Modern Constitutionalism

Article 16 of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, "Any society in which the security of rights is not secured and the separation of powers is not determined, has no constitution," is known as a simple and straightforward formulation of constitutionalism. Constitutionalism existed in medieval feudal society in the form of estate freedom and estate assemblies, and such medieval constitutionalism often played a major role in the establishment and development of modern constitutionalism after the civil revolution (especially the Magna Carta and the tradition of parliamentary systems in England). However, the fundamental difference between the two is that medieval constitutionalism was based on the estate-based principle of social organization, while modern constitutionalism is based on the human rights of individuals freed from estates and on a national representative assembly that is not representative of the estates.

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "modern constitutionalism" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…1789年のフランス人権宣言16条〈権利の保障が確保されず，権力の分立が定められていないすべての社会は，憲法を有しない〉は，その簡潔で端的な定式化として知られている。立憲主義は，中世封建制社会で，身分的自由と身分制議会というかたちで存在したし，そのような中世立憲主義は，市民革命期以後の近代立憲主義の成立･発展にとって，しばしば大きな役割を演じた(とくに，イギリスにおけるマグナ･カルタと議会制の伝統)。しかし，中世立憲主義があくまでく身分制的社会編成原理のうえに成り立っていたのに対し，近代立憲主義は，身分から解放された諸個人の人権，および，身分代表ではない国民代表議会を機軸とするものであるところに，両者の基本的な差異がある。…

※「近代立憲主義」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報