The Portuguese Constitutional Court (Portuguese Portuguese ( português or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated from a fusion of the dialect spoken in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal with closely related dialects spoken in territories to the south which had not yet been reconquered by the Christians to the Arabs by the time Portugal was born as a Christian kingdom: Tribunal Constitucional, pronounced [tɾibuˈnaɫ kõʃtitusiuˈnaɫ]) is a special court, defined by the Portuguese Constitution The first Portuguese Constitution was drafted in 1822. Several revolutions led to the constitutions of 1826 , 1838 , 1911 (1910 Republican revolution), 1933 (28th May 1926 coup d'état), and 1976 (Carnation revolution) as part of the judicial branch of the Portuguese Portugal /ˈpɔɹtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, Mirandese: Pertual), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa; Mirandese: República Pertuesa), is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and political organization. Unlike the rest of the country's courts, the Constitutional Court has important characteristics, such as a special composition, and unique competences. The main task of the court is to review the constitutionality Constitutionality is the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or guidelines set forth in the applicable constitution. When one of these directly violates the constitution it is unconstitutional. All the rest are considered constitutional until of the newly approved laws, but it also has important powers related to the President of the Republic Portugal has been a republic since 1910, and since that time the head of state has been the president, whose official title is President of the Portuguese Republic, the political parties and referenda.
The Portuguese Constitution defines the Constitutional Court as a completely independent organ, that operates independently from the other branches of government, such as the Executive or the Legislative. The judges of the Constitutional Court are independent and cannot be impeached. The decisions of the court are above the decisions of any other authority.
The court works in Lisbon Lisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with a population of 564,477 within its administrative limits on a land area of 84.8 km2 (33 sq mi). The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 2.4 million on a area of 958 km2 (370 sq mi), it is the 12th most populous urban area in the European, in the Ratton Palace located in Bairro Alto.
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Organization
The court is composed by thirteen judges, ten of them are elected by the Assembly of the Republic The Assembly of the Republic is the Portuguese parliament. It is located in a historical building in Lisbon, referred to as Palácio de São Bento, the site of an old Benedictine monastery. The Palace of São Bento was formerly known as the seat of the National Assembly (Assembleia Nacional) during the Estado Novo regime, the main legislative branch of the country, and must be elected by Two-thirds majority of the members of the Assembly. The remaining three are elected by the already elected judges. Of the thirteen judges that compose the court, six must be chosen among the general court's judges, the remaining must, at least, have a degree in law. The judges serve a nine years mandate and cannot be re-elected.
The Constitutional Court elects its own president and vice-president and approves its own rules, schedule and budget.
The President of the Constitutional Court is the third person in the Portuguese state hierarchy and has several competences, for example, conducting the relations between the court and the other authorities, he receives the candidatures for President of the Republic and presiding the court's sessions. The current president (as of 2007[update]) is Rui Manuel Gens de Moura Ramos.
Competences
The Constitutional Court has several competences, defined in the Constitution, such as:
- Assure that the Constitution and regional autonomies are respected;
- Review and assure the constitutionality of the laws;
- Declare the President's death or inability to carry out his tasks;
- Manage the electoral processes;
- Assure that political parties fulfill the legal requirements to exist;
- Forbid and exterminate Fascist Fascism, pronounced /ˈfæʃɪzəm/, is a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to organize a nation according to corporatist perspectives, values, and systems, including the political system and the economy. Fascism was originally founded by Italian national syndicalists in World War I who combined left-wing and parties and organizations;
- Assure the legality of the national and local referendums A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of direct democracy. The measure put to a vote is.
See also
- Portuguese court system
- Politics of Portugal Politics in Portugal take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The President of the Republic is the head of state and has several significant political powers, which he exercises often. Executive power is exercised by the
- Portuguese Constitution The first Portuguese Constitution was drafted in 1822. Several revolutions led to the constitutions of 1826 , 1838 , 1911 (1910 Republican revolution), 1933 (28th May 1926 coup d'état), and 1976 (Carnation revolution)
External links
Categories: Portuguese law | Politics of Portugal | National supreme courts | Constitutional courts
