The Beginnings of Constitutional Control of Laws in Romania (1866-1923) – the Regulation of the 1923 Constitution and its Scientific and Practical Antecedents

Abstract

On the occasion of the centenary of the anniversary of the Romanian Constitution of 1923, this paper formulates some ideas, observations, and appreciations about it. It presents historical facts, the historical context of the drafting and adoption of the Constitution, analyses and statements of contemporaries. In particular, the work deals with the emergence and development in Romania of the constitutionality control of laws in organic connection with the provisions of the Constitution of 1866, with the debates on this subject in legal doctrine as well as the jurisprudence of that period, which contributed to the express regulation of this constitutional law institution. These were the prerequisites for the regulation of the 1923 Constitution, which in Article 103 provided for the exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court of Cassation in the United Sections to review the constitutionality of laws in subsequent proceedings arising in a specific case. The Constitution thereby enshrined the practice of reviewing the constitutionality of laws according to the American model.