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Constantine X Doukas (Byzantine emperor)
Byzantine emperor from 1059 to 1067, successor to Isaac I Comnenus....
Constantine X Ducas (Byzantine emperor)
Byzantine emperor from 1059 to 1067, successor to Isaac I Comnenus....
Constantine XI Lascaris (Byzantine emperor)
titular Byzantine emperor, 1204–05. While the Latin crusaders were besieging Constantinople in April 1204, the emperor Alexius V slipped away into exile, and Constantine, one of the city’s leading defenders, was proclaimed emperor in the Cathedral of St. Sophia. Quickly, however, the city fell, and Constantine and other refugees fled to Nicaea, where they set up a rival empire. After...
Constantine XI Palaeologus (Byzantine emperor)
the last Byzantine emperor (1449–53), killed in the final defense of Constantinople against the Ottoman Turks. He is sometimes referred to as Constantine XII, based on the erroneous idea that Constantine Lascaris was crowned in 1204....
Constantine XI Palaiologos (Byzantine emperor)
the last Byzantine emperor (1449–53), killed in the final defense of Constantinople against the Ottoman Turks. He is sometimes referred to as Constantine XII, based on the erroneous idea that Constantine Lascaris was crowned in 1204....
Constantine XII Palaeologus (Byzantine emperor)
the last Byzantine emperor (1449–53), killed in the final defense of Constantinople against the Ottoman Turks. He is sometimes referred to as Constantine XII, based on the erroneous idea that Constantine Lascaris was crowned in 1204....
Constantine XII Palaiologos (Byzantine emperor)
the last Byzantine emperor (1449–53), killed in the final defense of Constantinople against the Ottoman Turks. He is sometimes referred to as Constantine XII, based on the erroneous idea that Constantine Lascaris was crowned in 1204....
Constantine-Silvanus (Armenian religious leader)
probable founder of the Middle Eastern sect of Paulicians, a group of Christian dualists....
Constantinescu, Emil (president of Romania)
...Sociale din România; PDSR) in 1993—to revive the economy and ensure essential social services led to widespread unrest and strikes. In 1996 Iliescu lost the presidency to Emil Constantinescu, the leader of the Democratic Convention of Romania (Convenția Democrată din România; CDR), whose party had formed a centre-right coalition with the Social......
Constantini, Donatio (document)
the best-known and most important forgery of the Middle Ages, the document purporting to record the Roman emperor Constantine the Great’s bestowal of vast territory and spiritual and temporal power on Pope Sylvester I (reigned 314–335) and his successors. Based on legends that date back to the 5th century, the Donation was composed by an unknown ...
Constantinople (Turkey)
largest city and seaport of Turkey. It was formerly the capital of the Byzantine Empire, of the Ottoman Empire, and—until 1923—of the Turkish Republic....
Constantinople Agreement (World War I)
(March 18, 1915), secret World War I agreement between Russia, Britain, and France for the postwar partition of the Ottoman Empire. It promised to satisfy Russia’s long-standing designs on the Turkish Straits by giving Russia Constantinople (Ist...
Constantinople Convention (Egypt-United Kingdom [1888])
...of the Suez Canal, constructed and administered by the Suez Canal Company, has frequently been a matter for dispute, peaceful and otherwise. Only in 1904, under an Anglo-French agreement, was the Constantinople Convention of 1888, establishing the Suez Canal as an international waterway open to all in war and peace, finally implemented. In 1956 British presence in the area ended, and troops......
Constantinople, Convention of (Egypt-United Kingdom [1888])
...of the Suez Canal, constructed and administered by the Suez Canal Company, has frequently been a matter for dispute, peaceful and otherwise. Only in 1904, under an Anglo-French agreement, was the Constantinople Convention of 1888, establishing the Suez Canal as an international waterway open to all in war and peace, finally implemented. In 1956 British presence in the area ended, and troops......
Constantinople, Council of (AD 381)
(381), the second ecumenical council of the Christian church, summoned by the emperor Theodosius I and meeting in Constantinople. Doctrinally, it promulgated what became known to the church as the Nicene Creed; it also declared finally the Trinitarian ...
