Page 198 - Beholding Liberty!

198 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
evolution of the Greek system of governance. In the first place, with the constitutions endorsed by the national assemblies of the Struggle, the Provisional Constitution of Greece, the Law of Epid- aurus and the Political Constitution of Greece, constitutionalism was introduced, developed and, it turned out in the long run, consolidated in the consciousness of the Greek society as the funda- mental and indispensable requirement for political legitimacy. The concept of constitutionalism as it was established mainly based on the experience of the first country to adopt a constitution (the United States of America), mainly involves the recognition of the supremacy of the charter ratified by the legitimate representatives of the body politic (the nation) as the fundamental law of the state, which is above and beyond any other legislation or enactment of the legitimate authorities of the country. The principle of constitutionalism was explicitly recognised in article II of the charter ratified at Astros: “Under no pretext and circumstance may the administration legislate against this constitution.”
The broader historical significance of Greek constitutionalism is best assessed in a comparative context, given that when Greece adopted its first constitution, the U.S.A., France (the Restoration Charter of 1815), the two Nordic monarchies of Denmark and Sweden, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands were the only countries with constitutional charters. Introduced so early on, Greek constitutionalism may well be said to have been in the vanguard of European constitutionalism. Two other qualities, however, which informed these civic values – the democratic principle and amply demonstrated liberal orientation – also justify regarding it as trailblazing.
The democratic principle, that is, the proclamation of the whole nation, or people, as the undis- puted sovereign, is voiced with absolute clarity in the Political Constitution of Troezen, whose Ar- ticle V unequivocally declares: “Sovereignty lies with the Nation; all power stems from the Nation and exists for the benefit of the Nation.” Notably, with this article, the Political Constitution of Greece revives an old provision of Rhigas’s draft constitution of the Hellenic Republic (Article 25). It could therefore also be noted that, in its inception, Greek constitutionalism was associated with the twilight of the long tradition of European radical republicanism.
The other defining feature of early Greek constitutionalism were its strong liberal leanings, most evident in the constitutional provisions restraining the executive power and in the utmost concern for the protection of individual rights and freedoms. The constitutional charters of Epidaurus and Astros are informed by the characteristic distrust on the part of classical European liberalism towards those in power. This is reflected in the provisions for a one-year term of the members of both parliamentary and executive bodies. The liberal intentions are reflected also in the clear separation of powers and is adopted in the draft constitutions, especially in the provision for judicial independence. The liberal nature of the three earliest constitutional charters of Greece finds supreme expression in their provisions to secure individual rights and freedoms – “human rights” as Rhigas had called them. The list of “general rights” or “civil rights” is prioritised in all three constitutions as the foundation of the rule of law in the territory of free Greece. Incomplete and limited – to 7 articles – in the Provisional Government, the list is significantly augmented and expanded to 12 articles in the Law of Epidaurus, to develop into a full declaration of rights in the Political Constitution of Troezen. Regarding human rights in the Provisional Government, the em- phasis is placed on the value of equality. The Law of Epidaurus introduces articles that guarantee freedom, including freedom of the press, and places the property, honour and security of “each