Op. Ed

Monica Azzad
January 31, 2013
Luxembourg Legal System
Luxembourg has a constitutional monarchy under a civil law system. Their legislative and executive branches share power but their judiciary branch is completely separate and holds its own power completely without having to share it. They have a Constitutional Court which is the highest court in the judiciary branch. This court interprets laws that the legislative branch request to decide if they are constitutional or not. Under the Constitutional court, there are two different branches which are the judicial order and the administrative order. The judicial order includes the magistrates’ court, the district courts, and the Supreme Court of Justice. In the administrative order, there is the administrative tribunal and administrative court.
In Luxembourg, citizens don’t vote on new laws since it is a constitutional monarchy. Having a unicameral legislative branch, Parliament votes on a draft of a new law and they vote on it again after about three months. They get to vote on it until after the Council of State has given Parliament their opinion on it. Once Parliament has decided to adapt the new law, it becomes absolute and then is sent to the Grand Duke and finally published in The Memorial (Luxembourg’s official journal). Although their citizens can’t vote on laws, they can vote on legislative elections. In these elections, voting is very enforced and all the people that are eligible are obligated to vote. There have been very few amendments to Luxembourg’s Constitution but they would have to go through Parliament and the Prime Minister also more recently holds more legislative power than the Grand Duke so the Prime Minister is able to make a law and propose it to Parliament himself.
Citizens don’t hold much power over the laws and changing the laws since it is a unicameral process and Parliament with its divisions and its councils hold the power to change the law. The people of Luxembourg aren’t too upset over that since they do get to vote on the people they want to represent them in the councils. They are very involved in those elections and it is possible for a person that isn’t a citizen of Luxembourg to take part in the voting process. The citizens haven’t really ever had the chance of voting for the laws so they probably don’t get too upset about it since they don’t know what it’s like to hold that privilege.

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Kristen Tucker
January 30, 2013
Legal System in the Vatican City State
As the world’s smallest recognized nation, the Vatican has a very unique way of functioning. A majority of the Vatican’s small population is clergymen, but it sees millions of tourists annually, not including the frequent Italian residents in the city. It must also be concerned with the Catholic Church universally. The Vatican has created a legal system that combines all of the needs of its constituencies.
The Vatican has two main sources for the creation of laws: the Code of Canon Law and Italian municipal laws. Because it is the religious center of the Catholic Church, the Vatican relies on Canon Law—the basis of most Christian governments—for a majority of their laws. Another religious influence is definitely the Pope. As the head of the Church, he is also head of the nation. “[He] holds legislative, executive and judiciary powers” (qtd. in France-Presse) He also holds the power to pardon anyone tried in Vatican courts. On the other hand, because the Vatican is located Rome, Italy, it has adopted many aspects from Italian legislature and judiciary. In fact, most crimes in the Vatican are handed over to the Italian legal system to be tried and early in the Vatican’s independence, its courts tried more Italian citizens that its own. These two often collide on civil laws pertaining to issues such as abortion and divorce, which the Vatican does not use. Otherwise these major factors combine to create the Vatican’s Fundamental Laws.
The creation of law in this small city state is a very inclusive process. The Fundamental Law calls for any new ordinances to be created within its own constraints by the Pontifical Commission of Pope-appointed cardinals. The Commission must also consult with the Councilors of the State and any other organization within the State that the new law might affect. Although this process seems to exclude the will of the people, the majority of Vatican citizens are members of the Church and therefore, well represented in the creation of new laws. Much like the American Constitution, the Fundamental Law provides provisions and limitations for a changing society. In recent years the Vatican has made multiple revisions to the law, and has become more prevalent in the trials of crime in the country.
The Vatican’s religious status, geographical location, and small size make for a distinctive nation, and in that nation, a distinct legal system.

