Editing Constitution (section)

===Pre-modern constitutions===
====Ancient====
[[File:Hammurabi.jpg|thumb|upright|Detail from [[Hammurabi]]'s [[stele]] shows him receiving the laws of [[Babylon]] from the seated [[sun deity]].]]
Excavations in modern-day [[Iraq]] by [[Ernest de Sarzec]] in 1877 found evidence of the earliest known [[code of justice]], issued by the [[Sumer]]ian king [[Urukagina]] of [[Lagash]] {{Circa|2300 BC}}. Perhaps the earliest prototype for a law of government, this document itself has not yet been discovered; however, it is known that it allowed some rights to his citizens. For example, it is known that it relieved tax for widows and orphans, and protected the poor from the [[usury]] of the rich.

After that, many [[Forms of government|governments]] ruled by special codes of written laws. The oldest such document still known to exist seems to be the [[Code of Ur-Nammu]] of [[Ur]] (c. 2050 BC). Some of the better-known ancient law codes are the [[code of Lipit-Ishtar]] of [[Isin]], the [[code of Hammurabi]] of [[Babylonia]], the [[Hittite laws|Hittite code]], the [[Assyrian law|Assyrian code]], and [[613 Commandments|Mosaic law]].

In 621 BC, a scribe named [[Draco (lawgiver)|Draco]] codified the oral laws of the [[city-state]] of [[Athens]]; this code prescribed the [[death penalty]] for many offenses (thus creating the modern term "draconian" for very strict rules). In 594 BC, [[Solon]], the ruler of Athens, created the new ''[[Solonian Constitution]]''. It eased the burden of the workers and determined that membership of the ruling class was to be based on wealth ([[plutocracy]]), rather than on birth ([[aristocracy]]). [[Cleisthenes of Athens|Cleisthenes]] again reformed the Athenian constitution and set it on a democratic footing in 508 BC.

[[File:Aristotle's constitutions diagram.png|thumb|left|upright=1.35|Diagram illustrating the classification of constitutions by [[Aristotle]]]]
[[Aristotle]] (c. 350 BC) was the first to make a formal distinction between ordinary law and constitutional law, establishing ideas of constitution and [[constitutionalism]], and attempting to classify different forms of constitutional government. The most basic definition he used to describe a constitution in general terms was "the arrangement of the offices in a state". In his works ''[[Constitution of the Athenians (Aristotle)|Constitution of Athens]]'', ''[[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]]'', and ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'', he explores different constitutions of his day, including those of Athens, [[Lycurgus of Sparta|Sparta]], and [[Carthage]]. He classified both what he regarded as good and what he regarded as bad constitutions, and came to the conclusion that the best constitution was a mixed system including monarchic, aristocratic, and democratic elements. He also distinguished between citizens, who had the right to participate in the state, and non-citizens and slaves, who did not.

The Romans initially codified their constitution in 450 BC as the ''[[Twelve Tables]]''. They operated under a series of laws that were added from time to time, but [[Roman law]] was not reorganized into a single code until the ''[[Codex Theodosianus]]'' (438 AD); later, in the Eastern Empire, the ''[[Corpus Juris Civilis|Codex repetitæ prælectionis]]'' (534) was highly influential throughout Europe. This was followed in the east by the ''Ecloga'' of [[Leo III the Isaurian]] (740) and the ''Basilica'' of [[Basil I]] (878).

The ''[[Edicts of Ashoka]]'' established constitutional principles for the 3rd century BC [[Maurya Empire|Maurya]] king's rule in [[History of India|India]]. For constitutional principles almost lost to antiquity, see the [[code of Manu]].