Constantinople, Council of (AD 869–870)
(869–870), a council of the Christian church, meeting in Constantinople. The Roman church eventually recognized it as the eighth ecumenical council, but the Eastern church for the most part denied its ecumenicity and continues to recognize only the first seven ecumenical councils....
Constantinople, Council of (AD 680–681)
(680–681), the sixth ecumenical council of the Christian church, summoned by the emperor Constantine IV and meeting at Constantinople....
Constantinople, Council of (AD 553)
(553), the fifth ecumenical council of the Christian church, meeting under the presidency of Eutychius, patriarch of Constantinople. Pope Vigilius of Rome, who had been summoned to Constantinople, opposed the council and took sanctuary in a church from May to December, but he at last yielded and formally ratified the verdicts of the council on...
Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarchate of (Eastern Orthodoxy)
honorary primacy of the Eastern Orthodox autocephalous, or ecclesiastically independent, churches; it is also known as the “ecumenical patriarchate,” or “Roman” patriarchate (Turkish: Rum patriarkhanesi)....
Constantinople nut (plant)
...The large cobnut is a variety of the European filbert; Lambert’s filbert is a variety of the giant filbert. Nuts produced by the Turkish filbert (C. colurna) are sold commercially as Constantinople nuts. Barcelona nuts come from the Spanish, or Barcelona, filbert, usually considered a variety of the giant filbert. Turkey, Italy, and Spain are the leading commercial producers of......
Constantinople, Orthodox Church of
early bishop of Constantinople whose views on the nature and person of Christ led to the calling of the Council of Ephesus in 431 and to Nestorianism, one of the major Christian heresies. A few small Nestorian churches still exist. (See also Nestorian.)...
Constantinople, Patriarchate of (Eastern Orthodoxy)
honorary primacy of the Eastern Orthodox autocephalous, or ecclesiastically independent, churches; it is also known as the “ecumenical patriarchate,” or “Roman” patriarchate (Turkish: Rum patriarkhanesi)....
Constantinople, Peace of (Russia-Turkey [1700])
...Turkey, Peter saw that Russia could not contemplate a war without allies against the Turks, and he abandoned his plans for pushing forward from the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea. By the Russo-Turkish Peace of Constantinople (Istanbul, 1700) he retained possession of Azov. He was now turning his attention to the Baltic instead, following the tradition of his predecessors....
Constantinople, Peace of (Austria [1562])
...part came under Turkish rule, and Transylvania and its adjoining territory were kept by John and his successors. This situation was anticipated in the truce of 1547 and became formalized in the Peace of Constantinople (1562)....
Constantinople, Siege of (1453)
When Murad II became sultan, in 1421, the days of Constantinople and of Hellenism were numbered. In 1422 Murad revoked all the privileges accorded to the Byzantines by his father and laid siege to Constantinople. His armies invaded Greece and blockaded Thessalonica. The city was then a possession of Manuel II’s son Andronicus, who in 1423 handed it over to the Venetians. For seven years......
Constantinople, Synod of (Turkey [1755])
...priests agreed (under political coercion in the case of Brest-Litovsk) to accept the authority of the pope in Rome while being allowed to preserve liturgical and linguistic independence. In 1755 the Synod of Constantinople decreed that all Westerners—Latin or Protestant—had invalid sacraments and were only to be admitted into the Orthodox Church through baptism....
Constantinople Women’s College (school, Istanbul, Turkey)
In that year, after much planning and the securing of a charter from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the American High School became the American College for Girls at Constantinople, later known as Constantinople Woman’s College. Patrick served as president of the college from its opening. Her summer studies at the Universities of Heidelberg, Zürich, Berlin, Leipzig, Paris, and Ox...
Constantinopolitan Creed (Christianity)
a Christian statement of faith that is the only ecumenical creed because it is accepted as authoritative by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and major Protestant churches. The Apostles’ and Athanasian creeds are accepted by some but not all of these churches....
