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Comparison between the
United States, United Kingdom and Romanian
Constitutions and Legal System
Regardless of some minor differences the fundamental law in all the
three states is The Constitution. The United States has a written
constitution which was made up in 1787 which sets out the main
Principals of Government. The Constitution has been amended 26 times
from its creation, and the first ten amendments are known as “the Bill
of Rights†– basic rights such as the freedom of speech, religion or
the press, citizens’ rights and fundamental duties, etc. Also every
State has its own written constitution which basically consists of the
same amendments as the federal one.
Romania also has a written constitution, the first dating from 1866, and
modified after that in 1923, 1938, 1948, the communist constitutions in
1952, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1972, and the new constitution in 1991 which was
amended in 2003. The structure of our constitution differs from the one
of the United States because it hasn’t got ten fundamental articles,
but all 156 articles share equal importance and have been changed during
the ages.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has no written
constitution. The two main branches of the English constitution are: (A)
the legislative power which is the power of making, altering or
repealing the laws; and (B) the executive power which belongs to the
Parliament. On the other hand, the constitution consists of elements
such as: status that is laws made by the Parliament, important court
cases and established practices.
While the British constitution consists of two branches, as shown above,
and the Queen as the Head of State who represents the people (but the
real power lies in the Parliament), the United States and Romanian
constitutions consists of three fundamental state powers: the Executive
Power, the Legislative Power and the Judicial Power.
In the United States the three powers are represented, in order with
above, by: the President, the Congress, the system of Courts. In Romania
the Executive Power is held by the President and the Government which is
lead by the Prime Minister, the Legislative Power is held by the
Parliament and the Judicial Power is represented thru the Courts.
In the United Kingdom the Parliament is the most important part of the
state power. A full duration of it is seven years. No bill can become
law until it has been sanctioned or “read†three times by both
houses and has finally received the royal assent, which practically
never refused any measures that have passed both Houses of Parliament.
The parliament consists of two houses: the House of Commoners (the Lower
House) which is made up of 650 members, who each represent a
constituency; and the House of Lords (the Upper Court) which consists of
around 1200 members. Only the Queen can provoque, prorogue or dissolve
the Parliament. The members of the House of Commoners win their seats in
the Parliament by a majority vote. The leader of the party which has the
most seats in the house of Commoners becomes Prime Minister. He than
chooses the members of his cabinet, called the ministers. General
elections are held every five years although the Prime Minister may call
one earlier.
The United States Congress is made up of two houses: the Senate to which
each state elects two senators for a period of six years; the House of
Representatives where each state elects a certain number of
representatives in direct proportion with the population in that state.
They are elected for a term of three years. Bills can’t become law
unless they have been passed by 2/3 majority of each house, and if there
are passed by both houses. But in case a bill doesn’t pass thru both
houses the President can veto it.
In Romania the Parliament consists also of two houses, named exactly as
in the United States. The senators and representatives are elected thru
universal, direct, equal, secret and freely spoken vote. A difference
from America’s Congress is that the nr of senators and representatives
are set by a special type of organic law called Election Law. The
President can also dissolve the parliament, only after consulting the
Speakers of the two Houses and the leaders of the main political parties
in the Parliament. But he can only do this if the Parliament hasn’t
given its “Trust Vote†for the naming of the Government in 60 days
from the first time it was called and also after rejecting two calls for
a naming.
We can only speak of a President in US’s and Romanian cases. The big
difference between the two countries in this matter are, first of all in
the United States the president has real political power; second matter
is that in Romania the presidential term is five years, while in the
States it’s only four years. And third difference is that the United
States Presidential Candidates are chosen by the political parties
either through Primaries or Caucuses. One major difference between
America and us is the election of the Vice-President.
The Romanian President names the Prime Minister and the Government, but
only after a Parliaments “Trust Voteâ€Â. In the United States the
President names his Cabinet with the approval of the Senate only. The
members of the Cabinet are the President’s advisors and they help him
in carrying out his policies and duties. Their term is usually a full
four years. They are responsible to the President for their official
acts and the Congress has no power to remove them.
The United States President can be judged whether he has, or not, acted
constitutionally by the Supreme Court. If the Federal Judges consider
that the president’s behaviour was indeed unconstitutional he may be
impeached (that is accusing him of a crime against the state). In
Romania the parliament in a general reunion of the two Houses can
decide, with at least 2/3 of the votes, to place the president under the
accusation of high treason. The final decision lies with the High Court
of Justice.
A unique feature in the Romanian Legal System represents the
Constitutional Court. Its main functions are to say whether or not a law
confirms with the Constitution, whether international agreements are
from the Romanian Constitution point of view constitutional, whether the
Parliament’s acts are according to the Constitution, it watches
over the Presidential elections and confirms the result, decides whether
a political party is or not constitutional, etc. The Constitutional
Court is made up of nine judges, three named by the president, three by
the House of Representatives and three by the Senate, all for a term of
nine years. They chose from among them a Chairman for a term of three
years.
In the United States the Supreme Court has the power to judge a law
passed by the Congress or the President and decide whether it is
according to the Constitution. In other words it interprets and repeals
a good many laws passed by the Congress or the President by declaring
them unconstitutionally.