====Early Middle Ages====

Many of the Germanic peoples that filled the power vacuum left by the [[Western Roman Empire]] in the [[Early Middle Ages]] codified their laws. One of the first of these [[Germanic tribal laws|Germanic law codes]] to be written was the Visigothic ''Code of [[Euric]]'' (471 AD). This was followed by the ''[[Lex Burgundionum]]'', applying separate codes for Germans and for Romans; the ''[[Lex Alamannorum|Pactus Alamannorum]]''; and the [[Salic Law]] of the [[Franks]], all written soon after 500. In 506, the ''[[Breviary of Alaric|Breviarum]]'' or ''"Lex Romana"'' of [[Alaric II]], king of the Visigoths, adopted and consolidated the ''Codex Theodosianus'' together with assorted earlier Roman laws. Systems that appeared somewhat later include the ''[[Edictum Rothari]]'' of the [[Lombards]] (643), the ''[[Lex Visigothorum]]'' (654), the ''Lex Alamannorum'' (730), and the ''[[Lex Frisionum]]'' (c. 785). These continental codes were all composed in Latin, while [[Anglo-Saxon language|Anglo-Saxon]] was used for those of England, beginning with the Code of [[Æthelberht of Kent]] (602). Around 893, [[Alfred the Great]] combined this and two other earlier Saxon codes, with various Mosaic and Christian precepts, to produce the ''[[Doom book]]'' code of laws for England.

[[Japan]]'s ''[[Seventeen-article constitution]]'' written in 604, reportedly by [[Prince Shotoku|Prince Shōtoku]], is an early example of a constitution in Asian political history. Influenced by [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] teachings, the document focuses more on social morality than on institutions of government, and remains a notable early attempt at a government constitution.

The [[Constitution of Medina]] ({{langx|ar|صحیفة المدینه}}, Ṣaḥīfat al-Madīna), also known as the Charter of Medina, was drafted by the [[Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad]] after his flight ([[Hegira|hijra]]) to Yathrib where he became political leader. It constituted a formal agreement between Muhammad and all of the significant tribes and families of Yathrib (later known as [[Medina]]), including [[Muslim]]s, [[Jew]]s, and [[pagan]]s.<ref>See:
* Reuven Firestone, ''Jihād: the origin of holy war in Islam'' (1999) p. 118;
* "Muhammad", ''Encyclopedia of Islam Online''</ref><ref>Watt. Muhammad at Medina and R.B. Serjeant "The Constitution of Medina." ''Islamic Quarterly'' 8 (1964) p. 4.</ref> The document was drawn up with the explicit concern of bringing to an end the bitter intertribal fighting between the clans of the Aws ([[Banu Aus|Aus]]) and [[Khazraj]] within Medina. To this effect it instituted a number of rights and responsibilities for the Muslim, Jewish, and pagan communities of Medina bringing them within the fold of one community&nbsp;– the [[Ummah]].<ref>R.B. Serjeant, ''The Sunnah Jami'ah, pacts with the Yathrib Jews, and the Tahrim of Yathrib: Analysis and translation of the documents comprised in the so-called "Constitution of Medina."'' Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 41, No. 1. (1978), p. 4.</ref> The precise dating of the Constitution of Medina remains debated, but generally, scholars agree it was written shortly after the [[Hijra (Islam)|Hijra]] (622).<ref>Watt. ''Muhammad at Medina''. pp. 227–228 Watt argues that the initial agreement was shortly after the hijra and the document was amended at a later date specifically after the battle of Badr (AH [anno hijra] 2, = AD 624). Serjeant argues that the constitution is in fact 8 different treaties which can be dated according to events as they transpired in Medina with the first treaty being written shortly after Muhammad's arrival. R. B. Serjeant. "The Sunnah Jâmi'ah, Pacts with the Yathrib Jews, and the Tahrîm of Yathrib: Analysis and Translation of the Documents Comprised in the so-called 'Constitution of Medina'." in ''The Life of Muhammad: The Formation of the Classical Islamic World'': Volume iv. Ed. Uri Rubin. Brookfield: Ashgate, 1998, p. 151 and see the same article in BSOAS 41 (1978): 18 ff. See also Caetani. ''Annali dell'Islam, Volume I''. Milano: Hoepli, 1905, p. 393. Julius Wellhausen. ''Skizzen und Vorabeiten'', IV, Berlin: Reimer, 1889, pp. 82ff who argue that the document is a single treaty agreed upon shortly after the hijra. Wellhausen argues that it belongs to the first year of Muhammad's residence in Medina, before the battle of Badr in 2/624. Wellhausen bases this judgement on three considerations; first Muhammad is very diffident about his own position, he accepts the Pagan tribes within the Umma, and maintains the Jewish clans as clients of the Ansars see Wellhausen, Excursus, p. 158. Even Moshe Gil a skeptic of Islamic history argues that it was written within 5 months of Muhammad's arrival in Medina. Moshe Gil. "The Constitution of Medina: A Reconsideration." ''Israel Oriental Studies'' 4 (1974): p. 45.</ref>

