In the constitutional monarchies, the royal sanction is an act by which the monarch or his representative approves a legislation adopted by the Parlement. Usually the monarch is obliged by the tradition or the law to sanction all the laws adopted by the Parliament and it thus acts of a simple formality.

Belgium

In Belgium, the royal sanction is the act by which the King mark his formal agreement with the Loi by affixing its signature there. No time is fixed for the royal sanction. The federal government is responsible in the event of refusal for the king to sanction a law.

The King promulgates the law. As a chief of the executive power, the king confirms the existence of the law and orders his execution.

The case of the refusal of the king to sanction a law occurred once in all the Histoire of Belgium. During the publication of the law on the conditional De-penalization of the Abortion, the king Baudouin makes known by letter with the Prime Minister the serious problem of Conscience which the sanction of this law and its will poses to him to find a formula making it possible to take into account its problem of conscience while ensuring the work of the democratic institutions.

The April 4th 1990, the Council of Ministers notes the impossiblity to reign of the king. An special edition of the Belgian Moniteur containing the text of the law promulgée and sanctioned by the ministers brought together in council is published. Thirty-six hours later, the joined together Chambres note that the impossiblity to reign ended and the king finds the plenitude of his attributions.

The Commonwealth

In the countries of the the Commonwealth whose British monarch is the Head of State, the royal sanction is granted by the General governor. With the Canada, the provincial laws are sanctioned by the Lieutenant governor of the province.

France

The France knew the mechanism of the royal sanction for one short period, under the Révolution. After the General states became the constituent National Assembly, the decisions which it adopts (called decrees) are presented to the king which sanctions them, on the British model.

The Constitution of 1791 officializes this practice to which it devotes section III of chapter III of title III. The question of knowing if it were advisable to grant to the king a right to veto was lengthily discussed within the Constituent one, between the “traditionalists” (in favor of the veto) and the “innovators”. It is finally the option of the veto which was retained:

The decrees of the legislative Body are presented to the king, who can refuse his assent to them| Constitution of 1791, title III, chap. III, section III, Article 1st

The time limit to the king for the sanction of the decrees was two months. The refusal by the king to sanction could be moved by the non-observance of the forms of its adoption, but generally it was about an initiative of the king who did not approve the terms of them. The veto of the king was suspensive but could last the space of two Législature S, that is to say four years.

Certain decrees however were not subjected to the royal sanction: it was thus internal measurements at the assembly (verification of the credentials of its members, exercise of the police force on the meeting rooms), but also of the laws establishing the public contributions:

The decrees of the legislative Body concerning the establishment, the extension and the perception of the public contributions, will carry the name and the heading of laws. They will be promulgated and carried out without being prone to the sanction , if it is not for the provisions which would establish sorrows other than pecuniary fines and constraints| Constitution of 1791, title III, chap. III, section III, Article 8

The Constitution then distinguishes the sanction from the Promulgation, of which it is question in chapter IV of title III (“Of the executive power”): the decrees subjected to royal sanction are initially sanctioned, then promulgated, those which are not subjected there are simply promulgated.

The following modes, even with a king or a Emperor, will not also clearly take again the distinction between “sanction” and “promulgation”, the two operations tending to merge since the idea of a right to veto is rejected:

The king alone sanctions and promulgates the laws| Charter of 1814, Article 22; Charter of 1830, Article 18

Random links:

Duchy of Savoy | Dogon | Erwin Komenda | Comentarios Reales of los Incas | Opakua