임시정부기·해방기 헌법문서와 조소앙의 헌법사상

Jo So-ang’s Constitutional Thoughts as revealed in the Constitutional Documents during the Provisional Government and the Immediate Post-liberation Period

Jo So-ang (1887～1958), as a nationalist who accepted socialism on the basis of traditional neo-confucianism, played a leading role in the development of constitutionalism in Korea. During the Provisional Government (1919～1945), he drafted Imsiheonjang (Provisional Charter) of 1919 and Geongukgangryeong (Principles and Plans for National Reconstruction) of 1941. He was the supposed drafter of Imsiyakheon (Provisional Draft of the Constitution) of 1940, and served as Chairperson of the Constitutional Amendment Drafting Committee which drafted Imsiheonjang (Provisional Charter) of 1944. During the immediate post-liberation period (1945～1948), he was said to have participated in drafting Minjuuiwon’s (Representative Democratic Council’s) Imsiheonbeop (Provisional Constitution) of 1946. One of the most important contributions of Jo So-ang to the development of constitutionalism in Korea, was the first article of Imsiheonjang of 1919, which provided that “Daehanminguk (Republic of Korea) shall be a democratic republic.” In that article, he named the newly-born republic as Daehanminguk and characterized her as a democratic republic. As established in the second article of Imsiheonjang of 1919 that “Daehanminguk shall be governed under the decision of the Provisional Congress”, he maintained that the newly-born republic should be governed in a “consensual” way of democracy. Hnot only the supremacy of the legislative over the executive, but also the government-by-committee system of the executive branch. Jo So-ang’s foremost contribution to the past and current Constitutions of Korea was the provision of social welfare rights. In the constitutional drafts of his own writing, social welfare rights were listed at the top of the bill of rights.