The United States system of Governing is a centralized one. Any of the
50 states in the Union may very well be an independent state as far as
the internal affairs are concerned. The National Government has no right
to intervene in the internal affaire of one state. A crime which is not
marked as a “national†one will be judged according to the law of
the state in which it had been committed. The Federal Government has in
charge only the matters that concern all the states. For example: the
postal service, immigration, the army, the navy, the collection of
customs, the creation and release of coins and paper money into
circulation, other territories or dependences which are not yet
organized as states therefore not yet admitted in the Union, etc.
This separation between powers is found only in America because only
this country is a federation. Therefore there are 100 Federal Courts
through out the country but final authority rests in the Supreme Court.
It includes a Chef Justice and eight Associate Justices. As we’ve
mentioned they are all appointed by the President, for life, and
confirmed by the Senate. Under the Constitution the Supreme Court has
original jurisdiction in cases affecting ambassadors, other public
ministers and councils and in cases were another state is party, in one
word all those cases which concern the Federation as a whole. In all
other cases coming within the Supreme Court jurisdiction is only
appellate. In one word the main function of the Supreme Court is to
interpret the Constitution not modify it. The Supreme Court is made up
of lawyers who have long and successful experience before they were
appointed to the Court. Not all of them were judges or layers in private
life, but also senator, attorney general, teacher in a law school or
even administrator of agency acting like a court.
Besides the Supreme Court and State Courts there are also Courts of
Appeal and District Courts. State judges hold office for ten years and
they are usually elected or confirmed in office by elections. The Courts
of Appeal are organized as to relive the Supreme Court of the pressure
of the Appellate Cases. In general these courts act as the final appeal
court for litigations not involving constitutional questions. The
supreme Court considers in most cases that the decision of the Courts of
Appeal are clear and well grounded, therefore there is no need go deeper
into the questions further. The District Courts have about 200 District
judges all over the country. They deal with criminal and civil cases in
the states. The District Court is the only Federal Court where trials
are held with a jury and witnesses.
There are two types of lawyers in the United States are: one is the
attorney and the other is the counsel. The attorneys are license to
practice only in certain state. In order to appear in a case in another
state they have to sustain another exam.
Excepting minor cases the defendant is entitled to be trialed by a jury.
Usually all the jury has to decide is whether the defendant is guilty or
not. Most of the civil cases are heard by a jury all across America, but
the number of the jury members or the way they are named differs from
state to state. The people who make up Jury represent a fair
cross-selection of society. Both the defence and prosecution are allowed
to reject a certain number of jury candidates for reasons established by
the state law.
In Britain the division between criminal and civil law reflects in the
court system. The judges in the House of Lords are known as “Law
Lordsâ€Â. Here are the courts in Great Britain:
Court of Justice of the European Community;
The House of Lords;
The Courts of Appeal, Criminal Division;
The Crown Court;
The Magistrates Court;
The Courts of Appeal, Civil Division;
The High Court;
The Country Courts.
The conservationism of the English lawyers is shown by their strict
division into solicitors and barristers. The first are allowed to deal
directly with the public, but when going to the central Courts they must
employ a barrister to plead. Becoming a barrister requires a higher
educational standard, a degree from the Council of Legal Education and
becoming a member of the Inns of Court (which are, in order, Gray’s
Inn, Lincoln’s Inn, The Middle Temple and The Inner Temple).
The Courts deal with civil cases such as divorces or disputes over
property and all those were no crime has been committed. Less serious
cases, criminal or civil, are dealt with in the Magistrates Courts were
two or three magistrates (also known as “Justices of Peaceâ€Â) hear
the case. They do not need to have legal qualifications, a Clark advices
them on the law, there main duty is to hear the case and decide, when
necessary, what the punishment should be. Also they decide whether to
grant bail or not, and whether the person will be remanded in custody or
not. More serious crimes are heard in the Crown Courts for Criminal
cases and the Country Courts for Civil cases.
The jury in England and Wales is made up of 12 ordinary people aged
between 18 and 64. After hearing the evidence the jury listens to the
judge’s summing and then retires to a special room to decide the
verdict. When they return it will be a guilty or not guilty verdict.
Specific for our county is that all judges are named by the President,
at the proposal of the Magistrates Superior Council (made up by 9
judges, 5 prosecutors and 2 law experts who have a well know
professional and moral reputation but who only participate in general
debates). This organizations function is as a Court who trials all
judges in disciplinary cases. The naming in one office, the promotion,
transfer or sanctioning one or more judges is of the Magistrates
Superior Council competence. If a person is named judge he can no longer
hold any other public or private office except being a teacher. All
judges are named for life and the final sentience rests with the High
Court of Cassation and Justice. In Romania there is no Jury Court.
Witnesses and expertise are not allowed at the Supreme Court, only at
the lower courts made up by First Court, High Court and The Court of
Appeal. Here also one advocate can not plead unless he has at least 8
years experience or holds the title of “Doctor in Lawâ€Â.
Sitaru Dan-Alexandru, grupa 3
Universitatea Nicolaie Titulescu, Facultatea de Drept
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