The Genesis and Principles of the First Constitution of the Republic of Finland of 1919
Keywords:
Finland, genesis of the republic, the 1919 constitution, principles of the political system, system of governmentAbstract
In the history of constitutionalism, a very important stage was the adoption of new constitutions in many European countries within a few years after the end of World War I. The vast majority of these countries gained independence at that historic moment as a result of the collapse of two great empires: the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The constitutions established at that time practically everywhere declared a liberal-democratic model of the political system, an example of which could be the March Constitution in the Second Polish Republic or the fundamental laws of Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. They also include the then-constitutional regulations in the Republic of Finland, the analysis of which is the main goal of this study. First of all, it is necessary to show the genesis of the adopted legal solutions and patterns that determined their final shape. However, special attention should be paid to the principles and basic institutions of the state system of Finland, as laid down in the Act on the Form of Government of 1919, which was not the only act of constitutional rank defining the system of that state at that time. It is also worth asking why the first constitution of the Republic of Finland adopted at that time, unlike the then constitutions of a significant part of European countries (including the Second Polish Republic), was not replaced in the 1930s by a completely new constitution, creating the basis for an authoritarian system of government. The comments presented in this article are the result of an analysis of the Finnish constitutional acts of the interwar period and the available historical and legal as well as legal and political literature.
References
Andren N., Government and Politics in the Nordic Countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Uppsala 1964.
Bożyk S., Ewolucja pozycji ustrojowej prezydenta Republiki Finlandii, [w:] Ustroje. Tradycje i porównania. Księga jubileuszowa dedykowana prof. dr hab. Marianowi Grzybowskiemu w siedemdziesiątą rocznicę urodzin, red. P. Mikuli, A. Kulig, J. Karp, G. Kuca, Warszawa 2015.
Ciemniewski K., Zasady ustroju politycznego Finlandii, Bydgoszcz 1971.
Cieślak T., Historia Finlandii, Wrocław 1983.
Endemann H., Das Regierungssystem Finnlands: die finnische Regierungsform von 1919 im Vergleich mit der Weimarer Reichsverfassung, Frankfurt am Main 1999.
Gebethner S., O genezie i ewolucji prezydencjalizmu w Finlandii. Refleksje konstytucjonalisty i politologa, [w:] Współczesne przemiany ustrojowe w Polsce i w świecie. Prace ofiarowane profesorowi Jerzemu Stembrowiczowi w 65 rocznicę urodzin, red. L. Garlicki, A. Gwiżdż, H. Izdebski, M. Konarski, Warszawa 1987.
Grzybowski M., Eduskunta. Parlament Finlandii, Warszawa 2001.
Grzybowski M., Finlandia. Zarys systemu ustrojowego, Kraków 2007.
Grzybowski M., Systemy polityczne współczesnej Skandynawii, Warszawa 1989.
Grzybowski M., Współczesny parlamentaryzm skandynawski, Krakow 1988.
Gwiżdż A., Finlandia, [w:] Konstytucje Finlandii, Włoch, Niemieckiej Republiki Federalnej, Francji, red. A. Burda, M. Rybicki, Wrocław 1971.
Herlitz N., Elements of Nordic Public Law, Stockholm 1969.
Jussila O., Hentila S., Nevakivi J., Historia polityczna Finlandii 1809–1999, Kraków 2001.
Mannerheim C.G., Wspomnienia, Warszawa 2017.
Nousiainen J., The Finnish Political System, Cambridge 1971.
Nousiainen J., The Finnish System of Government: From a Mixed Constitution to Parliamentarism, [w:] The Constitution of Finland, Helsinki 2001.
Osiński J., Prezydent Republiki Finlandii, [w:] Prezydent w państwach współczesnych, red. J. Osiński, Warszawa 2009.
Puntila L.A., Political History of Finland 1809-1966, Helsinki 1974.
Serzhanova V., Suomen perustuslaki. Ustawa zasadnicza Finlandii, Rzeszów 2017.
Serzhanova V., System konstytucyjny Finlandii, Warszawa 2021.
Serzhanova V., Wapińska D., Ewolucja konstytucjonalizmu w Finlandii, [w:] Aktualne problemy reform konstytucyjnych, red. S. Bożyk, Białystok 2013.
Szpoper D., Niedoszła próba ograniczania samodzierżawia. Aleksander I i warszawski projekt konstytucji dla Imperium Rosyjskiego z lat 1918–1920, „Prawo i Więź” 2020, nr 4.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Miscellanea Historico-Iuridica
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
