The Greek Constitution of 1822 was a document adopted by the First National Assembly of Epidaurus on 1 January 1822. Formally it was the Provisional Regime of Greece ( el, Προσωρινό Πολίτευμα της Ελλάδος), sometimes translated as Temporary Constitution of Greece. Considered to be the first constitution of Modern Greece, it was an attempt to achieve temporary governmental and military organisation until the future establishment of a national parliament. It replaced a number of texts which had been passed by local revolutionary committees, such as the

Senate Organization of Western Greece The Senate of Western Continental Greece ( el, Γερουσία της Δυτικής Χέρσου Ελλάδος) was a provisional regime that existed in western Central Greece during the early stages of the Greek War of Independence. History ...

, the Legal Order of Eastern Greece and the Peloponnesian Senate Organization. These committees had formed the previous year, which saw the outbreak of the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

. The Constitution was mainly the work of the Italian

Vincenzo Gallina Vincenzo is an Italian male given name, derived from the Latin name Vincentius (the verb ''vincere'' means to win or to conquer). Notable people with the name include: Art * Vincenzo Amato (born 1966), Italian actor and sculptor *Vincenzo Bell ...

and deliberately avoided the liberal and

democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

principles of the French revolutionary constitutions of

1793 The French Republic introduced the French Revolutionary Calendar starting with the year I. Events January–June * January 7 – The Ebel riot occurs in Sweden. * January 9 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first to fl ...

and

1795 Events January–June * January – Central England records its coldest ever month, in the Central England temperature, CET records dating back to 1659. * January 14 – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Uni ...

, as well as the 1787 constitution of the United States of America. This was done in order to not alarm the Holy Alliance. For the same reason, there was no reference in the Constitution to the Filiki Eteria. As far as the formation of two organs of the administration is concerned, a multi-central model was adopted with the composition of two annual bodies (

deliberative Deliberative rhetoric (Greek: ''genos'' ''symbouleutikon;'' Latin: ''genus deliberativum,'' sometimes called legislative oratory) is one of the three kinds of rhetoric described by Aristotle. Deliberative rhetoric juxtaposes potential future outcome ...

and executive) which had unclearly defined and separated duties. This declaration took the official form of a constitutional text; this is the Constitution of Epidauros, the first constitution in the

modern history of Greece The history of modern Greece covers the history of Greece from the recognition by the Great Powers — Britain, France and Russia — of its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1828 to the present day. Background The Byzantine Empire had ...

. The constitution was divided into four parts and 109 articles: * Part I dealt with the religious and civil rights of the Greeks and ruled on the predominance of the Greek Orthodox Church and regulated certain important human rights. * Part II dealt with administrative issues * Part III outlined the duties of the legislature * Part IV outlined the duties of the executive The constitution is regarded as liberal and democratic, although it represented a compromise between the military leaders of the Revolution and the landowners, who dominated the First National Assembly. The creation of an executive and a legislature displays the desire of these two power centres to maintain a political balance. The constitutional equivalence between the legislature and the executive reflects the suspiciousness among the members of the National Assembly and resulted in the

paralysis Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 50 ...

of the law-making procedure.See page 31–32. In any case, the needs and the difficulties of the revolution impeded the full implementation of the Constitution.

References

External links

Scanned original of the 1822 Constitution (in Greek)
{{Constitution of Greece 1822 in law 1822 in Greece 1822 documents January 1822 events Constitution of Greece