Although much of our modern world was shaped by the two world wars, the countries with the oldest written constitution in the world reveal that the legal framework for today’s nation-states had been laid down decades or even centuries ago.
Humans are highly developed and intelligent beings, but human nature has been hopelessly flawed since the beginning of time. It is imperative to lay down some guidelines to ensure at least a degree of order and justice in society. Exactly that is the function of the Constitution in every country: to be a guarantor of basic human rights and an authority on societal rules and obligations, as well as the source of luminescence that affords clarity on how to govern people as a community so that ultimately everyone benefits. Of course, since constitutions are also crafted by humans, they are guaranteed to have flaws and issues. But, on the whole, they work well, provided that they are implemented, and that too in a way that embodies the true spirit of the document.
Constitutions have been around for a very long time – the first known constitution belongs to the Sumerians and dates back to the 2300 BC. The first written constitution that we have physical evidence of, is from 2050 BC and it’s called the Code of Ur-Nammu of Ur. There have been several constitutions from roughly the same era that we know of, for example, the code of Hammurabi of Babylonia and the Hittite code. Not all constitutions aided the formation of a just society, however. The instance of the barbarian laws instituted in 621 BC by the Draco, the first recorded legislator of Athens, spring to mind. These laws were so unnecessarily harsh that they resulted in the formation of a unique word that we are all very familiar with – draconian. Of course, we still tend to trip up when it comes to law-making – though laws are much more relaxed nowadays, you can still be punished for the strangest things. For more on that check out the most ridiculous and weird laws in the world and, for even more, be sure to see most ridiculous laws in Texas!
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Aristotle was the first to distinguish constitutional law as separate and more sacred than the rest. His fundamental definition of a constitution was “the arrangement of offices in a state”. He also defined what he considered a good constitution and a bad one, but even the former acknowledged the differences in class. Constitutions are constantly evolving as humans struggle to decide on what’s “right”, but it’s easy to see that a good constitution will result in a reasonably well-functioning society. For the top 10 constitutions in the world, check out the rankings by the Comparative Constitution Project.
Constitutions can vary immensely in length. The longest constitution of the world belongs to India, which translates into well over a 100,000 words when translated into English. Speaking of length, what country has the shortest written constitution in the world? The answer is Monaco with a total of the 3,814 words. They may also not necessarily be in writing, but may still be enforced. There are a fair few countries without a written constitution, for instance the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. In a nutshell, as long as the law that prevails over a land dispenses justice, it may not have to be in writing.
Our ranking of the list is self-explanatory from the title: we picked the oldest written constitutions in the world that are still in use today from the Comparative Constitutions Project (we mentioned it before) and ordered them by year. We did not consider the constitutions of countries that no longer exist, or those that aren’t fully written down, such as the Canadian and the English constitution.
Now that’s we’ve covered the basics of constitutions, it’s time to check out the countries with the oldest written constitutions in the world:
10. Mexico (1917)
The current constitution of Mexico was officially put into force on 5th February 1917 and replaced the earlier one of 1857. The day is celebrated annually as the Día de la Constitución or the Day of the Constitution.
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9. Australia (1901)
The constitution of Australia was enacted in 1900 as part of an act titled the “Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act”, and was officially enforced starting 1st January 1901.
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8. Tonga (1875)
The Tongan constitution which governs the land of Tonga was authorized by the then King, George Tupou I on 4th November 1875. It is also commemorated every year in the state as “Tonga’s Constitution Day”.
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7. Luxembourg (1868)
The constitution of the modern-day state of Luxembourg was adopted by the nation on 17th October 1868. It replaced the earlier original constitution of 1841 but is legally considered to be a sweeping amendment of the same.
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6. Argentina (1853)
Next on our list of the countries with the oldest written constitutions in the world, the Argentinian constitution has undergone a series of changes but was first introduced on the 1st of May, 1853.
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5. Denmark (1849)
Though the official constitution of Denmark in use today was enforced in 1953, it’s a mere amended version of the original that was put into place on 5th June 1849.
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4. Belgium (1831)
We rewind another 18 years to the constitution of Belgium which was instituted in 1831. It has undergone many changes since then, however, and is very dissimilar to the original.
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3. The Netherlands (1815)
The third place on our list of countries with the oldest written constitutions in the world goes to Netherlands. The constitution was issued by King William I on 24th August 1815. It doesn’t resemble the constitution today, however, for a major revision in 1983 completely revolutionized the text.
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2. Norway (1814)
The oldest constitution in Europe, the current constitution in place in Norway was ratified on 17th May 1814, an incredible 203 years ago.
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1. United States of America (1788)
The oldest written constitution in the world belongs to the United States of America; it has incredibly been in place since June 21, 1788, and has been enforced since March of the following year. The San Marino constitution (1600) was also in contention for the top spot, but as its status as a written constitution is disputed, we went with the USofA instead. Thus we conclude our list of the countries with the oldest written constitutions in the world.
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