ured legal rights for individuals
and constitutional checks on the authority of the prime minister and
also established the principle of parliamentary oversight; 1997
amendment streamlined the judicial system

Iceland:
16 June 1944, effective 17 June 1944

India:
26 January 1950

Indonesia:
August 1945, abrogated by Federal Constitution of 1949
and Provisional Constitution of 1950, restored 5 July 1959

Iran:
2-3 December 1979; revised 1989 to expand powers of the
presidency and eliminate the prime ministership

Iraq:
22 September 1968, effective 16 July 1970 (provisional
constitution); new constitution drafted in 1990 but not adopted

Ireland:
29 December 1937; adopted 1 July 1937 by plebiscite

Israel:
no formal constitution; some of the functions of a
constitution are filled by the Declaration of Establishment (1948),
the Basic Laws of the parliament (Knesset), and the Israeli
citizenship law

Italy:
1 January 1948

Jamaica:
6 August 1962

Japan:
3 May 1947

Jersey:
unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and practice

Jordan:
8 January 1952

Kazakhstan:
adopted by national referendum 30 August 1995; first
post-independence constitution was adopted 28 January 1993

Kenya:
12 December 1963, amended as a republic 1964; reissued with
amendments 1979, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, and 1997

Kiribati:
12 July 1979

Korea, North:
adopted 1948, completely revised 27 December 1972,
revised again in April 1992 and September 1998

Korea, South:
25 February 1988

Kuwait:
approved and promulgated 11 November 1962

Kyrgyzstan:
adopted 5 May 1993; note - amendment proposed by
President AKAYEV and passed in a national referendum on 10 February
1996 significantly expands the powers of the president at the
expense of the legislature

Laos:
promulgated 14 August 1991

Latvia:
the 1991 Constitutional Law which supplements the 1922
constitution, provides for basic rights and freedoms

Lebanon:
23 May 1926, amended a number of times, most recently
Charter of Lebanese National Reconciliation (Taif Accord) of October
1989

Lesotho:
2 April 1993

Liberia:
6 January 1986

Libya:
11 December 1969, amended 2 March 1977

Liechtenstein:
5 October 1921

Lithuania:
adopted 25 October 1992

Luxembourg:
17 October 1868, occasional revisions

Macau:
Basic Law, approved in March 1993 by