Constitution of the Republic of China
The Constitution of the Republic of China is the fifth and current constitution of the Republic of China (ROC), ratified by the Kuomintang during the Constituent National Assembly session on 25 December 1946, in Nanjing, and adopted on 25 December 1947. The constitution, along with its Additional Articles, remains effective in ROC-controlled territories.
| Constitution of the Republic of China | |
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First page of the original copy of the Constitution | |
| Overview | |
| Original title | 中華民國憲法 |
| Jurisdiction | Republic of China |
| Ratified | 25 December 1946 |
| Date effective | 25 December 1947 |
| System | Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic |
| Government structure | |
| Branches | Five (Executive, Legislative, Judicial, Examination, Control) |
| Head of state | President |
| Chambers | Tricameral (National Assembly, Legislative Yuan, Control Yuan) |
| Executive | Premier led Executive Yuan |
| Judiciary | Judicial Yuan |
| Federalism | Unitary |
| Electoral college | Yes (National Assembly) |
| History | |
| First legislature | 29 March 1948 (NA) 8 May 1948 (LY) 5 June 1948 (CY) |
| First executive | 20 May 1948 (President) 24 May 1948 (Premier) |
| First court | 2 July 1948 |
| Repealed | 1 October 1949 (Mainland China) |
| Amendments | see Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China |
| Location | Academia Historica, Zhongzheng, Taipei |
| Commissioned by | National Constituent Assembly |
| Author(s) | Carsun Chang and the members of the National Constituent Assembly |
| Signatories | 1,701 of 2,050 delegates, in Nanjing |
| Supersedes | Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China |
| Constitution of the Republic of China | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 中華民國憲法 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 中华民国宪法 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Tibetan name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tibetan | རྩ་ཁྲིམས།་ཀྲུང་ཧྭ་དམངས་གཙོའི་རྒྱལ་ཁབ། | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Mongolian name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Үндсэн хууль Дундад иргэн улс | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mongolian script | ᠦᠨᠳᠦᠰᠦᠨᠤ ᠬᠠᠤᠯᠢᠤ ᠳᠤᠮᠳᠠᠳᠤᠤ ᠢᠷᠭᠡᠨᠤ ᠤᠯᠤ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Uyghur name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Uyghur | جۇڭخۇا مىنگو ئاساسىي قانۇن | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Manchu name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manchu script | ᡴᠣᠣᠯᡳᠤ ᡶᠠᡶᡠᠨᠤ ᡩᡠᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠᡳᠤ ᡳᡵᡤᡝᠨᠤ ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Romanization | Kooli Fafun Dulimbai irgen' gurun | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Intended for the entire territory of the Republic of China as it was then constituted, it was never extensively nor effectively implemented due to the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War in mainland China at the time of the constitution's promulgation. The newly elected National Assembly soon ratified the Temporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion on May 10, 1948. The Temporary Provisions symbolises the country's entering into the state of emergency and granted the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China extra-constitutional powers.
| Date | Other basic law | Government location | Timespan |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 December 1947 – 10 May 1948 | — | Nanking | 4 months |
| 10 May 1948 – 7 December 1949 | Temporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion | Nanking, Kwangchow (Canton), Chungking, Chengtu | 1 year, 6 months |
| 7 December 1949 – 30 April 1991 | Taipei | 41 years, 4 months | |
| 1 May 1991 – present | Additional Articles of the Constitution | 32 years, 11 months |
Following the ROC government's retreat to Taiwan on 7 December 1949, the Temporary Provisions together with martial law made the country an authoritarian one-party state despite the constitution. Democratization began in the 1980s. Martial law was lifted in 1987, and in 1991 the Temporary Provisions were repealed. The Additional Articles of the Constitution was passed to reflect the government's actual jurisdiction and realization of cross-Strait relations. The Additional Articles also significantly changed the structure of the government to a semi-presidential system with a unicameral parliament, which formed the basis of a multi-party democracy in Taiwan.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, the Constitution's origins in mainland China led to supporters of Taiwan independence to push for a new Taiwanese constitution. However, attempts by the Democratic Progressive Party administration to create a new Constitution during the second term of DPP President Chen Shui-bian failed, because the then opposition Kuomintang controlled the Legislative Yuan. It was only agreed to reform the Constitution of the Republic of China, not to create a new one. It was last amended in 2005, with the consent of both the KMT and the DPP. The most recent revision to the constitution took place in 2004.