The term democracy, which means “rule by the people,” was coined by the Greeks of ancient Athens to describe their city-state’s system of self-rule, which reached its golden age around 430 B.C. under the skilled orator and politician Pericles.
http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/what-is-the-worlds-oldest-democracy
The Constitution of Massachusetts, as a single source and as a written constitution, is the oldest of all 50 state constitutions in the United States which is still in use and in effect today.
http://www.answers.com/Q/Which_country_has_the_oldest_written_constitution
Some historians suggest that the Native American Six Nations confederacy (Iroquois), which traces its consensus-based government tradition across eight centuries, is the oldest living participatory democracy.
http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/what-is-the-worlds-oldest-democracy
Although San Marino is the world 's oldest constitutional republic still in existence whereby its laws were established in 1600 , the Constitution of San Marino may or may not be classified as the world 's oldest since in effect , documents dating from the year 1600 were statutes and neither in the form of what is considered a traditional ...
http://www.answers.com/Q/Which_country_has_the_oldest_written_constitution
What is the oldest written constitution still in use today? Sort of a trick question. The US Constitution is the oldest constitution still in use that has not been ratified (not to be confused with amended), but San Marino has had the …Statutes of 1600 since, well, 1600. It added the Declaration of Citizens Rights in 1974.
http://www.answers.com/Q/Which_country_has_the_oldest_written_constitution
Iceland’s national parliament, the Althing, dates back to A.D. 930, but it spent centuries under Norwegian and Danish rule. Man and the Faroes, meanwhile, remain dependencies of the United Kingdom and Denmark, respectively. The United States is among the oldest modern democracies, but it is only the oldest if the criteria are refined to disqualify claimants ranging from Switzerland to San Marino.
http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/what-is-the-worlds-oldest-democracy
In a democracy the sovereignty is in the group. Republic. That form of government in which the powers of sovereignty are vested in the people and are exercised by the people, either directly, or through representatives chosen by the people, to whome those powers are specially delegated.
https://www.1215.org/lawnotes/lawnotes/repvsdem.htm
The title of oldest continuously functioning democracy is more hotly contested. Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the Isle of Man all have local parliaments founded in the ninth and 10th centuries, when Vikings pillaged, plundered and set up legislative bodies on the sea-islands of far northern Europe.
http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/what-is-the-worlds-oldest-democracy
The distinction between our Republic and a democracy is not an idle one. It has great legal significance. The Constitution guarantees to every state a Republican form of government (Art. 4, Sec. 4). No state may join the United States unless it is a Republic. Our Republic is one dedicated to liberty and justice for all.. Minority individual rights are the priority. The people have natural rights instead of civil rights.
https://www.1215.org/lawnotes/lawnotes/repvsdem.htm
“A Constitutional Republic” is a government created and controlled, at least, by the Law of a Constitution. The Constitution of the United States of America was, in Law, a foundation based on the Bible, the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence.
http://www.conservapedia.com/Constitutional_Republic
what is the oldest constitutional republic
San Marino is the oldest constitutional republic. The oldest constitutional republic is San Marino.