Constitutional History of Kiravia

The Constitutional History of Kiravia begins with the framing of the Confederative Covenant that created the Confederal Republics of Kiravia in 2XXXZ, and continues down to the Restoration Constitution of 211XX that serves as the supreme law of the present-day Kiravian Federacy, encompassing a long process of amendments and constitutional court rulings between the promulgation of new constitutions. Continuity is a key theme of Kiravian constitutional history, with successive constitutions building on the foundations of previous constitutions, whether formally or merely in practice.

Confederative Covenant

The constitution of the Confederal Republics of Kiravia, the Confederative Covenant, evolved from a deliberative process begun during the Republican Revolution, principally within and among the tavern-based Committees of Correspondence during the war. The Joint Declaration of Confederation, signed by representatives from several of the Republican provisional legislatures, established the Confederal Republics as a political entity and laid out certain fundamental principles by which it was intended to operate, but deferred the business of creating a permanent constitution to an Inter-Republican Council convened first at Fort Kartika, on the banks of the Pentecost River in 2XXXX, and then at Eriadun in 2XXXY.

The Confederative Covenant attempted to balance the need for a full-time legislative body - inspired by the Stanora of the First Coscivian Empire and necessitated by the comparative weakness of the executive branch - with the new confederation's large size and the expectation that Delegates would have significant political and personal business to attend to in their home states. It did so by establishing that the full membership of the Stanora would convene twice annually, with one session obligated to pass a budget, leaving one third of the membership (one Delegate from each state) in Kartika for the remainder of the year as a standing legislature.

Kiravian Federal Constitution

The events of the XXth century, most importantly the Continental War, placed great strain on the Confederal government, and led many in the Kiravian political class to believe that a comprehensive overhaul of the constitution was necessary in order to enable the government to address issues such as the settlement of the interior and Northwest, overseas commerce and colonisation, burgeoning domestic interstate trade, and military affairs.

Constitution of the Kiravian Union

The new constitution adopted by the Supreme Soviet in 2XXXX laid out an "integral political union" (altakevix ostrathūra) that exhibited strong centralist characteristics without fully abrogating federalism. It also constitutionally entrenched the primacy of the Kirosocialist Party and introduced the notion of directive principles of state policy.

Restoration Constitution

As affirmed in the Xzth Amendment, the constitution adopted in 211XX by the National Renewal Movement is considered to be a restoration of the pre-2XXXW federal constitution. However, when the constitution was restored by the [entity], it was with a number of amendments appended to the original text.

Many of the amendments adopted with the Restoration Constitution, dubbed the "Technical Amendments" by scholars, were adopted on the advice of legal experts and civic groups in order to update the original Federal Constitution to reflect new political realities that had emerged since its suspension, and to patch holes and clarify ambiguities in the original text that had been identified as potentially problematic.

Statute of Liberties

The Statute of Liberties (Fîlon Helvikorskya) is a statement of the civil rights and freedoms guaranteed to Kiravians by the federal government. Although it subsists as an independent document separate from the Kiravian constitution, it is nonetheless a core component of Kiravian constitutional law. The two documents are codependent, referencing one another in numerous clauses, and most Kiravian constitutional scholars are of the opinion that neither document is supreme over the other (though dissenting opinions have been published).

The first incarnation of the Statute of Liberties was the Charter of Guarantees (Sávren Advartoskya), which was promulgated by the Second Inter-Republican Council several days after the Confederative Covenant. The Confederative Covenant had established confederal courts to adjudicate cases arising from interstate and foreign commerce, disputes among the various states and citizens of different states, and maritime affairs; and the Charter of Guarantees was written to define the rights accorded to parties before these courts.

The Kiravian Union officially considered the Statute of Liberties to have become defunct with the adoption of the new Kirosocialist constitution, and replaced it with a Declaration of the Rights of the People that included many positive rights, such as a right to livelihood, while omitting or narrowing other rights deemed incompatible with the socialist project.

The Statute of Liberties was restored by the National Renewal Movement in 211XX.