In [[Wales]], the [[Cyfraith Hywel]] (Law of Hywel) was codified by [[Hywel Dda]] c. 942–950. It served as the main law code in Wales until it was superseded by the [[Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542]].

====Middle Ages after 1000====
The ''Pravda Yaroslava'', originally combined by [[Yaroslav the Wise]] the [[Grand Prince of Kiev]], was granted to [[Great Novgorod]] around 1017, and in 1054 was incorporated into the ''[[Russkaya Pravda]]''; it became the law for all of [[Kievan Rus']]. It survived only in later editions of the 15th century.

In England, [[Henry I of England|Henry I's]] proclamation of the [[Charter of Liberties]] in 1100 bound the king for the first time in his treatment of the clergy and the nobility. This idea was extended and refined by the English barony when they forced [[John of England|King John]] to sign [[Magna Carta]] in 1215. The most important single article of Magna Carta, related to "''[[habeas corpus]]''", provided that the king was not permitted to imprison, outlaw, exile or kill anyone at a whim&nbsp;– there must be [[due process]] of law first. This article, Article 39, of Magna Carta read:

{{Blockquote|text=No free man shall be arrested, or imprisoned, or deprived of his property, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor shall we go against him or send against him, unless by the legal judgement of his peers, or by the law of the land.|author=|title=|source=}}

This provision became the cornerstone of English liberty after that point. The [[social contract]] in the original case was between the king and the nobility but was gradually extended to all of the people. It led to the system of [[Constitutional Monarchy]], with further reforms shifting the balance of power from the monarchy and nobility to the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]].

The [[Nomocanon]] of [[Saint Sava]] ({{langx|sr|Законоправило/Zakonopravilo}})<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QDFVUDmAIqIC&pg=PA118 ''The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century''  John Van Antwerp Fine ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227154539/https://books.google.com/books?id=QDFVUDmAIqIC&pg=PA118 |date=December 27, 2022 }}. Google Books. Retrieved July 12, 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.search.com/reference/Nomocanon Metasearch Search Engine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010145226/https://www.search.com/reference/Nomocanon |date=October 10, 2017 }}. Search.com. Retrieved July 12, 2013.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.emu.co.uk/short-term-loans/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125010613/http://www.alanwatson.org/sr/petarzoric.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Short Term Loans|archive-date=November 25, 2011}}</ref> was the first [[Serbia]]n constitution from 1219. [[St. Sava's Nomocanon]] was the compilation of [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]], based on [[Roman Law]], and [[canon law]], based on [[Ecumenical Councils]]. Its basic purpose was to organize the functioning of the young [[Kingdom of Serbia (medieval)|Serbian kingdom]] and the [[Serbian Ortodox Church|Serbian church]]. Saint Sava began the work on the Serbian Nomocanon in 1208 while he was at [[Mount Athos]], using ''The Nomocanon in Fourteen Titles'', ''Synopsis of Stefan the Efesian'', ''Nomocanon of [[John Scholasticus]]'', and Ecumenical Council documents, which he modified with the canonical commentaries of Aristinos and [[Joannes Zonaras]], local church meetings, rules of the [[Holy Fathers]], the law of [[Moses]], the translation of Prohiron, and the [[Byzantine emperors]]' [[Novellae Constitutiones|Novellae]] (most were taken from [[Justinian]]'s Novellae). The Nomocanon was a completely new compilation of civil and canonical regulations, taken from [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] sources but completed and reformed by St. Sava to function properly in Serbia. Besides decrees that organized the life of the church, there are various norms regarding civil life; most of these were taken from Prohiron. [[Legal transplants]] of [[Roman Law|Roman]]-[[Byzantine law]] became the basis of the Serbian medieval law. The essence of Zakonopravilo was based on [[Corpus Iuris Civilis]].

