Comparison Between United States , United Kingdom and Romanian Constitution an Law System

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 Constisution .

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 amendaments are known as “The Bill of Rights” which contains basic rights such as the freedom of speech , religion or the press , citizens rights and fundamental duties . Also every state has its own Constitution which basically consists of the sa me amendaments 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 from 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 :

1).THE LEGISLATIVE POWER which is the power of making , altering , or repealing the laws and

2).THE EXECUTIVE POWER which belongs to the Parliament . On the other hand , the Constitution consists of elements such as: THE STATUS that is law 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 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 and the System of Courts . In Romania the Executive Power is held by the President and the Gouvernment 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 for seven years . No bill can become law until it has been sanctionated 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 House ) 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 of vote . The leader of the party which has the most seats in the House of Commoners becomes the 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 of two houses : the Senate to which each state elects two senators for a period of six years and 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 the 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 American`s Congress is that the number of senators 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 it`s “Trust Vote “ for the naming of the Gouvernment in the 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 United States 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 . The second matter is that in Romania the presidential term is five years , while in the United States is only four years . And the third difference is that the United States Presidential Candidates are chosen by the political parties either through Primaries and Caucuses .

A unique feature in the Romanian Legal System represents the Constitutional Court . It`s 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 confirm the result , decides whether a political partie is or not constitutional . 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 choose from among them a Chairman for a term of three years . 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 Lords “ . Here are the courts in Great Britain: ;