Constitution of Iran from 1906

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German translation of the Iranian constitution

The constitution of Iran from 1906 was the first constitution of Iran in its history and also the first constitution of a state in the Middle East at all. It was passed in the wake of the Constitutional Revolution , in which the progressive and educated citizens of the country demanded a move away from the prevailing despotism towards a constitutional state. In 1907, the constitution was expanded to include rules on the separation of powers based on the western model.

Historical background

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Iran had become the pawn of foreign powers, especially Russia and Great Britain. Large parts of the territory that had traditionally been part of Iranian culture had been lost to Russia, and the British and Russians had gained control of essential areas of the Iranian economy. The first Iranians to study abroad brought concepts of Western governance with them and made them known to the Iranian educated class. Recognition of their own backwardness and economic problems led to sustained protests in 1905, threats from the clergy and a strike in the bazaar, during which several thousand people camped at the British legation. When the danger arose that Iranian exiles from the direction of the Caucasus would intervene militarily or that the Cossack brigade might defend against the strikers, Mozaffar ad-Din Shah agreed to allow citizens to have a say and to pass a constitution. On August 5, 1906, he signed a proclamation electing a constituent assembly.

The constituent assembly drafted an electoral law based on class suffrage for the first election of a parliament, which finally met in October 1906 and consisted of influential bazaar traders, landowners, local dignitaries, civil servants and clergy , and on the other hand drafted a constitution acceptable to the Shah was. Those responsible for the draft were Dar al-Fonun graduates , above all Mirza Hussein Khan Musher al-Mulk , who would later serve as prime minister in four governments. The text was drawn up in a hurry because Mozaffar al-Din Shah was already seriously ill and it was known that Mohammed Ali Shah was much more hostile to the constitutional project. Mozaffar al-Din Shah died shortly after the constitution was proclaimed.

After the death of Mozaffar al-Din Shah, his son Mohammad Ali Shah succeeded him. In the meantime, parliament had drawn up an amendment to the constitution based on Western standards, which contained a compromise with the representatives of political Islam: a body of five clergymen to be elected by parliament was given the right to review and object if a law passed by parliament should violate the law of Islam. Due to the parliamentary budget right, which reduced the budget for the court due to the lack of available financial resources, a dispute broke out between Mohammad Ali Shah and parliament: he had parliament closed and, with the help of Russian troops, sparked a civil war against the constitutionalists . In the end, the constitutionalist troops were victorious and Mohammad Ali Shah had to flee into Russian exile in Odessa in 1909.

The government passed a new electoral law that abolished class-based class voting rights and replaced it with religious-based class voting rights. In addition to the Muslims, the religious minorities of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians elect their own parliamentary representatives - an electoral law structure that is unique in the Middle East and has even been adopted by the Islamic Republic. In October 1909, the elections for the second legislative period of parliament took place, which was constituted on November 15, 1909. With the parliamentary approval of this new electoral law, the constitution of Iran was largely completed. It was now the task of Parliament to draft a secular legal system, tax legislation, laws for a functioning financial system, laws for economy and trade, laws for the development of an education system, a health system, the police system and a unified army on the basis of the constitution discuss and say goodbye.

content

The central institution of the Constitution was the Majlis called Parliament . Parliament should represent the whole people , consist of 162 members, and have immunity for this period; the meetings should be public. Parliament had the right to propose initiatives that are useful for the well-being of the government and the people , but above all to propose all laws, contracts, decrees, budgets (including the budget of the court), concessions, monopolies, loans and road and rail construction projects approve or reject. Parliament was also given the right to remove ministers who broke laws.

The constitution also provided for a Senate, which should consist of 60 well- informed, astute, pious, and respected members. Half of these should be determined by the Shah and half by the electorate, again for two years. The Senate should have the task of approving all laws and forwarding legislative proposals to parliament.

