Essay Example on Main Features of a Constitutional Monarch

Main Features of a Constitutional Monarch In a country under the political system of a constitutional monarchy the monarchy is sovereign but must comply with a written or unwritten constitution It is different from an absolute monarchy in which sovereign lies completely with the monarchy as under a constitutional monarchy the power of the monarchy is limited by a constitution The monarch person ruling acts as the Head of State of the country and the government in place serves under the monarch It is often said that the monarchy reigns but does not rule This is because in most constitutional monarchies the monarch has power but is not usually personally involved in the making of laws or appointing of political leaders Although this may be the case in some countries the level of power the monarch holds varies vastly between countries depending on their constitution History of Monaco Monaco was originally considered a colony of Genoa until in 1297 it was first taken over by a member the House of Grimaldi known as Francesco Grimaldi The succession of the Prince is hereditary and so Monaco has been held by members of the Grimaldi family ever since The family officially bought the country in 1419 During the French Revolution France briefly took control of Monaco however the Grimaldi s soon returned to power 

Since 1869 Monaco has collected practically no income tax at all from its citizens This has made it a prime spot for wealthy people and celebrities as it is also famous for its casino s and entertainment The exception to this is for French citizens who are residing in Monaco must comply with French tax laws for the first 5 years It was reported that 1 in 3 people living in Monaco are millionaires In 1993 Monaco became a member of the United Nations Although Monaco is an independent country it is still defended by France s military How Monaco uses a constitutional monarchy as a system of political representation Monaco s constitution was created in 1911 in response to the Monegasque Revolution 1910 however this constitution barely limited the monarch s power In 1918 the Franco Monegasque ensured that Monaco s international policies were in line with France s In 1962 Prince Rainier III of Monaco introduced a second constitution This constitution expanded rights and freedoms within the Supreme Court ensured greater protection of women s rights and made the death penalty illegal Monaco Government 2018 This second constitution still ensured the Prince had a lot of power but allowed the legislative and judicial branches to work independently of the Prince meaning they can make decisions or changes to the law without his consent 

Monaco is governed by 3 branches the executive branch the legislative branch and the judicial branch In Monaco the prince Prince Albert II is the Head of State In the executive branch there is the Minister of State Serge Telle who is the head of the Government The Minister of State is chosen every 3 years by the Prince from a list of people presented to him by the French Government and traditionally he is French He is in charge the Council of Government and there are 5 other members who are each in charge of the running of different sectors in the country for example foreign relations The Council of Government is responsible for enforcing the laws The legislative branch of Monaco consists of the National Council of which there are 24 members The President of the National Council is Christophe Steiner Monaco s legislative branch is described as unicameral as there is only one chamber Elections for the National Council are held every five years by popular vote Unlike most other countries members can be from any political party Although the 1962 constitution states that the Prince shares his power with the National Council he does have the authority to dissolve the National Council at any point so long as he holds elections for new members within 3 months 

The judicial branch in Monaco consists of the Supreme Court which was introduced in 1962 and the Supreme tribunal which is responsible for checking that the Supreme Court is doing its job correctly The Supreme Court has 5 members Power still lies with the Prince in this branch as the judges are serving under hm However the 1962 constitution allows them some degree of authority They have the authority to declare the Prince s acts unconstitutional Roles of Government The Prince holds foreign affairs powers such as signing and ratifying treaties however it is the Minister of State who would be involved in discussions and the creation of treaties representing the Prince Other roles of the Minister of State include being in charge of the Police and voting in Council of Government meetings He has the power to override all other members in votes Traditionally the 4 other members of the Council of Government are from Monaco Their roles as members include maintaining public order by dealing with matters regarding financial public and social affairs Creation of Bills Legislation can either initiated by the Government or by the National Council It is then the responsibility of the National Council to draw up that legislation and pass it Once passed by the National Council it must be signed by the Minister of State before being passed to the Prince for signature before becoming law The Prince has 80 days to sign a bill but if he expresses no opposition to a bill within 10 days it automatically becomes valid legislation