Constitution
The Constitution is "autochthonous" (a constitutional term of art also used in Malaysia and meaning, literally, "aboriginal," indicating that legal continuity with the former metropolitan power was severed and the Constitution enacted by a constitutional convention of the newly independent state — as in the USA after the American Revolution — rather than by an imperial parliament as in the case of the Constitutions of Canada and Australia). It is "entrenched," meaning that its provisions overbear any ordinary statutory enactments which the courts find to be inconsistent with it, in accordance with the constitutional authority of Marbury v. Madison, the case which established the principle in the USA, the first modern state to have an entrenched constitution. During the period of self-government from 1973-75 during which the Constitution was drafted and arrangements for full sovereignty were made it was contemplated that as with most former colonies and trust territories in the British Commonwealth Papua New Guinea would wish to have its own indigenous head of state, and the Constitution specifically refers to the "Head of State" rather than to the Queen or the Crown. In the event, PNG chose to retain the monarchy and there have been no serious moves to alter that arrangement. In practice, as in the other Commonwealth Realms, the governor-general, chosen by free vote of sitting members of parliament, functions as a de facto non-executive president. Criminal proceedings are brought in the name of "The State" rather than "The Queen" or "R."; the Queen's effigy does not appear on banknotes or coins; apart from a few institutions having royal warrant, such as the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary and the Royal Papua Yacht Club, the formal link with the monarchy is largely invisible, and there is little general awareness of it.
Read more about this topic: Law Of Papua New Guinea
Famous quotes containing the word constitution:
“A Constitution should be short and obscure.”
—Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821)
“In this choice of inheritance we have given to our frame of polity the image of a relation in blood; binding up the constitution of our country with our dearest domestic ties; adopting our fundamental laws into the bosom of our family affections; keeping inseparable and cherishing with the warmth of all their combined and mutually reflected charities, our state, our hearths, our sepulchres, and our altars.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
“What we learn for the sake of knowing, we hold; what we learn for the sake of accomplishing some ulterior end, we forget as soon as that end has been gained. This, too, is automatic action in the constitution of the mind itself, and it is fortunate and merciful that it is so, for otherwise our minds would be soon only rubbish-rooms.”
—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)