Geneza i założenia pierwszej konstytucji Republiki Finlandii z 1919 r.
The Genesis and Principles of the First Constitution of the Republic of Finland of 1919

Summary/Abstract: 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.

• Details
• Contents