Duty of Loyalty to the State or the ‘Polish Section’ in the 1937 Estonian Constitution

Abstract

There is a common comparison between the constitutions of the authoritarian regimes of Poland (1935) and Estonia (1937). The ideological model of the 1937 Estonian Constitution, especially in the section on loyalty to the state, was the 1935 Polish Constitution; for this reason, this section was also called the ‘Polish Section’. Compared to the first, 1920 Estonian Constitution, the 1937 Constitution was much more restrictive of basic rights, in particular through its general orientation and attitude. It was precisely in this that the so-called “loyalty to the state” section (§ 8) played a special role, affecting the whole chapter by its very nature, because it could, in its wording – and according to the example of Poland – constitute a general border clause on fundamental rights and freedoms. This article analyses specifically the ‘loyalty to the state’ section but first a short overview about historical background will be given. Secondly, the drafting of the section 8 of the Estonian Constitutions in the committees’ will be described and analysed, and thirdly, the discussions in the National Assembly will be summarized.