Sources
"Luxembourg, a Constitutional Monarchy under a System of Parliamentary Democracy." Luxembourg Presidency -. N.p., 29 Dec. 2004. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.
"Moving to Luxembourg." Interdean. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.
&quhttps://mazzad96.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/luxembourg-flag.pngot;Central Intelligence Agency." CIA. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

Monica Azzad
February 8, 2013
Political System in Luxembourg

Luxembourg functions under a parliamentary democracy which the executive power held by the Grand Duke and his cabinet called the Council of Government. This council includes the Prime Minister who actually head of Parliament and is also the leader of the political party or parties that make up the majority in Parliament. This party is called the Chamber of Deputies who holds legislative power and these members are elected to a 5-year term and these officials are elected by the citizens of Luxembourg. The second body that makes up Parliament is the Council of State and it is composed of 21 people selected by the Grand Duke and their role in the government is to help the Chamber of Deputies make new laws and put them into effect.

Even from the medieval times Luxembourg has always had a Grand Duke be the main power holder in the country and he still holds the most power in modern day. Luxembourg was an independent county of the Roman Empire but when Emperor Charles IV took power he promoted them to the status of a “duchy” or a sovereign territory ruled by a duke or duchess. Before they got independence they were just a territory belonging to the Romans but they still had a royal family that helped rule Luxembourg. During World War I, the citizens of Luxembourg that made up a pretty strong minority were demanding for the country to turn into a republic, but in the end it remained a duchy and the Grand Duke was still in power.

There haven’t been any changes in the way the political system is set up but there are several political parties that have been formed in recent years that have some power and purpose in the government. The oldest party is the Christian Social People’s Party and since the end of World War ll it has been the dominant party and shows some similarities to other Christian Democratic parties that are present in Western Europe. Another political party is the Democratic Party. This party gets support from working middle class people and people who specialize in a certain job. They believe in minimum government involvement in the government and they are often partners with the Christian Social People’s Party, especially after World War ll.

“Luxembourg: Government.” GlobalEDGE: Your Source for Global Business Knowledge. Michigan State University, Apr. 2012. Web. 07 Feb. 2013.

“Luxembourg, a Constitutional Monarchy under a System of Parliamentary Democracy.” Luxembourg Presidency -. N.p., 29 Dec. 2004. Web. 08 Feb. 2013.

“Luxembourg Government and Politics.” Luxembourg Government and Politics. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2013

Kristen Tucker
February 15, 2013
Economic System in the Vatican

The economic system in the Holy See is something of an anomaly in the grand scheme of the international economy. Its miniscule population and solely religious purpose does not call for the complex economies that we see in most sovereign nations. In fact, the Vatican City State has a majorly noncomercial and not-for-profit economy.

The Vatican’s economy has four main sources of income. These are Peter’s Pence, tourism, small manufacturing enterprises, and international banking. Peter’s Pence, which are donations for Catholic churches international, and tourism are its largest sources. The Vatican sees millions of tourist who pay to visit the many churches and museums that the nation has to offer. These tourist also fuel the small enterprises that produce souvenirs such as stamps, coins, and other mementos. These enterprises also produce goods like uniforms and reading material for the Church. Its expenditures focus mainly on the upkeep of the state’s chuches and museums.

With this economic organization, it is diffcult to classify it by definition of most economic systems. The one that probably best describes the Vatican is state capitalism. This is because there are few businesses that are not a part of the Catholic Church, which is the national government. They are, however, tighly connected. This means that the government controls most or all of the economy. Most of the small labor force that work in these businesses are not residents of the Vatican. This makes the economic definition even more befuddling because the country does not own a large percentage of it factors of production. The purpose of their economic system is purely for sustaining and maintaining the state. The Vatican’s difference between its income and its expenditures are very small. In fact, they are currently operating at a deficit. Some repercussions of their system is there many limitations. The Vatican was recently reprimanded for some issues between the IOR (also known as the Vatican Bank) and the Bank of Italy. They were cut of from the bank, so the Vatican is currently a cash-only society. There have also been some political issues international, especially recently when Pope Bennedict XVI called for the creation of a new authority to regulate the wold economy and denounced the the “profit-at-all-cost” mentality of many countries’ economies. These statement came underfire from many who discredit the Vatican for its small economy and recent bank scandal.

Monica Azzad
2/25/13
Spain Economic System