[[Stefan Dušan]], emperor of Serbs and Greeks, enacted [[Dušan's Code]] ({{langx|sr|Душанов Законик/Dušanov Zakonik}})<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100803074722/http://www.dusanov-zakonik.com/indexe.html Dusanov Zakonik]}}. Dusanov Zakonik. Retrieved July 12, 2013.</ref> in [[Serbia]], in two state congresses: in 1349 in [[Skopje]] and in 1354 in [[Serres]]. It regulated all social spheres, so it was the second Serbian constitution, after St. Sava's Nomocanon (Zakonopravilo). The Code was based on [[Roman Law|Roman]]-[[Byzantine law]]. The legal [[Legal transplants|transplanting]] within articles 171 and 172 of Dušan's Code, which regulated juridical independence, is notable. They were taken from the Byzantine code [[Basilika]] (book VII, 1, 16–17).

In 1222, Hungarian King [[Andrew II of Hungary|Andrew II]] issued the [[Golden Bull of 1222]].

Between 1220 and 1230, a [[Saxony|Saxon]] administrator, [[Eike von Repgow]], composed the ''[[Sachsenspiegel]]'', which became the supreme law used in parts of Germany as late as 1900.

Around 1240, the [[Copt]]ic Egyptian Christian writer, [['Abul Fada'il Ibn al-'Assal]], wrote the ''[[Fetha Negest]]'' in [[Arabic language|Arabic]]. 'Ibn al-Assal took his laws partly from apostolic writings and Mosaic law and partly from the former [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] codes. There are a few historical records claiming that this law code was translated into [[Ge'ez language|Ge'ez]] and entered Ethiopia around 1450 in the reign of [[Zara Yaqob]]. Even so, its first recorded use in the function of a constitution (supreme law of the land) is with [[Sarsa Dengel]] beginning in 1563. The ''Fetha Negest'' remained the supreme law in Ethiopia until 1931, when a modern-style [[Constitution of Ethiopia|Constitution]] was first granted by Emperor [[Haile Selassie]] I.

[[File:ConstCATMonso1535.png|thumb|upright=0.75|left|Third volume of the compilation of Catalan Constitutions of 1585]]
In the [[Principality of Catalonia]], the [[Catalan constitutions]] were promulgated by the Court from 1283 (or even two centuries before, if [[Usatges of Barcelona]] is considered part of the compilation of Constitutions) until 1716, when [[Philip V of Spain]] gave the [[Nueva Planta decrees]], finishing with the historical laws of [[Catalonia]]. These Constitutions were usually made formally as a royal initiative, but required for its approval or repeal the favorable vote of the [[Catalan Courts]], the medieval antecedent of the modern Parliaments. These laws, like other modern constitutions, had preeminence over other laws, and they could not be contradicted by mere decrees or edicts of the king.

