Presidential Decrees

Presidential Decrees
Name	Presidential Decrees
Caption	Official proclamation
Type	Executive instrument
Jurisdiction	Various states

Presidential Decrees Presidential decrees are executive instruments issued by heads of state such as President of the United States, President of France, President of Russia, President of Turkey that carry legal or administrative effect within national systems like United States Constitution, French Fifth Republic, Russian Constitution of 1993, Turkish Constitution of 1982. They intersect with statutes such as the Administrative Procedure Act, Code Napoléon, Civil Code (Russia), and measures under emergency frameworks like the National Emergencies Act and the State of Emergency (Poland).

Definition and Legal Basis

A decree is typically authorized by constitutions such as the Constitution of India, Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, Constitution of Italy, Constitution of Japan or by statutes like the Emergency Powers Act (UK), Presidential Decree No. 1081 (Philippines), Organic Law on the Presidency (Chile), linking to institutions including the Supreme Court of the United States, Conseil d'État (France), Constitutional Court of Turkey, Supreme Court of India which adjudicate validity. Decrees may derive force from instruments like the Royal Prerogative (United Kingdom), Provisional Authority (Iraq), Decree-Law (Portugal), and are contrasted with instruments from Congress of the United States, Parliament of the United Kingdom, Bundestag, National Assembly of France.

Historical Development

The practice evolved from monarchical precedents—Louis XIV, Napoleon Bonaparte, Tsar Nicholas II—through revolutionary regimes such as the French Revolution, October Revolution, Mexican Revolution, and modern constitutional arrangements seen in Weimar Republic, Second Spanish Republic, Portuguese First Republic. Twentieth-century expansions occurred during crises like World War I, World War II, Cold War, and decolonization contexts including Indian Independence Act 1947, Algerian War, Kenyan Emergency (1952). Key turning points involve decisions by leaders such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Charles de Gaulle, Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and legal responses in cases like Marbury v. Madison, Golitsyn Case, Emergency Powers Act 1939 (UK).

Types and Forms of Decrees

Decrees appear as types like executive orders, presidential proclamations, decree-laws, ordinances, statutory instruments (United Kingdom), regulations, administrative orders, firmans in Ottoman contexts, and ukases in Imperial Russia. Variants include emergency decrees, amnesty decrees, land reform decrees such as those after Mexican Revolution (1910–1920), agrarian reform in Chile, and Decree 900 (Guatemala). Instruments also resemble preambles in United Nations Charter implementations, treaty ratification instruments like those for the Treaty of Versailles, Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and executive commutation or pardon orders.

Scope of Authority and Limits

Scope is bounded by texts and institutions such as the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Supreme Court of the Philippines, European Court of Human Rights, and doctrines like separation of powers, checks and balances, rule of law invoked in disputes involving legislative supremacy (United Kingdom) or judicial review (United States). Limits appear in instruments like the Bill of Rights 1689, amendments including the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, and international obligations under treaties such as the Geneva Conventions, European Convention on Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Controversies have involved figures such as Pierre Laval, Benito Mussolini, Fidel Castro, Augusto Pinochet.

Procedure for Issuance and Publication

Procedures are codified in texts like the Federal Register (United States), Journal Officiel de la République Française, Official Gazette (Russia), Gazette of India, and involve bodies such as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Council of Ministers (France), Federal Cabinet (Germany), Presidential Administration of Russia. Steps range from drafting by ministries like the Ministry of Justice (France), U.S. Department of Justice, review by advisory organs such as the Council of State (France), Office of Legal Counsel (United States), signature by the head of state, and promulgation through public registers like the Official Journal of the European Union.

Judicial Review and Challenges

Courts including the Supreme Court of the United States, Constitutional Court of Italy, Constitutional Court of Spain, Constitutional Court of Korea hear challenges citing precedents like Marbury v. Madison, Kelsen's norm hierarchy, Basic Structure doctrine cases in India including Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, and modern rulings such as United States v. Nixon, R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, Plaintiff M70/2011 v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (Australia). Remedies include annulment, injunctions, and declaratory judgments applied in disputes involving administrations led by Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron, Vladimir Putin.

Comparative Practices by Country

Practices vary: in the United States instruments like Executive Order 9066 contrast with France's reliance on ordonnances under Article 38 of the Constitution of France, Russia uses federal constitutional laws and presidential decrees, Turkey issues decrees under Statutory Decrees (Turkey), Philippines had Proclamation No. 1081 under Ferdinand Marcos. Other systems include Brazil's provisional measures, Argentina's decretos de necesidad y urgencia, Mexico's decretos legislativos, Japan's imperial rescripts post-Meiji Restoration, South Africa's post-apartheid constitutional constraints, and China's State Council regulations under Chinese Communist Party leadership.

Category:Executive orders