Constantinus Africanus (medieval medical scholar)
medieval medical scholar who initiated the translation of Arabic medical works into Latin, a development that profoundly influenced Western thought....
Constantinus, Flavius Claudius (Roman emperor)
usurping Roman emperor who was recognized as coruler by the Western emperor Honorius in 409....
Constantinus, Flavius Claudius (Roman emperor)
Roman emperor from 337 to 340....
Constantinus, Flavius Valerius (Roman emperor)
the first Roman emperor to profess Christianity. He not only initiated the evolution of the empire into a Christian state but also provided the impulse for a distinctively Christian culture that prepared the way for the growth of Byzantine and Western medieval culture....
Constantius, Flavius Claudius (Roman emperor)
ruler of the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, with the title of caesar, from 351 to 354....
Constantius I (Roman emperor)
Roman emperor and father of Constantine I the Great. As a member of a four-man ruling body (tetrarchy) created by the emperor Diocletian, Constantius held the title caesar from 293 to 305 and caesar augustus in 305–306....
Constantius II (Roman emperor)
Roman emperor from ad 337 to 361, who at first shared power with his two brothers, Constantine II (d. 340) and Constans I (d. 350), but who was sole ruler from 353 to 361....
Constantius III (Roman emperor)
Roman emperor in 421....
Constantopolous, Katina (Greek actress)
internationally recognized Greek actress known for her tragic roles in both modern and classic drama. With her second husband, the Greek actor-producer Alexis Minotis, she produced revivals of classic plays in ancient outdoor Greek theatres and translated modern plays into Greek, most notably those of the American playwright Eugene O’Neil...
Constant’s Warehouse (Virginia, United States)
city, southeastern Virginia, U.S., at the head of navigation of the Nansemond River. It lies near the Great Dismal Swamp, immediately southwest of the cities of Portsmouth and Chesapeake in the Hampton Roads region. In 1974 it merged with the former Nansemond county and the towns of Holland and Whaleyvil...
Constanza (queen of Sicily)
queen of Sicily (1194–98) and Holy Roman empress-consort (1191–97), whose marriage to a Hohenstaufen gave that German dynasty a claim to the throne of Sicily and whose political skill preserved the throne for her son....
Constellaria (fossil genus)
genus of extinct bryozoans (small colonial animals that produce a skeletal framework of calcium carbonate) especially characteristic of Ordovician marine rocks (505 to 438 million years old). The structure of Constellaria is branching and generally flattened front to back with prominent bumps. Constellaria sometimes is found in ...
constellation (astronomy)
in astronomy, any of certain groupings of stars that were imagined—at least by those who named them—to form conspicuous configurations of objects or creatures in the sky. Constellations are useful in tracking artificial satellites and in assisting astronomers and navigators to locate certain stars....
Constellation (ship)
...the outbreak of the American Revolution, it was a bustling seaport and shipbuilding centre. Baltimore clippers plied the seas, and trade extended to the Caribbean. The U.S. Navy’s first ship, the Constellation, was launched in Baltimore in 1797, and its namesake, the last all-sail warship built (1854) for the navy, has been moored in the city’s harbour since 1955; in the la...
Constellation program (space program)
canceled U.S. manned spaceflight program that was scheduled as a successor to the space shuttle program. Its earliest flights were planned to carry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) beginning in 2015. However, missions to the Moon by 2020 and to Mars after that were the main focus of Co...
constellation theory (psychology)
Hull’s theory resembled the earlier “constellation theory” of constrained association developed by Georg Elias Müller. Hull held that one particular response will occur and overcome its competitors because it is associated both with the cue stimulus (which may be the immediately preceding thought process or an external event) and with the motivational condition (task, d...
Constellations (work by Miró)
During World War II Miró returned to Spain, where he painted Constellations (1941), a series of small works scattered with symbols of the elements and the cosmos, expressing the happy collaboration of everything creative. During the last year of the war (1944), Miró, together with his potter friend José Lloréns Artigas, produced ceramics......
constipation (pathology)
delayed passage of waste through the lower portion of the large intestine, with the possible discharge of relatively dry, hardened feces from the anus. Among the causes cited for the disorder are lack of regularity in one’s eating habits, spasms of the large intestine, metabolic diseases such as hypothyroidism or diabetes mel...