The ''[[Kouroukan Fouga|Kouroukan Founga]]'' was a 13th-century charter of the [[Mali Empire]] in [[West Africa]], reconstructed from oral tradition in 1988 by [[Siriman Kouyaté]].<ref>Mangoné Naing, [http://www.oecd.org/swac/events/38516561.pdf SAH/D(2006)563 The Kurukan Fuga Charter: An example of an Endogenous Governance Mechanism for Conflict Prevention] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010064658/http://www.oecd.org/swac/events/38516561.pdf |date=October 10, 2017 }}, Inter-generational Forum on Endogenous Governance in West Africa organized by Sahel and West Africa Club / [[OECD]], Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), June 26 to 28, 2006. pp. 71–82.</ref> It included the "right to life and to the preservation of physical integrity" and significant protections for women.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Adewale |first1=Adeyinka |title=Pre-colonial Political Order in Africa |date=2023 |work=Reimaging Africa: Lifting the Veil of Ignorance |pages=9–38 |editor-last=Adewale |editor-first=Adeyinka |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-40360-6_2 |access-date=2024-10-05 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer Nature Switzerland |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-40360-6_2 |isbn=978-3-031-40360-6 |last2=Schepers |first2=Stefan |editor2-last=Schepers |editor2-first=Stefan}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2AFmBOiLRAC&dq=kouroukan+fouga+human+rights&pg=PA334 |title=Frontiers of Language and Teaching, Vol.2: Proceedings of the 2011 International Online Language Conference (IOLC 2011) |publisher=Universal-Publishers |isbn=978-1-61233-559-9 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=334}}

The [[Golden Bull of 1356]] was a decree issued by a ''[[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Reichstag]]'' in Nuremberg headed by Emperor [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]] that fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, an important aspect of the constitutional structure of the [[Holy Roman Empire]].

In [[China]], the [[Hongwu Emperor]] created and refined a document he called ''[[Huang Ming Zu Xun|Ancestral Injunctions]]'' (first published in 1375, revised twice more before he died in 1398). These rules served as a constitution for the [[Ming dynasty]] for the next 250 years.

The oldest written document still governing a sovereign nation today is that of [[San Marino]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/aug/08/jon-huntsman/oldest-surviving-one-document-text/ |title=The United States has "the longest surviving constitution". |publisher=PolitiFact.com |access-date=November 10, 2013}}</ref> The ''[[Constitution of San Marino|Leges Statutae Republicae Sancti Marini]]'' was written in Latin and consists of six books. The first book, with 62 articles, establishes councils, courts, various executive officers, and the powers assigned to them. The remaining books cover criminal and civil law and judicial procedures and remedies. Written in 1600, the document was based upon the ''Statuti Comunali'' (Town Statute) of 1300, itself influenced by the ''Codex Justinianus'', and it remains in force today.

In 1392 the ''[[Carta de Logu]]'' was [[legal code]] of the [[Giudicato of Arborea]] promulgated by the ''giudicessa'' [[Eleanor of Arborea|Eleanor]]. It was in force in [[Sardinia]] until it was superseded by the code of [[Charles Felix of Sardinia|Charles Felix]] in April 1827. The Carta was a work of great importance in [[Sardinia]]n history. It was an organic, coherent, and systematic work of legislation encompassing the [[Civil law (area)|civil]] and [[penal law]].

The ''[[Great Law of Peace|Gayanashagowa]]'', the oral constitution of the [[Haudenosaunee]] nation also known as the Great Law of Peace, established a system of governance as far back as 1190 AD (though perhaps more recently at 1451) in which the [[Sachem]]s, or tribal chiefs, of the Iroquois League's member nations made decisions based on universal consensus of all chiefs following discussions that were initiated by a single nation. The position of Sachem descends through families and are allocated by the senior female clan heads, though, prior to the filling of the position, candidacy is ultimately democratically decided by the community itself.<ref name = Tooker>{{cite book |editor=Clifton JA |title=The Invented Indian: cultural fictions and government policies |publisher=Transaction Publishers |location=New Brunswick, NJ|year=1990 |pages= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ARbVmr941TsC&pg=PA107 107–128] | chapter = The United States Constitution and the Iroquois League |isbn=978-1-56000-745-6 | author = Tooker E}}</ref>