The Constitutional Experience of Modern Greece: A Chronological Summary with Special Emphasis on the More Recent Developments

The ancient Greeks were pioneers both in the study of constitutions and in conscious experimentation with them. Aristotle's "Constitution of Athens" is the earliest constitutional manual extant, while Plato's "Republic" is the first in date as well as interest of the numerous works in which philosophers have described imaginary perfect states.The modem Greeks have contributed no new ideas to constitutional theory with possibly one or two exceptions. They may, however, claim to have somewhat extended the area of constitutional government, for theirs was the first constitutional state to arise in the Eastern basin of the Mediterranean in modern times.It is the purpose of the present paper to present, not, indeed, a full-dress history, but a chronological summary of Greek constitutional experience from the outbreak of the Revolution in 1831 until now. It is hoped that such a summary may possibly be of convenience to some, as it is rather difficult, in this country, to find the particular class of facts about Greece which it contains.