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The Constitution of the State of California is the document that establishes and describes the duties, powers, structure and function of the government of the U.S. state of California. The original constitution, adopted in November 1849 in advance of California attaining U.S. statehood in 1850, maintains jurisdiction along with the current constitution,〔http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0074_0700_ZO.html〕 which was ratified on May 7, 1879.〔Grodin 8, 16.〕 Article 3 Section 2 of the current Constitution references the original boundaries〔http://leginfo.ca.gov/.const/.article_3〕 as stated in the 1849 Constitution at Article 7.〔http://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/collections/1849/full-text.htm〕 The result of Progressive mistrust of elected officials, the 1879 constitution is the third longest in the world (behind the constitutions of Alabama and of India), and has been described as "the perfect example of what a constitution ought ''not'' to be".〔Wilson and Ebbert via Korey 11. Korey states, "The convention ''did'' succeed in producing what one writer has called 'a document that was the perfect example of what a constitution ought ''not'' to be.'" The work cited is Wilson and Ebbert, ''California's Legislature''.〕 California's constitution is one of the longest collections of laws in the world,〔 taking up 110 pages. Part of this length is caused by the fact that many voter initiatives take the form of a constitutional amendment. The constitution can be changed by initiatives passed by voters. Initiatives can be proposed by the governor, legislature, or by popular petition, giving California one of the most flexible legal systems in the world. Many of the individual rights clauses in the state constitution have been construed as protecting rights even broader than the Bill of Rights in the federal constitution. An excellent example is the case of ''Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins'', in which "free speech" rights beyond those addressed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution were found in the California Constitution by the California courts.〔Linda Greenhouse, "Petitioning Upheld at Shopping Malls: High Court Says States May Order Access to Back Free Speech," ''New York Times'', 10 June 1980, A1.〕 One of California's most significant prohibitions is against "cruel or unusual punishment," a stronger prohibition than the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment." This caused the California Supreme Court to find Capital Punishment unconstitional on state Constitutional grounds in the 1972 case of ''People v. Anderson''. ==History== The constitution has undergone numerous changes since its original drafting. It was rewritten from scratch several times prior to the drafting of the current 1879 constitution, which has itself been amended or revised (see below). In response to widespread public disgust with the powerful railroads which controlled California's politics and economy at the start of the 20th century, Progressive Era politicians pioneered the concept of aggressively amending the state constitution by initiative in order to remedy perceived evils.〔Grodin 16-17.〕 From 1911, the height of the U.S. Progressive Era, to 1986, the California Constitution was amended or revised over 500 times.〔Grodin 21.〕 The constitution gradually became increasingly bloated, leading to abortive efforts towards a third constitutional convention in 1897, 1914, 1919, 1930, 1934 and 1947.〔Grodin 18-19.〕 By 1962 the constitution had grown to 75,000 words, which at that time was longer than any other state constitution but Louisiana's.〔Grodin 19.〕 That year, the electorate approved the creation of a California Constitution Revision Commission, which worked on a comprehensive revision of the constitution from 1964 to 1976. The electorate ratified the Commission's revisions in 1966, 1970, 1972, and 1974, but rejected the 1968 revision, whose primary substantive effect would have been to make the state's superintendent of schools into an appointed rather than an elected official.〔Grodin 20〕 The Commission ultimately removed about 40,000 words from the constitution.〔 Repair California sought to qualify two initiatives on the 2010 statewide ballot which would have called for another, limited, constitutional convention, but this effort failed due to a lack of funding. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Constitution of California」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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