Greek Constitution of 1827
Encyclopedia
The Greek Constitution
of 1827 was signed and ratified in June 1827 by the Third National Assembly at Troezen
during the latter stages of the Greek War of Independence
and represented the first major step towards realizing a centralised system of Government pooling together some of the more disparate elements of the liberation struggle. The Third National Assembly initially convened in Piada in 1825 and subsequently in Troezen
in 1827. After unanimously electing John Capodistria as Governor of Greece for a seven-year term, it voted for the Political Constitution of Greece. The Assembly wanted to give the country a stable government, modeled on democratic and liberal ideas, and for this reason it declared for the first time the principle of popular sovereignty: "Sovereignty lies with the people; every power derives from the people and exists for the people". This key democratic principle was repeated in all the Greek Constitutions after 1864.
, vesting the executive power to the Governor and assigning to the body of the representatives of the people, named Vouli, the legislative power. The Governor only had a suspending veto on the bills, and he lacked the right to dissolve the Parliament. He was 'inviolable', while the Secretaries of the State, in other words the Ministers, assumed the responsibility for his public actions (thus introducing into the text of the 1827 Constitution the first elements of the so called 'parliamentary principle'). The Constitution was also comparatively developed in its approach to human rights for the time.
Constitution of Greece
The Constitution of Greece , was created by the Fifth Revisional Parliament of the Hellenes and entered into force in 1975. It has been revised three times since, most significantly in 1986, and also in 2001 and in 2008. The Constitutional history of Greece goes back to the Greek War of...
of 1827 was signed and ratified in June 1827 by the Third National Assembly at Troezen
Third National Assembly at Troezen
The Third Greek National Assembly at Troezen was convened during the latter stages of the Greek Revolution.- Convening of the Assembly :The long-delayed Third National Assembly was initially convened in April 1826 at Piada, but cut short by the news of the Fall of Missolonghi. Attempts to arrange...
during the latter stages of the Greek War of Independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
and represented the first major step towards realizing a centralised system of Government pooling together some of the more disparate elements of the liberation struggle. The Third National Assembly initially convened in Piada in 1825 and subsequently in Troezen
Troezen
Troezen is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Troizinia, of which it is a municipal unit....
in 1827. After unanimously electing John Capodistria as Governor of Greece for a seven-year term, it voted for the Political Constitution of Greece. The Assembly wanted to give the country a stable government, modeled on democratic and liberal ideas, and for this reason it declared for the first time the principle of popular sovereignty: "Sovereignty lies with the people; every power derives from the people and exists for the people". This key democratic principle was repeated in all the Greek Constitutions after 1864.
Features
The Constitution consisted of 150 articles. It established a strict separation of powersSeparation of powers
The separation of powers, often imprecisely used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the unmodified Constitution of the Roman Republic...
, vesting the executive power to the Governor and assigning to the body of the representatives of the people, named Vouli, the legislative power. The Governor only had a suspending veto on the bills, and he lacked the right to dissolve the Parliament. He was 'inviolable', while the Secretaries of the State, in other words the Ministers, assumed the responsibility for his public actions (thus introducing into the text of the 1827 Constitution the first elements of the so called 'parliamentary principle'). The Constitution was also comparatively developed in its approach to human rights for the time.