Constitución, Plaza de la (plaza, Mexico City, Mexico)
The heart of the city is the enormous, concrete-covered Plaza de la Constitución, or Zócalo, the largest public square in Latin America. At its edges stand the Metropolitan Cathedral (north), National Palace (east), Municipal Palace, or city hall (south), and an antique line of arcaded shops (west). A few blocks to the west is the tallest building in the historic city centre,......
constituency (political unit)
basic electoral unit into which eligible electors are organized to elect representatives to a legislative or other public body. The registration of electors is also usually undertaken within the bounds of the constituency....
constituency Labour party (political organization, United Kingdom)
...and Wales. Within this structure the party accords rights of representation to its members through various affiliated organizations. These organizations include the constituency Labour parties (CLPs), which are responsible for recruiting and organizing members in each of the country’s parliamentary constituencies; affiliated trade unions, which traditionally have had an important role in...
Constituent Assembly (Russian government)
popularly elected body that convened in 1918 in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) to write a constitution and form a government for postrevolutionary Russia. The assembly was dissolved by the Bolshevik government....
constituent structure (grammar)
...attention and has received the most extensive exemplification and further development. As outlined in Syntactic Structures (1957), it comprised three sections, or components: the phrase-structure component, the transformational component, and the morphophonemic component. Each of these components consisted of a set of rules operating upon a certain “input” to......
Constitutio (German charter)
...accept their domination. The charters that Frederick had to grant to the ecclesiastical princes (the so-called Confoederatio cum Principibus Ecclesiasticis, 1220) and later to all territorial lords (Constitutio, or Statutum in Favorem Principum, 1232) gave them written guarantees against the activities of royal demesne officials and limited the development of imperial towns at the expense of......
Constitutio Antoniniana de Civitate (Roman law)
...death. Probably in order to regain goodwill, he granted an amnesty to exiles, a move denounced as hypocritical in ancient sources, which also slander Caracalla’s most famous measure, the so-called Constitutio Antoniniana de Civitate, as a device designed solely to collect more taxes....
Constitutio de feudis (Italy [1037])
...Milan’s warrior elite, the capitanei and the vavasours, over the inheritance of fiefs. Conrad was able to restore peace between these factions in 1037 by the Constitutio de feudis, which made the fiefs of the vavasours hereditary. The settlement, however, did not create a lasting peace. A group of vavasours and lower clergy led by Arialdo and Erlem...
Constitution (Canadian newspaper)
Mackenzie then began seriously to consider rebellion, and he founded a more radical news paper, the Constitution, in which he supported ideas of Jacksonian democracy (the policies of U.S. President Andrew Jackson). As corresponding secretary for the extreme wing of the Reform Party, he communicated with Louis Joseph Papineau in Lower Canada (now in Quebec), who was already planning......
Constitution (ship)
warship renowned in American history. One of the first frigates built for the U.S. Navy, it was launched in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 21, 1797; it is the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat. (The HMS Victory is older [1765] but is preserved in a drydock at Portsmouth, England.)...
Constitution (American newspaper)
crusading American journalist whose editorials in the Atlanta Constitution had a profound influence on social change in the southern United States. He was sometimes called “the conscience of the New South,” and his influence was also important in interpreting the Southern states to the North and West....
constitution (politics and law)
the body of doctrines and practices that form the fundamental organizing principle of a political state. In some cases, such as the United States, the constitution is a specific written document; in others, such as the United Kingdom, it is a collection of documents, statutes, and traditional practices that are generally acc...
Constitution Act (United Kingdom [1867])
the act of Parliament of the United Kingdom by which in 1867 three British colonies in North America—Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada—were united as “one Dominion under the name of Canada” and by whi...
Constitution Act (Australia [1842])
...influential Australians of New South Wales that sought a grant of representative government to the colony from the British House of Commons. Their efforts aided significantly in the passage of the Constitution Act of 1842 and the incorporation of the city of Sydney as a municipality with a broadly based franchise....
