Misplaced Pages

April Constitution of Poland

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from Polish 1935 constitution) 2nd constitution of the Second Polish Republic, adopted in 1935
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Polish. (October 2022) Click for important translation instructions.
  • Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Misplaced Pages.
  • Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 348 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization.
  • Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
  • You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Polish Misplaced Pages article at ]; see its history for attribution.
  • You may also add the template {{Translated|pl|Konstytucja kwietniowa}} to the talk page.
  • For more guidance, see Misplaced Pages:Translation.
(Learn how and when to remove this message)

Part of a series on the
politics and government of Poland
Constitutions and major statutes of Poland

The April Constitution of Poland (Polish: Ustawa konstytucyjna 23 IV 1935 or Konstytucja kwietniowa) was the general law passed by the act of the Polish Sejm on 23 April 1935. It introduced in the Second Polish Republic an authoritarian presidential system that no longer operated on the basis of the functional separation of powers. The constitution was adopted in violation of the previous March Constitution of 1921 as well as the rules of procedure of parliament, which is why it was questioned by a significant part of the opposition to the Sanacja government.

Summary

The act introduced the idea that the state is a common good of all the citizens. It also limited the powers of the Sejm and Senate while strengthening the authority of the President of Poland. The President concentrated "single and indivisible state power" in his hands, was responsible "only to God and history", and the government, parliament, armed forces, courts and control bodies were subordinated to him. The election of the President took place at a special Assembly of Electors, attended by 80 people, including five highest state officials, as well as 50 electors chosen from among members of the Sejm and 25 from ones of the Senate. The President had the right to propose his own candidate for the highest office. His term of office lasted seven years. The President appointed and dismissed the members of the government, which, in turn, was responsible both to him and to the parliament. He also had the right to dismiss the parliament before the end of term and named a third of the senators, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army, and the General Inspector of the Armed Forces. He also had the right to issue decrees and veto acts passed by the Sejm.

Among the most notable features of the new constitution was the president's right to name his successor in the case of war. That was used as the legal base for the existence of the Polish Government in Exile during and after World War II. The constitution was officially abolished on 22 July 1944 by the Polish Committee of National Liberation in their manifesto, which temporarily returned to the March Constitution prior to adopting the socialist constitution in 1952. The government-in-exile operated under the April Constitution until December 1990, when it transferred its authority to Lech Walesa after his election as Poland's first noncommunist president in 46 years.

See also

References

External links


Flag of PolandHourglass icon  

This Polish history–related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Stub icon

This article about a constitutional law topic is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: