Constitution of Finland

The Constitution of Finland (Finnish: Suomen perustuslaki or Swedish: Finlands grundlag) is the supreme source of national law of Finland. It defines the basis, structures and organisation of government, the relationship between the different constitutional organs, and lays out the fundamental rights of Finnish citizens. The original Constitution Act was enacted in 1919, soon after Finland declared its Independence in 1917, but the current Constitution came into force on 1 March 2000.

Finland's current constitution is enshrined in a single law: the Constitution of Finland (731/1999).

Before the current institution, the Finnish constitution was divided into four separate acts, which all had a constitutional status; the Constitution Act (Finnish: Suomen hallitusmuoto) of 1919, Procedure of Parliament (1922, Finnish: Valtiopäiväjärjestys), the Ministerial Responsibility Act (1922, Finnish: Ministerivastuulaki) and the Act on the High Court of Impeachment (1922, Finnish: laki valtakunnanoikeudesta). All these acts were codified into a single act and repealed with the passage of the current constitution.

The fundamental principles of the Constitution Act of 1919 and the Procedure of Parliament of 1906, renewed in 1928, remained unchanged during the first fifty years of Finnish independence, as there was little pressure or need for any amendments to the Constitution Act. However, this did not prevent the Constitution from adapting to the changing needs of the day. The flexibility of the Finnish Constitution is due to the use of "exceptive laws," a distinctive feature of the Finnish system: instead of amending or changing the Constitution, an act may be made as an ad hoc exception to it. Such an exceptive law does not become part of the Constitution and it may be repealed like an ordinary act. Exceptive laws were formerly much used, even to the point of threatening to undermine respect for Constitutional provisions. Today, their use is limited.

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