Constitution Act (New Zealand [1852])
author and statesman who helped shape the Constitution Act of 1852, which established home rule for New Zealand. He also served four short terms as the nation’s prime minister (1856, 1861–62, 1869–72, 1873)....
Constitution Act of 1982 (Canada-United Kingdom [1982])
Canada’s constitution approved by the British Parliament on March 25, 1982, and proclaimed by Queen Elizabeth II on April 17, 1982, making Canada wholly independent. The document contains the original statute that established the Canadian Confederation in 1867 (the British North America Act...
Constitution Civile du Clergé (France)
(July 12, 1790), during the French Revolution, an attempt to reorganize the Roman Catholic Church in France on a national basis. It caused a schism within the French Church and made many devout Catholics turn against the Revolution....
Constitution Day (holiday)
one of two holidays widely observed in honour of two Christian saints. In many countries December 26 commemorates the life of St. Stephen, a Christian deacon in Jerusalem who was known for his service to the poor and his status as the first Christian martyr (he was stoned to death in ad 36). In Hungary August 20 is observed in honour of ...
Constitution Day (Japanese holiday)
series of four holidays closely spaced together and observed at the end of April and beginning of May in Japan. The four holidays are Shōwa Day (April 29), Constitution Day (May 3), Greenery Day (May 4), and Children’s Day (May 5)....
Constitution of 1791 (French history)
French constitution created by the National Assembly during the French Revolution. It retained the monarchy, but sovereignty effectively resided in the Legislative Assembly, which was elected by a system of indirect voting. The franchise was restricted to “active” citizens who paid a minimal sum in taxes; about two-thirds of adult men had the rig...
Constitution of 1795 (French history)
French constitution established during the Thermidorian Reaction in the French Revolution. Known as the Constitution of Year III in the French republican calendar, it was prepared by the Thermidorian Convention. It was more conservative than the abortive democratic Constitution of 1793. The Constitution of 1795 established a liberal republic...
Constitution of Athens (work by Aristotle)
...many of these works were previously unknown, and some were known only from references by ancient authors. One of the most spectacular of these discoveries was a manuscript of Aristotle’s Constitution of Athens, found by an American missionary in Egypt in 1890. New biblical manuscripts have also come to light, and the papyrus scrolls found in the Dead Sea area since the late 1940s....
Constitution of Liberty, The (work by Hayek)
In The Constitution of Liberty and elsewhere Hayek identified the social institutions that he felt would most effectively achieve the goal of liberty. He argued that a system of free markets—in a democratic polity, with a private sphere of individual activity that is protected by a strong constitution, with well-defined and enforced property rights, all governed......
Constitution of the Confederate States of America
In The Constitution of Liberty and elsewhere Hayek identified the social institutions that he felt would most effectively achieve the goal of liberty. He argued that a system of free markets—in a democratic polity, with a private sphere of individual activity that is protected by a strong constitution, with well-defined and enforced property rights, all governed.......
Constitution of the Republic of Italy
The Constitution of the Republic of Italy established a parliamentary system of government with two elected houses (Chamber of Deputies and Senate). It also guaranteed civil and political rights and established an independent judiciary, a constitutional court with powers of judicial review, and the right of citizens’ referendum. Many of these measures, however, were not implemented for seve...
Constitution of the United States of America
the fundamental law of the U.S. federal system of government and a landmark document of the Western world. The oldest written national constitution in use, the Constitution defines the principal organs of government and their jurisdictions and the basic rights of citizens. (For a list of amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ...
Constitution of the Year VIII (France [1799])
French constitution established after the Coup of 18–19 Brumaire (Nov. 9–10, 1799), during the French Revolution. Drafted by Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, it disguised the true character of the military dictatorship created by Napoleon Bonaparte, reassuring the partisans of the Revolution by proclaiming the ...
