Constitutional Documents of East-Central Europe

Abstract

The new constitutions of the countries which now compose the so-called Soviet satellites, and of the ex-satellite, Yugoslavia, are set in a historical background which helps to explain their nature and their draftsmanship. Constitutional government, as it is known in Western Europe and in the United States, is unknown in Eastern Europe, with the exception of Czechoslovakia and of Finland. The latter country, however, is not included in our consideration. Stabs at western-type constitutionalism have been made occasionally. At a surprisingly early date, in 1879, the so-called Tirnovo constitution of Bulgaria included many liberal stipulations. Similarly, the Polish constitution of 1921, which was written primarily in order to curb Josef Pilsudski, was a democratic document. But neither of them prevailed in theory nor in practice, and the people of Communist Europe may therefore be expected to take constitutional documents in their stride even if their governments rule as they please and the civil enumerated thereunder remain a constant mockery to reality. There is a basic difference between constitutions in a democracy and a dictatorship. In a democracy a constitution, whether written or unwritten, whether supported by judicial review or under a system of legislative supremacy, is designed to limit, to restrain.' Constitutional government in the western sense is therefore limited, restrained government. But limitation and dictatorship are mutually exclusive terms, and while satellite Europe has a number of interesting constitutions, it does not have constitutionalism. It follows that constitutions of democratic countries present different questions to the analyst than is the case with those of dictatorships. When studying democratic constitutions, we are concerned with the organization of state and government, with the relations between government and citizens, and with the basic rights of the citi-