Albertine Statute
알베르토 헌장
The constitution granted by Charles Albert of Sardinia on 4 March 1848. The only one of the Italian constitutions of 1848 to survive the revolutions, it became the fundamental law of the unified Kingdom of Italy in 1861 and, with amendments, remained in force until 1948.
In depth
In January 1848 Cavour proposed at a meeting of Turin journalists to petition for a constitution, and the king approved it after an all-night Council of State on 7 February. A royal edict of 8 February set out its 14 basic articles, and the full text was promulgated on 4 March. The Statute made Catholicism the sole state religion, gave executive power and command of the armed forces to the king and legislative power to an elected chamber and a royally appointed senate, and guaranteed a free press and individual liberty. Elections were single-member and majoritarian, and the vote went only to wealthy men over 25.
Victor Emmanuel II, king after the defeat at Novara, did not withdraw it as the other princes did their constitutions, and Sardinia remained the peninsula's only constitutional state and a refuge for exiles. In the course of unification the Statute was extended to the new territories, and after changes such as proportional representation in 1919 it gave way to the Constitution of the Italian Republic of 1947.