Constitution of the Year XII (France [1804])
...the governing class. In April 1804 various government bodies agreed “that Napoleon Bonaparte be declared Emperor and that the imperial dignity be declared hereditary in his family.” The constitution of the year XII (May 1804), establishing the empire, was approved in a plebiscite by more than 3,500,000 votes against about 2,500. (After this point General Bonaparte was known......
Constitution of Year III (French history)
French constitution established during the Thermidorian Reaction in the French Revolution. Known as the Constitution of Year III in the French republican calendar, it was prepared by the Thermidorian Convention. It was more conservative than the abortive democratic Constitution of 1793. The Constitution of 1795 established a liberal republic...
Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Roman Catholicism)
A revised calendar was issued by Pope John XXIII in 1960. The “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” of the second Vatican Council called for further reforms. These have been completed in the new calendar and lectionary promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969....
Constitution Party (political party, Tunisia)
Tunisian political party, especially active in the 1920s and ’30s in arousing Tunisian national consciousness and opposition to the French protectorate....
Constitution Square (square, Danville, Kentucky, United States)
...settled in about 1775 and named for Walker Daniel, who purchased the deed for the site (1784). It was capital of the Kentucky District of Virginia from 1785 until Kentucky became a state in 1792. Constitution Square (site of 10 conventions that drafted the first state constitution) is preserved as a state shrine. The house where Dr. Ephraim McDowell performed the first successful ovariotomy......
Constitution Square (square, Athens, Greece)
Below the well-sited but very plain palace, a large garden square, Síntagma (Constitution) Square, was laid out. Today it is garnished in the tourist season with some of Europe’s most luxurious cafe chairs, and at all seasons it is hemmed in by tall new buildings and elderly luxury hotels. Broad avenues were created and are still the city centre’s principal thoroughfares (Stad...
constitution theory (philosophy)
in the philosophy of Logical Positivism, the view that certain concepts—in particular, scientific ones—are in the last analysis defined by other concepts that express relations between experiences....
Constitution, United States (Constitution of the United States of America)
The Constitution of the United States, which entered into force in 1789, is the oldest written national constitution in use. The framers of the U.S. Constitution included a provision whereby the document may be amended, generally (though not solely) by a two-thirds majority of each house of Congress followed by ratification by legislatures i...
Constitution, United States
the fundamental law of the U.S. federal system of government and a landmark document of the Western world. The oldest written national constitution in use, the Constitution defines the principal organs of government and their jurisdictions and the basic rights of citizens. (For a list of amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ...
Constitution-Protecting Army (Chinese military organization)
...supported Sun. The southern government declared war on Germany on September 26 and unsuccessfully sought recognition from the Allies as the legitimate government. The Constitution-Protecting Army (Hufajun), made up of southern troops, launched a punitive campaign against the government in Beijing and succeeded in pushing northward through Hunan. Sichuan was also drawn into the fight. Duan......
Constitutional Act (Great Britain [1791])
(1791), in Canadian history, the act of the British Parliament that repealed certain portions of the Quebec Act of 1774, under which the province of Quebec had previously been governed, and provided a new constitution for the two colonies to be called Lower Canada (the ...
Constitutional Association of Friends (political party, Japan)
...opposed the idea of political parties, during his third premiership (December 1912 to February 1913) he tried to counter Seiyūkai control of the Diet (parliament) by forming his own party. His Rikken Dōshikai was at first unsuccessful but eventually became one of the two major political groups in pre-World War II Japan. Katsura’s third premiership lasted only seven weeks (D...
Constitutional Bloc (Lebanese politics)
Chamoun spent his early political years as a member of a political faction known as the Constitutional Bloc, a predominantly Christian group that emphasized its Arabic heritage in an attempt to establish a rapport with the Muslim groups. By the late 1940s Chamoun had emerged as one of the bloc’s most prominent members. When his expectations of succeeding Bishara al-Khuri as president of Leb...
Constitutional Convention (United States history)
(1787), in U.S. history, convention that drew up the Constitution of the United States. Stimulated by severe economic troubles, which produced radical political movements such as Shays’s Rebellion, and urged on by a demand for a stronger central government, the convention met in the Pennsylvania St...
