Supliment Anuar 2/2024

Abstract: In the long-term process of establishing adequate and unanimously accepted constitutional frameworks, the Danube Monarchy went through several stages marked by temporary solutions, especially after the revolutionary process of 1848-1849 which posed some problems that seemed insurmountable at that moment. For the eastern part of the Monarchy, the future Transleithania, they focused around the „Hungarian question” which experienced several constitutional avatars between the secession movement in the years of the revolution and the dualism that would enshrine a special constitutional formula that would last until the disintegration of the Habsburg Monarchy. A special situation was represented by Transylvania, which, like Croatia-Slavonia, had a separate status compared to Hungary itself, a status inscribed in constitutional documents, which provided for an independent character and which was maintained in different forms practically until the „unionist” diet from Cluj that opened the way to the dualist system.

This paper aims to illustrate the main constitutional law benchmarks of the relations between Hungary, Transylvania and the Framework Monarchy (Gesamtmonarchie) in the transition towards the system of dualism, always marked by the aspirations of national and political movements that pursued distinct political goals, insisting, alongside the broad benchmarks known, on some provisions or states of affairs less researched at the moment, bringing some explanations for the dilemmas that have arisen in these years.

Keywords: Danube Monarchy, Dualism, constitutional law, Transylvania, national movements.

Abstract: Although it began as an attempt to revise the 1866 constitution determined by the substantial changes in the territory of Romania, the 1923 Constitution became a concrete fact when the members of the Constituent Assemblies met on March 27, 1922 before King Ferdinand. The members of the Constituent Assemblies came up against the limits that a simple revision would have entailed, as had happened in 1917 in a dramatic situation for Romania given the war situation. The political and diplomatic circumstances of 1923 required much more a new constitution that was necessary in the new political construction of the Romanian state after the Union of 1918. First of all, the future Constitution had to regulate the new political and legal order and was to create the premises for governing a state that had doubled its territory and population. The situation of 1884 could not be repeated. In that year, through a single additional article (numbered 133), the provisions of the 1866 Constitution were ordered to be applied to the new territory integrated in 1878, Dobrogea, a former very backward Ottoman territory. In 1923, the situation was much more complicated and challenging given the fact that territories that had belonged to different states had to be integrated. Now, a century after this event, we evaluate the social, economic, political and legal effects that the 1923 Constitution had in the process of modernizing Romanian institutions and society.

Keywords: constitution, political regime, civil rights, modernization, institutions.

Abstract: The present research proposes an exploration of the constitutional situation in the Kingdom of Romania before the drafting of the fundamental pact of 1923. After an overview of the international events that preceded the First World War and its consequences, the situation of the Romanian population outside the country’s borders is analyzed, the effects of imperial constitutions on them and the way to achieve the Romanian national state. The author tries to answer with historical-legal arguments the question whether until the entry into force of the Constitution of 1923 in the territories united with Romania – Bessarabia, Bucovina, and Transylvania – the citizens were subject to any constitutional provision or was there a „constitutional hiatus”? The study ends with the presentation of how the fundamental law was adopted by the Parliament of Greater Romania and with the researcher’s conclusions.

Keywords: Romania, Parliament, Constitution, union, nation.

Abstract: The author analyzes the context that influenced the formulation of the Constitution of 1923. It is about: the Revolution of 1948, the King as an institution, World War I and Greater Romania formed after 1918. Understanding the context helps us to understand the role that the constitution had in the development of neo-Protestantism in Romania. The revolution of 1848 opened the horizon of Romanians to the ethnic and religious situation on the continent. The ideas brought by the young people who studied in Europe contributed decisively to the union between Moldova and Wallachia in 1859. On June 29, 1866, the first Romanian constitution came into force, considered one of the most modern of the time, inspired by the Belgian constitution. During this period the Baptist movement developed in Germany. Gerhard Onken spread Baptist ideas in Europe, reaching Romania as well. The first German Baptist Carl Scharschmidt settled in Bucharest in 1856. In 1863 the German pastor August Liebing established the first German Baptist church in Bucharest. King Charles I was the reason for drafting the constitution of 1866, from which 78 articles were taken in the 238 of the Constitution of 1923. The royal dynasty supported Catholicism, with experience in interfaith coexistence. Another decisive factor in the drafting of the constitution was the end of the First World War, which led to the union of Romanians from Transylvania, Bucovina and Bessarabia. This change required the drafting of a constitution that would defend the rights of citizens of different ethnicities and religions. The Constitution of 1923 is the first major document that enshrines the phrase „Greater Romania” for the new state formed in 1918. In 1919, the Baptists formed the Union of Baptist Churches in Romania. In 1922 the Pentecostal confession appeared. Although the interwar totalitarianism affected the application of the constitution, it nevertheless had a decisive role in the defense of the individual’s ethnic and confessional rights. The dictatorship established in 1930 decided to replace it with a new constitution in 1938.

Keywords: Constitution of 1923, Revolution of 1948, King, World War I, Greater Romania

Abstract: This article deals with how the institution of state of siege was shaped during the early post-WWI years by the so-called „danger of Communism” and with the heated debates in interwar Romania concerning the constitutional or unconstitutional character of this tool of emergency powers. The study concludes that the heavy use of state of siege in interwar Romania can be perceived as a symptom of a state with weak institutions facing multiple crises: economic and social crises, security crises, and the political crisis of the liberal order established by the 1923 Constitution fuelled by the emergence of the far-right during the 1930s.

