Statute of Sicily

The Statute of Sicily establishes the rule of Sicily as the Autonomous Region within the political unity of the Italian State and was issued by King Umberto II of Savoy, on 15 May 1946. Its enactment has thus preceded the birth of the Italian Constitution, which the statute would become an integral part on February 26, 1948.

The statute was drafted by a commission formed by politicians of the Committee of National Liberation accompanied by three teachers of the Law Faculty of the University of Palermo. The three lawyers make a crucial contribution and was in particular administrative cases expert Giovanni Salemi (one of the three lawyer) to treat the drafting of the entire text of the bill containing the Statute. The process which would create the Statute began May 13, 1945, a year before its enactment.

The principles constituting the text was intended to define the character of the Sicilian Region with great force. The new entity, in addition to being equipped with tangible assets like land and people, under the Statute also had intangible items such as power control. This power allowed the Sicilian Region for their own development and the right to adopt legal standards are major, assuming an identity that differentiates it from the State despite the commitment to maintain its political unity.

The statute stipulated that all state property and assets, except those involving the defense of the State or services of national character, go from the Italian state to the Sicilian Region and that it should provide for their financial needs with own taxes.

In the special statute was provided for the establishment of a High Court established in Rome appointed to ensure compliance with the limits of the different powers of the Region and State and the principles enshrined in the Constitution. The High Court, with one major ruling of July 19, 1948, enshrined the principle of the immutability of the statute with an ordinary law of the State. After ten years, its power to affirm a judicial review on laws has been stripped by Constitutional Court.[1]

The statute also establishes the governing bodies of the Region: the Sicilian Regional Assembly, the Executive and President of the Region.