Word: charterers
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...overwhelmingly Catholic Ireland, the constitution outlaws abortion and divorce and proclaims the Holy Trinity the source of all political power. Japan's national charter renounces war. Portugal's forbids private ownership of television stations. Peru reprints its charter in the Lima telephone directory, filling ten pages of fine print. Yet beneath such diversity, each document can trace its rights and freedoms to U.S. soil. Says Joseph Magnet, a law professor at Canada's University of Ottawa: "America has been and remains the great constitutional laboratory for the entire world...
Indeed, constitutions are living documents that are constantly being created and reshaped. Voters in the Philippines went to the polls in January to approve a new charter, the country's fifth, that prohibits human rights violations and retains Corazon Aquino as President until 1992. In Nicaragua this year, the Marxist-influenced Sandinista leadership unveiled that country's twelfth constitution in 149 years. Haitians in March approved their 23rd charter since 1804 in the country's first free election in three decades...
...such figures show, many constitutions have managed to survive only until the next upheaval or military coup. Three-quarters of the world's constitutions have been completely rewritten since they were first adopted, making America's fidelity to a single charter highly unusual. Some experts contend that frequent constitutional changes can be healthy. Says Albert Blaustein, a Rutgers University law professor who has helped draft six foreign charters: "Jefferson concluded that every 20 years the new generation should have its own constitution to meet current needs. That might not be a good idea for the U.S., but it's really...
Some constitutions are born of disaster. After World War II, Americans played a key role in drafting charters for the defeated nations of Japan and West Germany. The Japanese charter declares that the country will never again make war or maintain an army, navy or air force. As a result, Japan spends only about 1% of its gross national product on defense, freeing the economy for more productive purposes. Ironically, the U.S. is pressing the Japanese to boost defense outlays...
...same gulf between rhetoric and reality exists in China. The country's current charter, its fifth since 1949, grants "freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration." Peking nonetheless responded to widespread student protests last winter by detaining the leaders, firing university officials and halting demonstrations. Authorities then shut down half a dozen liberal periodicals and banned scores of books, magazines and films throughout the country...