Back السلطة التأسيسية Arabic Müəssislər Məclisi Azerbaijani Устаноўчы сход Byelorussian গণপরিষদ Bengali/Bangla Verfassunggebende Versammlung German Konstitucifara asembleo Esperanto Asamblea constituyente Spanish Asutav kogu (üldmõiste) Estonian مجلس مؤسسان Persian Assemblée constituante French

Constituent assembly

This article is about the political meeting. For customs or traditions relating to a Constitution, see Constitutional convention (political custom).
Opening session of the 2021 Chilean constitutional convention

A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected by popular vote, drawn by sortition, appointed, or some combination of these methods.[1][2] Assemblies are typically considered distinct from a regular legislature, although members of the legislature may compose a significant number or all of its members.[3] As the fundamental document constituting a state, a constitution cannot normally be modified or amended by the state's normal legislative procedures in some jurisdictions;[4] instead a constitutional convention or a constituent assembly, the rules for which are normally laid down in the constitution, must be set up. A constituent assembly is usually set up for its specific purpose, which it carries out in a relatively short time, after which the assembly is dissolved. A constituent assembly is a form of representative democracy.[5]

Unlike forms of constitution-making in which a constitution is unilaterally imposed by a sovereign lawmaker, the constituent assembly creates a constitution through "internally imposed" actions, in that members of the constituent assembly are themselves citizens, but not necessarily the political leaders, of the country for which they are creating a constitution.[6] As described by Columbia University Social Sciences Professor Jon Elster:

"Constitutions arise in a number of different ways. At the non-democratic extreme of the spectrum, we may imagine a sovereign lawgiver laying down the constitution for all later generations. At the democratic extreme, we may imagine a constituent assembly elected by universal suffrage for the sole task of writing a new constitution. And there are all sorts of intermediate arrangements."[7]

  1. ^ Oloka-Onyango, Joseph. (2001). Constitutionalism in Africa : creating opportunities, facing challenges. Fountain Publishers. ISBN 9970-02-271-7. OCLC 849441803.
  2. ^ Ghai, Yash. "The Role of Constituent Assemblies in Constitution Making" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-03-28.
  3. ^ "3.1.2 Constitutional assemblies". Constitution Making for Peace. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  4. ^ Macfarlane, Emmett, editor. (2016). Constitutional Amendment in Canada. ISBN 978-1-4426-1900-5. OCLC 1046612703. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Newar Bdair. (2001). Newar Bdair – The Constituent Power. Fountain Publishers. ISBN 9970-02-271-7. OCLC 3286293. SSRN 3286293.
  6. ^ Id. at 125
  7. ^ Axel Hadenius, ed., Democracy's Victory and Crisis, Ch 7: Ways of constitution-making by Jon Elster (p. 123); Cambridge University Press, 1997. 431 pp ISBN 9780521573115

Developed by StudentB