The rule of the monarch is defined as an entrusted good, which has been given by the people as a divine gift to the person of the ruler . The constitution regulates the inheritance of the royal title within the Qajar dynasty, the succession to the throne to the eldest son or next male descendant of the Shah and the minimum age of 18 years and the office of regent. Every Shah must appear in front of parliament and take an oath before his accession to the throne before his coronation. The Shah's powers include appointing and dismissing ministers, taking command of the armed forces, declaring war and peace, and signing laws.

Article 26 stipulates that the power of the state emanates from the people: “The powers of the country spring from the people.” Articles 27 to 28 of the amendment to the constitution define the division of powers into an executive , legislative and judicial branch . The legislature is incumbent on Parliament, the Senate and the Shah. Secular judges are responsible for all legal questions. Judgments concerning questions of spiritual law are made with the cooperation of the scribes. This article repealed clerical jurisdiction. The executive is incumbent on the Shah and his government. The ministers must be of Persian descent and a Persian national. They are accountable to Parliament and the Senate and cannot free themselves from their responsibility by invoking an order from the Shah. The parliament is given the power to recall the government or individual ministers.

Article 29 of the amendment to the constitution defines that provincial and district councils are to be set up to deal with local issues.

The Twelve Shiite Islam was declared the state religion of Iran with Art. 1 of the amendment to the constitution of Iran in the constitution, and it was determined that the Shah must profess this religion. In Article 7 of the electoral law passed in 1909, the right to vote is granted not only to Muslims but also to Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, who each elect their own representatives. According to Article 2 of the Addendum to the Constitution, legislative activity “may at no time contradict the sacred precepts of Islam and the established laws of the best of men (Mohammed)”. To ensure this, the clergy should propose twenty Islamic legal scholars to parliament, from which parliament elects at least five to a supervisory body. "This college should then carefully discuss and seriously examine all bills, and reject and reject any matter that contradicts the sacred precepts of Islam." This article is to be seen as a concession to the circumstances in Iran at the beginning of the 20th century. For conservative clerics, it was inconceivable that humans should enact laws that were above divine law. In particular, the influential cleric Fazlollah Nuri vehemently opposed the idea that jurisdiction should no longer be a matter for the clergy , but a matter of the state. However, this body has never been constituted or has never met.

The 1906 constitution also defined the shape of the flag : green-white-red, with a sun and a lion, with the sun and lion representing the Qajar dynasty.

The rights of the Persian people are regulated in Articles 8 to 25. Article 8 stipulates: “The whole population of Persia will have equal rights before the state laws.” With this article the special rights of the Shah, his family and the Qajar princes as well as the special rights of the clergy were abolished. Furthermore, the citizens were given elementary human and civil rights in the constitution , such as the protection of life and property, freedom of speech and assembly, and protection against arbitrary arrest. Freedom of the press was also enshrined, but only to the extent that it did not violate religious principles; The same applies to the freedom of science and research. According to Article 19, all schools and universities are subject to the Ministry of Science. With this article, the schools previously subordinated to the clergy were subordinated to the secular Ministry of Science.

Constitutional amendments

The 1906 constitution was changed little later and formally remained in force until the 1979 constitutional referendum . The most significant changes concern:

  • 1925: the abolition of the Qajar dynasty and the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty,
  • 1949: the changes in the conditions under which Parliament can be dissolved
  • 1957: the extension of the legislative period from 2 years to 4 years,
  • 1967: the introduction of the reign of Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi in ​​the event of the death of the Shah before the heir to the throne of legal age. The Shah's wife was to reign until the heir to the throne came of age. Receipt?

Institutions

The Iranian constitution provides for two chambers , the parliament, whose deputies are directly elected, and the Senate , whose deputies are each appointed half by the Shah or elected by electors.

Parliament lost its importance during Reza Shah's reign. Reza Shah ruled dictatorially and only kept parliament to give his rule the appearance of legitimacy and constitutionality. As early as 1926, reports from the British Foreign Office stated that the Persian Majles should not be taken seriously , that the parliamentarians were not free representatives and that elections for the Majles were not free either , and that the Shah got the approval of measures like him it will.