Constitutional Council (French government)
Provision was made in the constitution of the Fifth French Republic for the interpretation of certain constitutional matters by a Constitutional Council. Soon after the French electorate, in a referendum in 1958, had voted to accept the Constitution, a controversy erupted in France over the question of whether the president of the republic could submit to popular referendum issues not involving......
Constitutional Court (Hungarian government)
...of representative democracy, with free elections. The legislative and executive branches of the government were separated, and an independent judicial system was created. The revision established a Constitutional Court, elected by Parliament, which reviews the constitutionality of legislation and may annul laws. It also provides for an ombudsman for the protection of constitutional civil rights...
constitutional court (law)
The democratic transition that occurred in many parts of the world in the late 20th century resulted in the proliferation of courts charged with constitutional adjudication, though the formal powers of these high courts vary considerably from one country to another. Some are specialized courts of constitutional review, usually called the constitutional court or constitutional tribunal (e.g.,......
Constitutional Court (Bulgarian legal system)
...High Judicial Council, consisting of 25 members, appoints judges, prosecutors, and investigators. The members of this council are appointed by the National Assembly and judicial authorities. The Constitutional Court, composed of 12 justices (each of whom serves a nine-year term), is charged with interpreting the constitution and ruling on the legality of measures passed by the National......
Constitutional Court (South African government)
...common law of the republic is based on Roman-Dutch law, the uncodified law of the Netherlands having been retained after the Cape’s cession to the United Kingdom in 1815. The judiciary comprises the Constitutional Court (with powers to decide on the constitutionality of legislative and administrative actions, particularly with respect to the bill of rights), the Supreme Court of Appeal (...
Constitutional Court (Nigerien government)
...be held to change the constitution to allow for the three-year extension of his term, which the National Assembly refused to approve. He then took his request for the referendum to the country’s Constitutional Court, but on May 26 the court issued a nonbinding ruling that the referendum would be unconstitutional without the approval of the National Assembly; later that day Tandja dissolv...
Constitutional Court (Italian government)
The constitution is upheld by the Constitutional Court, which is composed of 15 judges, of whom 5 are nominated by the president of the republic, 5 are elected by parliament, and 5 are elected by judges from other courts. Members must have certain legal qualifications and experience. The term of office is nine years, and Constitutional Court judges are not eligible for reappointment....
Constitutional Court (Russian government)
...judicial body is the Supreme Court, which supervises the activities of all other judicial bodies and serves as the final court of appeal. The Supreme Court has been supplemented since 1991 by a Constitutional Court, established to review Russian laws and treaties. The Constitutional Court is presided over by 19 judges, who are nominated by the president and approved by the Federation......
constitutional democracy (political philosophy)
...unequal distributions of wealth in which those who are least well-off are better off than they would be under an equal distribution.) These principles amount to an egalitarian form of democratic liberalism. Rawls is accordingly regarded as the leading philosophical defender of the modern democratic capitalist welfare state....
Constitutional Democratic Party (Russian political party)
a Russian political party advocating a radical change in Russian government toward a constitutional monarchy like Great Britain’s. It was founded in October 1905 by the ...
constitutional diagram (physics)
graph showing the limiting conditions for solid, liquid, and gaseous phases of a single substance or of a mixture of substances while undergoing changes in pressure and temperature or in some other combination of variables, such as solubility and temperature. The shows a typical phase diagram for a one-component system (i.e., one consisting of a single pure substance), the curv...
constitutional doubt (law)
...to decide constitutional questions only as a last resort. Thus, if a case may be decided on multiple grounds, judges should prefer one that allows them to avoid a constitutional issue. The canon of constitutional doubt advises courts to construe statutes so as to avoid constitutional questions. If two readings of a statute are possible, and one raises doubt about the statute’s......
constitutional government (law)
The American and French revolutions established the political character of modern society as constitutional and democratic, meaning not necessarily that every government thenceforward was of such character but that even those most conspicuously not so frequently claimed to be. From the time of those revolutions it became clear to practically all thinkers that no political system could now claim......