Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China (1912)
중화민국 임시약법 (1912)
The first constitutional basic law of the Republic of China, passed by the Provisional Senate at Nanjing on 8 March 1912 and promulgated by Provisional President Sun Yat-sen on the 11th. It declared that sovereignty belongs to the whole people and, to bind Yuan Shikai, adopted a cabinet system in which the president’s orders required ministerial countersignature. Replaced by Yuan’s Constitutional Compact in 1914, restored by Li Yuanhong in 1916 and the object of Sun Yat-sen’s Constitutional Protection Movement from 1917, it was superseded in the Beijing government by Cao Kun’s constitution in 1923.
In depth
Enactment: a basic law replacing the Nanjing provisional government’s organisational outline, it was drawn up just before Sun Yat-sen handed the presidency to Yuan Shikai. The Provisional Senate abandoned a presidential system for a French-style cabinet system in order to make Yuan a figurehead. Its 56 articles in seven chapters covered general principles, the people, the Senate, the provisional president and vice-president, the cabinet, the courts and supplementary provisions. The chapters on general principles and the people open as follows (Provisional Government Gazette No. 35):
第一條 中華民國由中華人民組織之。
第二條 中華民國之主權屬於國民全體。
第五條 中華民國人民一律平等，無種族、階級、宗教之區別。
Article 1. The Republic of China is composed of the Chinese people.
Article 2. The sovereignty of the Republic of China belongs to the whole body of citizens.
Article 5. The people of the Republic of China are all equal, without distinction of race, class or religion.
Cabinet provisions: the provisional president was elected by the Senate with three-quarters of its members present and two-thirds of the votes cast, and the appointment of ministers and ambassadors, declarations of war, peace and treaties required the Senate’s consent. The key clause was countersignature:
第四十五條 國務員於臨時大總統提出法律案、公布法律及發布命令時，須副署之。
Article 45. Ministers of state shall countersign when the provisional president submits bills, promulgates laws or issues orders.
Fate: it required a parliament to be convened within ten months, and the first parliament, won by the Kuomintang, met in 1913. But Yuan dissolved it and on 1 May 1914 replaced the Provisional Constitution with a Constitutional Compact giving the president practically unlimited power. Li Yuanhong restored it on 29 June 1916, and when parliament was dissolved again in 1917 Sun Yat-sen set up the Constitutional Protection military government at Guangzhou in its defence. In the Beijing government it was superseded by Cao Kun’s constitution on 10 October 1923.