), Kurt Schuler (Treasury Department, USA), together with the ideas from several members of The Ronald Coase Institute are also greatly appreciated. Finally, a special note of great appreciation to all the personal of the Institute of Developing Economies, IDE-JETRO, who were so supportive during my research stay in Japan. - 2 - Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. Confucius (孔夫子), Chinese philosopher Man perfected by society is the best of all animals; he is the most terrible of all when he lives without law, and without justice. Aristotle, Greek philosopher Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin, US polymath and one of the US Founding Fathers A Constitution should be short and obscure. Napoleon Bonaparte, French revolutionary leader As Constituições são como as mulheres, elas são mais férteis, enquanto elas são mais violadas. Getulio Vargas, Brazilian president Para mis amigos todo, para mis enemigos la ley. Spanish saying Why hire a lawyer, when you can buy a judge? African saying The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a sovereign Arab Islamic state with Islam as its religion; God's Book (Quran) and the Sunnah of His Prophet (Muhammad), God's prayers and peace be upon him, are its constitution… Article 1 of the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia Even if the constitution includes the Ten Commandments, we will oppose it. Aryeh Deri, Israeli politician I. INTRODUCTION The first written legal codes in the history of humanity are very ancient, almost as old as the invention of writing itself, beginning with the codified laws in several kingdoms in Mesopotamia after 2300 BC (Before Christ or Before Common Era). Ancient Babylonia, Persia and Greece all had written laws and the start of constitutions. Aristotle was one of the first people in recorded history to make a formal distinction between ordinary law and constitutional law, establishing ideas of constitution and constitutionalism, and attempting to classify different forms of constitutional government. In his works Constitution of Athens, Politics, and Nicomachean Ethics he explored different constitutions of his day, including those of Athens, Sparta, and Carthage. He classified both what he regarded as good and bad constitutions, and he came to the conclusion that the best constitution was a mixed system, including monarchic, aristocratic, and democratic elements (see, for example, Barnes 1995). The Romans first codified their constitution in 449 BC as the Twelve Tables, but they operated under a series of laws that were only finally reorganized into a single code in the Codex Theodosianus of Roman law in 438 AD (Anno Domini of the Common Era). The current term constitution comes from Latin (constituere means to establish together: cum-statuo), referring to issuing any important law, usually by the Roman emperor. The term was later widely used in canon law to indicate certain relevant decisions, mainly from the Pope in Rome. - 3 - In India, Emperor Ashoka drafted its famous ruling edicts in the 3rd century BC, while East Asia was also influenced by Buddhist and Confucian traditions, including Japan and its first Seventeen-article constitution written in 604. The Islamic prophet Muhammad drafted the Constitution of Medina, also known as the Charter of Medina, in 622. Medieval England saw the Magna Carta in 1215, followed eventually by other European laws in France, German, Italy and Sweden. The first English colony in the Americas to establish its own constitution was Connecticut (and that is why Connecticut is known as the Constitution State) in the 17th century, and Massachusetts, Maryland and others followed later. Modern national constitutional history is usually considered to begin with the United States of America in 1787, when its constitution was written, and ratified in 1789. Poland and France followed with their first modern constitutions, both in 1791, and most of the other European countries continued with this trend from the end of the 18th century onwards. Most of Latin America became independent