The Small Constitution of 1919 was the first

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

. It was formally called the "Legislative

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

's ordinance of 20 February 1919, entrusting

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Naczelnik państwa, Chief of State (1918–1922) and Marshal of Poland, First Marshal of Second Polish Republic, Poland (from 1920). He was ...

with the further execution of the office of

Chief of State A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

" (Polish: "''Uchwała Sejmu Ustawodawczego z dnia 20 lutego 1919 r. w sprawie powierzenia Józefowi Piłsudskiemu dalszego sprawowania urzędu Naczelnika Państwa''"). The legislation was published as ''Dz. Pr. P.P. Nr 19, poz. 226''.

Provisions

The Small Constitution declared that Poland has a

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...

, although it didn't define Poland as a republic.Ajnenkiel 1983, 228.

Executive power The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems b ...

s were held by the

. He could name the ministers (with the consent of the ''Sejm''); he and the ministers were responsible before the ''Sejm''. The

(previously the ''Provisional'' Chief of State) no longer had legislative initiative and could not dismiss the ''Sejm''; all his acts required the signature of the relevant minister. The Small Constitution was adopted and published on 20 February 1919 and went into effect a week later, on 27 February 1919. It was amended on 25 February 1920 and was supplanted on 1 June 1921 by the March 1921 Constitution.

Footnotes

References

External links

*
Full text of Small Constitution
at the Adam Mickiewicz University website 1919 in law 1919 in Poland Constitutions of Poland Defunct constitutions Legal history of Poland 1919 documents {{constitution-stub