1923 Constitution of Romania

The 1923 Constitution of Romania, also called the Constitution of Union, was intended to align the organisation of the state on the basis of universal male suffrage and the new realities that arose after the Great Union of 1918.

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Four draft constitutions existed: one belonging to the National Liberal Party, written with contributions from Ion I. C. Brătianu; one composed by R. Boilă at Cluj, under the influence of the Romanian National Party; one by Constantin Stere, representing the views of the Peasants' Party; and a fourth by C. Berariu. Except for Stere's proposal, which involved a unicameral legislature, proportional representation and popular consultation through the plebiscite, the other three were inspired (when it came to political organisation) by the 1866 Constitution. The Liberals came to power in 1922 and managed to push through their own draft, which was approved 247-8 (with two abstentions) in the Chamber of Deputies on March 26, 1923, and the next day in the Senate, 137-2 (with two abstentions). It was published in Monitorul Oficial and came into force on March 29.

Although the constitution was very advanced and democratic in many respects, it also contained imperfections in the functioning of state institutions as was the case with its predecessor. For instance, the King appointed the president of the Council of Ministers, who then organised elections. The government was thus in a position to ensure that its party won a majority in the legislature. In a well-functioning democracy, a government represents the will of parliament and not vice versa, as generally happened in the interwar period. Carol II exploited these weaknesses to subvert democracy and set up a royal dictatorship in 1937.

The 1923 Constitution was abrogated when its February 1938 successor came into force. It was then partly revived after the coup of August 23, 1944, and definitively abrogated when Romania became a republic on December 30, 1947. During this latter period, in July 1946, the Senate was abolished—the only significant modification to the document.

The constitution had eight titles and 138 articles, of which 76 came in their entirety from its predecessor. It enshrined the principles of popular sovereignty (exercised through representatives), separation of powers in the state, rule of law and decentralisation. Rights and freedoms for all citizens were recognised, regardless of ethnicity, language, religion or social class; the right to own property was guaranteed and, for the first time, the nationalisation of mineral deposits was provided for. The Kingdom of Romania was defined as a “unitary and indivisible national state”, with an inalienable territory. The state guaranteed freedom of expression and assembly, of conscience and of religion, and declared that “as the Romanian Orthodox Church is the religion of the great majority of Romanians it is the dominant church in the Romanian State, while the Greek-Catholic Church has primacy before other faiths.”