Since, according to Article 47 of the constitution, laws could gain legal force as long as the Senate had not yet met, the Senate was not constituted under the Qajars and later under Reza Shah. It was not until 1949 that Mohammad Reza Shah submitted a law to the parliament to establish the Senate. The Senate began its work on August 19, 1951. The Senate's legislative period was set for four years from the start. Receipt?

The convening of the committee of five clergy to control all laws for conformity with the Sharia was completely dispensed with; a similar institution called the Guardian Council met for the first time after the Islamic revolution.

literature

  • Wilhelm Litten : The new Persian constitution. Overview of the previous legislative work of the Persian Parliament. In: Contributions to the knowledge of the Orient: Yearbook of the Munich Oriental Society. 6 (1908), pp. 1–51, ( online at archive.org )

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mahnaz Shirali: The Mystery of Contemporary Iran . 1st edition. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick 2015, ISBN 978-1-4128-5462-7 , pp. 22 .
  2. ↑ Mahnaz Shirali: The Mystery of Contemporary Iran . 1st edition. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick 2015, ISBN 978-1-4128-5462-7 , pp. 18-20 .
  3. ↑ a b Ervand Abrahamian: A History of Modern Iran . Cambridge University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-521-52891-7 , pp. 42-44 .
  4. ↑ Ervand Abrahamian: A History of Modern Iran . Cambridge University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-521-52891-7 , pp. 46-48 .
  5. ↑ Ahamd Kasravi: History of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. Vol. One. Translated by Evan Siegel. Mazda Publishers 2006.
  6. ↑ Article 2 of the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 22.
  7. ↑ Article 4 of the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 22.
  8. ↑ Article 12 of the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 23.
  9. ↑ Article 14 of the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 24.
  10. ↑ Articles 15-27 of the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, pp. 24-26.
  11. ↑ Articles 28–29 of the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 26 f.
  12. ↑ Articles 43–50 of the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, pp. 30-32.
  13. ↑ Article 35 of the Addendum to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 42.
  14. ↑ Article 36 of the Addendum to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 42, from 1906.
  15. ↑ Article 37 of the Addendum to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 42.
  16. ↑ Article 38 of the amendment to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 42.
  17. ↑ Article 39 of the Addendum to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 42.
  18. ↑ Articles 43–57 of the Addendum to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, pp. 43-44.
  19. ↑ Art. 26 of the amendment to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 40.
  20. ↑ Art. 71 of the amendment to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 46.
  21. ↑ Article 58 of the Addendum to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 44.
  22. ↑ Article 64 of the Addendum to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 45.
  23. ↑ Article 67 of the Amendment to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 45.
  24. ↑ Article 1 of the Addendum to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 37.
  25. ^ The new electoral law of July 1, 1909
  26. ↑ Article 2 of the Amendment to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 38.
  27. ↑ Mahnaz Shirali: The Mystery of Contemporary Iran . 1st edition. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick 2015, ISBN 978-1-4128-5462-7 , pp. 2 .
  28. ↑ Mahnaz Shirali: The Mystery of Contemporary Iran . 1st edition. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick 2015, ISBN 978-1-4128-5462-7 , pp. 23-25 .
  29. ↑ Article 5 of the Addendum to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, p. 38.
  30. ↑ Ervand Abrahamian: A History of Modern Iran . Cambridge University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-521-52891-7 , pp. 47 .
  31. ↑ Articles 8–21 of the Amendment to the Constitution of Iran of 1906; Wilhelm Litten: The new Persian constitution. Tehran 1907, pp. 38-40.
  32. ↑ Monika Gronke: History of Iran, From Islamization to the Present . 3. Edition. CH Beck Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-48021-8 , p. 99 .
  33. ↑ a b Ervand Abrahamian: A History of Modern Iran . Cambridge University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-521-52891-7 , pp. 74 .
  34. ^ Gavin RG Hambly: The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 7: From Nadir Shah to the Islamic Republic . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1991, ISBN 978-0-521-20095-0 , The Pahlavi autocracy: 1921-1941, pp. 232 .
  35. ↑ Ervand Abrahamian: A History of Modern Iran . Cambridge University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-521-52891-7 , pp. 48 .