Constitution of Libya (1951)

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The 1951 Libyan Constitution was brought into force on October 7, 1951, prior to Libya's formal declaration of its independence on December 24, 1951^[1] as a constitutional and hereditary monarchy under the rulership of King Idris. The enactment of the Libyan Constitution was significant in that it was the first and only piece of legislation that formally entrenched the rights of Libyan citizens after the post-war creation of the Libyan nation state.^[2]

The Libyan National Assembly drafted the Constitution and passed a resolution accepting it in a meeting held in Benghazi on October 7, 1951. Mohamed Abulas’ad El-Alem, President of the National Assembly and the two Vice-Presidents of the National Assembly, Omar Faiek Shennib and Abu Baker Ahmed Abu Baker executed and submitted the Constitution to King Idris prior to its publication in the Official Gazette of Libya.

The enactment of the Libyan Constitution was significant in that it was the first piece of legislation to formally entrench the rights of Libyan citizens following the post-war creation of the Libyan nation state. Following on from the intense UN debates, during which Idris had argued that the creation of a single Libyan state would be of benefit to the regions of Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica, the Libyan government was keen to formulate a constitution which contained many of the entrenched rights common to European and North American nation states.

Following the "Green Revolution" military coup of September 1, 1969, led by Muammar Gaddafi, that overthrew the monarchy and the Libyan National Assembly, the Libyan Constitution was no longer in effect. The Green Book put forth by Gaddafi became the foundation of the laws of Libya.^{[citation needed]}