Previous |Next |Title Although the process of forming national
constitutions in European states began more than two centuries
ago, the actual texts of EU member state constitutions all date
from the present century, with the single, obvious exception of
the British constitution. The venerable British texts merit an
obligatory nod of tribute to that paradoxical cradle of the
constitutional state. A few European constitutional texts are
the cumulative result of successive reforms of texts originally
drafted in the nineteenth century or earlier, and are found in
those societies that managed to avoid the dramatic upheavals
which punctuate the histories of other European states. The
majority of the constitutions were promulgated after the Second
World War, following governmental ruptures of varying intensity
and duration. A final group of texts have their origin in the
inter-war period and were drafted concurrent to the creation, or
re-creation, of their corresponding states. The "reformed" texts
often contain som