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, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

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 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. It was formally called the "Legislative

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

'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 Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

with the further execution of the office of Chief of State" (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 parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their Election, democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of t ...

, although it did not define Poland as a republic.Ajnenkiel 1983, 228.

Executive power The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

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