Keywords: state of siege, revolution, law, political violence.

Abstract: Broadly speaking, constitutionalism is defined as a set of principles that promote the idea that the authority of government flows from and is limited by a body of fundamental laws that are above the will and arbitrariness of individual or community decision. In this sense, a type of political organization can be considered constitutional to the extent that within it the mechanisms of power control function, i.e. the separation of powers in the state. These institutionalized mechanisms are meant to prescribe, regulate and guarantee the rights, freedoms and obligations of citizens. Such a fundamental right is the right to education. In fact, it was not only the right but also the obligation of citizens to complete a minimum training stage that contributed essentially to the formation of modern states. The present study brings into debate both the conjugation between education and the evolution of Romanian society as a whole, referring in this case to the significant moments represented by the reforms of the educational field, as well as the effects of the first-rate laws in the educational field on the Hungarian minority.

Keywords: constitution, law, education, school, ethnic minorities, educational rights, Hungarian minority

Abstract: A first observation arising from the analysis of the evolution of Romanian-German relations during the period between Nicolae Titulescu’s removal from the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the promulgation of the Constitution in February 1938 refers to the reorientation of Romanian foreign policy, which abandoned the pro-Soviet line previously promoted by Nicolae Titulescu and set as hisgoal the adoption of a neutral status in relations with the Great Powers. This decision was not accidental; it was primarily the direct consequence of major changes occurring on the international arena, driven on one hand by the rise of National Socialist Germany, and on the other hand by the increasingly clear delineation of the policy of „appeasement” promoted by Great Britan and France towards the Reich, to the detriment of states’interests in Central and Eastern Europe.

For the decision-making circles in Bucharest, the reorientation of Romanian foreign policy did not mean abandoning Romania’s traditional alliances or League of Nations’s membership; it was on the contrary. Thus, concurrently with assurances regarding „Romania’s fidelity” to its „current friendships”, King Carol II, as well as the governments led by Gheorghe Tătărescu and Octavian Goga, repeatedly expressed favor for a slow, gradual, but systematic approach in relations with National Socialist Germany, especially in the economic field.

In terms of the domestic political filed, it should be noted that, through the German Legation in Bucharest, the leadership of the Third Reich was generally correctly and promptly informed about the backstage of events unfolding on the domestic political chessboard. A diplomat of the old generation, refined and an excellent connoisseur of the Romanian political realities, German Minister Plenipotentiary Wilhelm Fabricius accurately noted in his reports to the Auswärtiges Amt the continuous erosion process of the parliamentary democratic regime in Romania and the increasingly visible tendency over the time of King Carol II to establish a personal regime, respectively the fact that the formula of an extreme right-wing government was not viable. Therefore, the coup d’état on February 10, 1938, and the establishment of the Carlist authoritarian regime were not a surprise to Wilhelm Fabricius.

Keywords: Romania-Germany relations, Nicolae Titulescu, Constitution of February 20, 1938.

Abstract: This article aims to analyze the historical-legal profile of the royal dictatorship in Romania (February 1938 – September 1940) from the perspective of the 1938 constitution. The constitution adopted in February 1938 includes a series of distinct characteristics from the 1923 one, which very clearly outline the dictatorial nature of the new regime; a first aspect is the doubling of rights with duties of Romanians, which indicated the permanent diminution of the former, the sphere of freedom being persistently subjected to pressure and limiting redefinition. The 1938 constitution fits into the legislative-ideological profile specific to dictatorial regimes. The author also makes a comparison with the fascist regimes in Germany and Italy; the conclusion is that the royal dictatorship of Carol II did not intend to be a regime similar to the fascist ones, but it clearly contributed to the accumulation and consolidation of totalitarian-type ideological rhetoric and practices.

Keywords: Royal Dictatorship, constitutions, interwar Romania, fascist regimes, ideologies.

Abstract: Post-December 1989 Romanian society was characterized by significant instability, manifesting as social upheavals and political tensions. The years 1990-1991, which marked the beginning of Romania’s transition from communist totalitarianism to democracy, witnessed both protests against the new post-1989 regime and extremely violent social unrest known as the „mineriads”. These are undeniable indicators of the challenges with the democratization process in post-communist Romania. Thus, this article seeks to initially articulate the social and political context in which the new fundamental law of the Romanian state was adopted. In fact, the Romanian Constitution of 1991 is a reflection of post-December realities and power dynamics. This short study aims to demonstrate that the new fundamental law of 1991 represents, to some extent, both the foundation of the new democratic regime and an outdated document. There are undeniable similarities with communist fundamental laws (especially the 1965 Constitution, which established the Socialist Republic of Romania) in some of the contained articles. Instead of drawing on pre-communist constitutional traditions, the post-communist legislator chose to model the new constitution after the last Constitution of the totalitarian era. First and foremost, in a manner similar to the 1965 text, the fundamental law during the transition to democracy made no explicit reference to the democratic principle of the separation of powers in the state. This principle embodies the essence of democracy. Furthermore, provisions related to property are similar in the 1965 and 1991 Constitutions. Additionally, although the procedure for electing the country’s president is different in the two fundamental acts, the head of state enjoys almost the same prerogatives.

Keywords: Constitution of 1991, transition, totalitarianism, democracy, social instability, political tensions.