Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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A constituent assembly (sometimes also known as a constitutional convention or constitutional assembly) is a body or assembly of representatives composed for the purpose of drafting or adopting a constitution. As the fundamental document constituting a state, a constitution cannot normally be modified or amended by the state's normal legislative procedures; instead 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.
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 rulers, of the country for which they are creating a constitution. 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.
The Constituent Assembly, or Con-Ass, is one of the three methods by which amendments to the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines may be proposed. The other two modes are via People's Initiative and Constitutional Convention. All three require a majority vote in a national referendum.
A Constituent Assembly is composed of all members of the bicameral Philippine Congress ( Senate and the House of Representatives). It is convened by Congress to propose amendments to the 1987 constitution. Under Article XVII of the Constitution of the Philippines, amendments pass upon a vote of three fourths of all members of Congress, but it is not clear if the Congress should vote as a single body or as separate houses. The convention of Congress into a Constituent Assembly is not explicitly provided for in the Constitution.
The Constituent Assembly was the tenth Constituent Assembly of Peru, convened by the government of General Francisco Morales Bermudez to facilitate the return of democracy following a decade of the self-styled Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces. It was settled on July 28, 1978 and was led by Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, historical leader of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance. Its main mission was to develop a new constitution replacing the old 1933 Constitution. This new Constitution was enacted and promulgated on July 12, 1979, and entered into force on July 28, 1980, on the opening of the constitutional government of the architect Fernando Belaúnde Terry. It was replaced 14 years later by the 1993 Constitution.
Constituent Assembly may refer to the Constituent Assembly in the following countries;
- Constituent Assembly of Georgia
- Constituent Assembly of India
- Constituent Assembly of Italy
- Constituent Assembly of Lithuania
- Constituent Assembly of Luxembourg
- Constituent Assembly of Nepal
- Constituent Assembly of Pakistan
- Constituent Assembly of the Republic of Montenegro
- Constituent Assembly of Tunisia
- Constituent Assembly of Turkey
- Constituent Assembly (Philippines)
Usage examples of "constituent assembly".
On the adjournment of the Constituent Assembly the people in the street greet him with shouts, crown him with oak wreaths, take the horses from his cab and drag him in triumph to the rue St.
His public life, his conduct in the constituent assembly, his independent principles, the nobleness of his sentiments, the wisdom and fixity of his opinions, had gained him the esteem of those who can be depended upon, and with whom it is so agreeable to discuss political interests.
It is true that they had suggested a parliament - a constituent assembly - before the revolution.
One day, in the presence of a witness whom we are not permitted to doubt, he rectified from memory the whole of the letter A in the alphabetical list of the Constituent Assembly.
One day, before a witness whom it is impossible for us to doubt, he corrected from memory the whole letter A of the alphabetic list of the constituent assembly.
During the 1840s, Hugo became involved in republican politics and was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1848.
It -- that barricade, chance, hazard, disorder, terror, misunderstanding, the unknown -- had facing it the Constituent Assembly, the sovereignty of the people, universal suffrage, the nation, the republic.
This barricade, chance, disorder, bewilderment, misunderstanding, the unknown, had opposed to it the Constituent Assembly, the sovereignty of the people, universal suffrage, the nation, the republic.