The 1938 Constitution – the new political and territorial-administrative reality in Romania

Abstract

During the 1930s in several countries of the world, dictatorial regimes were established. At the same time, international relations began to tense up. In Romania, the rise of right-wing extremism had determined King Carol the Second to establish an authoritarian regime. It was a result of the coup d'état on the night of February 10-11 in 1938. Afterwards the royal decree no. 856 has been issued, which had established a curfew to restrict citizens’ freedom and rights. Soon after, on February 24 followed the adoption of the new Constitution in a plebiscite. It was an unconstitutional situation. The new Constitution, which was valid for almost two and a half years, established the authoritarian nature of the new political regime. The King held both legislative and executive power. Separately, through an administrative organization law (entered into force on August 14, 1938), was carried out a new territorial-administrative division of Romania. It was the last division from the interwar period. The authoritarian character of the regime was reflected also in the new law, so that a Royal Resident controlled the ten regions, into which Romania was divided.

Keywords

• constitution
• romania
• carol the second
• territorial-administrative reform