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The Constitution of the British Virgin Islands is a predominantly codified constitution documented primarily within the Virgin Islands Constitution Order, 2007〔SI No 1678 of 2007.〕 a statutory instrument of the United Kingdom. The 2007 Constitution was the fourth written constitution of the British Virgin Islands, and superseded the 1976 constitution.〔Virgin Islands (Constitution) Order, 1976 (SI No 2145 of 1976).〕 In addition to the constitution itself a number of the constitutional powers of the British Virgin Islands government are specified a "letter of entrustment" from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office which delegates powers to the British Virgin Islands government to represent itself in certain external affairs.〔As the British Virgin Islands is a dependent territory of the United Kingdom, absent such delegation then all external affairs of the British Virgin Islands would be conducted by the United Kingdom through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.〕 The 2007 Constitution was adopted as part of a wider consultation between the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories. Accordingly, the Constitution is in substantially similar form to the constitutions of a number of other British dependent territories. The Constitution came into force immediately following the dissolution of the old Legislative Council prior to the 2007 general election. The new constitution adopted new nomenclature: the Chief Minister was renamed the Premier, the Executive Council was renamed Cabinet and the Legislative Council was renamed the House of Assembly. The Constitution is framed on the classic "separation of powers" precept, although as with other Westminster system constitutions, there is a blurring of the distinctions between legislature and executive. ==Constitutional history== (詳細はformer colonial legislatures and executive councils, there are few direct records remaining in relation to those provisions. From 1901, when the original Legislative Council was formally dissolved,〔Constitution (Virgin Islands) Act, 1902.〕 until 1950 the Territory was officially administered as part of the Leeward Islands Federation through the Governor of the Leeward Islands. Following civil unrest in 1947 the Territory was granted its first modern written constitution in 1950,〔Constitution (Virgin Islands) Act, 1950.〕 although at this time it still remained part of the wider Federal Colony of the Leeward Islands. The main purpose of the 1950 Constitution was to re-devolve power back to the reformed Legislative Council in the British Virgin Islands from the Governor of the Leeward Islands. Historically it is regarded a holding measure. It was famously described by McWelling Todman QC as "an instrument minimal in its intent and its effect." Historically it was a part of the process that eventually led to the more fundamental constitutional change. In 1954 the Constitution and Elections Act, 1954 was passed, which provided for universal adult suffrage for the first time in the Territory's history (the 1950 general election had been conducted on the basis of votes of landowners who were able to pass a literacy test - scarcely a representative sample of the population as a whole in 1950). The British Government had hoped that after the Leeward Islands Federation was abolished in 1956 the British Virgin Islands would join the new Federation of the West Indies, but there was little enthusiasm for that, and so eventually the 1967 Constitution was promulgated.〔Virgin Islands (Constitution) Order, 1967 (SI No 471 of 1967).〕 The 1967 Constitution was eventually replaced by a revised and updated Constitution which came into force on 1 June 1977,〔Virgin Islands (Constitution) Order, 1976 (SI No 2145 of 1976).〕 and the 1976 Constitution was amended at various points, including in 1994 pursuant to the Elections Act, 1994 to introduce "at-large" representatives into the legislature. The 1976 constitution was in turn superseded in 2007 by the current form which came into force on 15 June 2007. 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 the British Virgin Islands」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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