A constitutional commission is a body of

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

s appointed by a government for the purpose of making or revising a

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

. The commissioners are typically experts. However, in a country governed by a military regime, the commissioners may be actual or alleged experts whose political opinions match those of that government, and in other countries there may perceptions or allegations that the commissioners include such persons. The commission may be advisory or preparatory to another body or to a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

. A number of bodies have been called a Constitutional Commission.

Afghanistan

* Afghan Constitution Commission ** Timeline of the War in Afghanistan (August 2003) * Reigns of Nadir Shah and Zahir Shah

Australia

In 1985 a Constitutional Commission was established (by the Hawke

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

government) to review the Australian Constitution and reported in 1988. It was seen as too partisan by many Liberals and the eventual referendum questions were not supported; leading to the lowest 'yes' vote count for any referendum in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

(in 1988).

Canada

The federally initiated Rowell–Sirois Commission of 1937 to 1940 recommended (successfully) that the federal government take over

unemployment insurance Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

and

pensions A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "defined benefit plan", wher ...

from the provinces. The Quebec-initiated Royal Commission of Inquiry on Constitutional Problems of 1953 to 1956 argued (unsuccessfully) for the devolution of more powers to the Province of Quebec. The federal

Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (, also known as the Bi and Bi Commission and the Laurendeau-Dunton Commission) was a Canadian royal commission established on 19 July 1963, by the government of Prime Minister Lester B. P ...

recommended (successfully) that Canada become officially

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

and bicultural (later modified to ''multi''cultural).

Philippines

In January 1942, the

Philippine Executive Commission The Philippine Executive Commission (PEC; Tagalog: ''Komisyong Tagapagpaganap ng Pilipinas'') was a pro-Axis government set up to govern the Philippine archipelago during World War II. It was established with sanction from the occupying Imp ...

, or PEC, was established as the temporary caretaker government of the City of Greater Manila, and eventually, of the whole Philippines during the Japanese occupation of the country during World War II. The PEC existed until the Japanese-sponsored

Second Philippine Republic The Second Philippine Republic, officially the Republic of the Philippines and also known as the Japanese-sponsored Philippine Republic, was a Japanese-Axis powers, backed government established on October 14, 1943, during the Japanese occupatio ...

was established in October 1943. In 1986,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Corazon Aquino María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman president in the country, from Presidency of Corazon ...

dissolved the 1973 Constitution and called for its revision. From February 1986 to February 1987, the Philippines was governed under a provisional constitution called the "Freedom Constitution", which was drafted by her Executive Secretary Joker Arroyo. In September 1986, the Constitutional Commission of 1986 was set up with all its members appointed by Aquino. The revised Philippine Constitution was ratified by a

plebiscite A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or adv ...

with 76% of votes in the affirmative. An unrelated concept is a "constitutional commission", which is a commission created by the 1987 Constitution. These are governmental bodies that are independent of the three main branches of government. These constitutional commissions are the: *

Civil Service Commission A civil service commission (also known as a Public Service Commission) is a government agency or public body that is established by the constitution, or by the legislature, to regulate the employment and working conditions of civil servants, overse ...

* Commission on Audit *

Commission on Elections An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

The 1987 Constitution does not place upon a constitutional commission the task of amending the Constitution—that task falls to the Constitutional Convention, the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

, or the People's Initiative, the three constitutionally sanctioned methods of amending the Constitution.

Scotland

Seychelles

* Seychelles Constitutional Commission, established in 1992

Tanzania

Tanzanian Constitutional Review Commission The Tanzanian Constitutional Commission, Constitutional Review Commission is the national commission established as per the Constitutional Review Act of 2011 for the collection of public opinion on the review of the Constitution of Tanzania and its ...

References

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