9 May 1877

On this day, 128 years ago (i.e., on 9/21 May 1877), the Parliament of Romania has passed the law declaring the independence of Romania.

However it is unclear to me when the independence was really declared? More precisely, I do not know what did the law say regarding the date when the independence came into force?

Was it on the day of the voting, i.e., on 9/21 May 1877?

Was it specified to be on 10/22 May 1877, on the 11th anniversary of Carol I being proclaimed Prince of Romania?

Was it on the day when Prince Carol I sanctioned the law, which happened to be 10/22 May 1877?

The Romanian Army concentrated at Calafat as the Russian Army continued to concentrate in the romanian ports.
On April 27th the romanian batteries in Calafat exchanged shots with the turkish batteries in Vidin.
On April 29th, another exchange occurred between the romanian batteries in Oltenita and the turkish monitors and batteries in Turtucaia.
The following day, the romanian Foreign Minister announced in the Assembly that diplomatic relations with Turkey have been broken. The Assembly passed the motion.

Between this period and the first days of May, after other incidents of this kind (the turks also sank any romanian ship on the Danube, trying to prevent their use by the advancing russians), parliament passed the following resolution:

" Whereas Turkey, by her conduct and aggressive acts against Romania has severed the ancient ties which united us, thus placing herself in state of war with Romania.
Taking notice of the Declaration of the Gpvernment that the Romanian guns have replied to those of Turkey;
Maintaining that the state of war of Romania is occasioned solely by the Ottoman Empire;
Parliament approves the action of the Government in view of the provocation offered by Turkey, continuing to rely on the support of the Guaranteeing Powers who, by the Treaty of Paris, have taken under their protection the political individuality of the Romanian State in such a manner that, by the future peace Romania shall obtain a well defined and independent position."

It seems this resolution was passed on May 2nd, but I dont have the exact date.

Nevertheless, on May 9th, the Chamber passed this resolution:

" Satisfied by the explanation of the Government respecting the course it has taken pursuant to our resolutions of the 10th instant, the Chamber declares that the War between Romania and Turkey, the rupture of our ties with the Porte and the absolute Independance of Romania, have now received their official sanction, relying upon the justice of the Guaranteeing Powers, passes to the order of the day. "

The Senate passed the same resolution.

About the "coincidence".
Apparently the russian troops started to go over the Danube on May 8th. So I dont think the proclamations could have been postponed until after May 11th.
Yet, the coincidence was well "received".

A grand reception at the palace, grand duke Nicholas came in Bucharest etc.

The Vice-President of the Senate had the following speech:

" When Your Highness, 11 years ago, ascended the throne of Romania, You promised to work miracles for your people.
The time has come to do so. Where there is a just cause and power, there is wisdom in daring.
Dare, dare son of the Great Frederick! Enter with the faith of those chosen by God into the path of the salvation of the Fatherland.
Europe together with us, will greet Your Highness, with veneration and love, the great king of Romania."

overall source: "Independenta Romaniei.Documente" vol.2

p.s. if you have more questions about the event, feel free to ask, there are a lot of documents in these volumes, and I might be of assistance.

take care

Thanks for the reply. It gives the succession of events in the spring of 1877 and it confirms that the resolution/law declaring the independence of Romania has been passed by the Parliament of Romania on 9/21 May 1877. The question that still remains is about the date when it came into force: 9/21 May 1877 or 10/22 May 1877. What does your book say about it?

Well, the book is full of documents, without any commentaries on them, so if I am to post something I have to do a little research, like I did previously.
But maybe its not necessary to look it up, doesnt the fact that the 2 chambers of Parliament passed the resolution, mean that it came into force?
Ofcourse, if we are to be extremely legalistic, maybe the answer would be "at the date when it was published in Monitorul Oficial" (if they had it at the time).
But, de facto, it came into force on May 9th.

take care

I am not a lawyer, so I may be mistaken, but as far as I know, a law does come into force unless sanctioned by the head of the state as the representative of sovereign power (see also the situation with the 1918 Treaty of Bucharest not sanctioned by King Ferdinand). From this point of view, the resolution declaring the independence of Romania was therefore not valid until sanctioned by Prince Carol I.

Leaving this aside, on most laws it is mentioned that they will come into force either on a specified date, on the date they are sanctioned by the head of state or on the date they are published in the Official Gazette. Thus, appearing in the Official Gazette seems only a measure to making the law known, not a prerequisite for its validity.

Finally, yes, Romania had an Official Gazette in 1877 (see here for example).

Carol I expressed views in that direction before.
However, there is a document listed saying that on May 11th Carol I answered affirmatively to the delegation of the Assembly, accepting to try and obtain the necessary recognition of the Independance from the Great Powers.

That could be seen as the sanction.

No, legally speaking a law though passed through the legislature is not valid until brought to general knowledge through publication.

p.s. I wanted to post some articles from the 1866 Constitution, but I changed my mind. They show an acceptable check on the King's power in relation to the representative bodies. Carol I could not have opposed the sanction of the Independence decree.
But indeed, that doesnt answer directly to your precise date question.

I that date is de facto May 9th, and de jure, May 11th.

This post has been edited by Imperialist on June 18, 2005 11:11 pm

Thanks for the reply. I think it answers many questions.

Regarding the date, for many years it has been stated that the independence of Romania has been proclaimed on 9 May 1877 (statement backed by the resolution of the chambers of the Parliament passed on that very date). More recently however it has been mentioned that the Independence Day has in fact been 10 May on the grounds that 10 May 1877 was the date when Prince Carol I sanctioned the resolution of the Parliament and hence the date it entered into force. However, the stipulations of the 1866 Constitution you mentioned seem to take the weight of this claim. Furthermore, the document mentioning the date of 11 May 1877 for the official reply of Prince Carol I to the resolution of the Parliament seems to dismiss completely the 10th of May hypothesis.

OK, for the sake of complete clarity, the document I mentioned is a telegram from Serbia's diplomatic agent in Bucharest, M.A. Petronievici to the Serbian foreign affairs minister Iovan Ristici. Its date is May 11th. I think he sent it the very day he heard Carol's declaration, because it lacks any other time mention (like "yesterday, Carol I....") present in many other diplomatic messages.
So, yes I think May 11th is the correct date.

As for the constitution, its main point was that the powers of the state are derived from the people, and their will is expressed through the representative bodies. I dont think in a question so fundamental the king could have refused to sanction, though theoretically he had that option.

take care

Thanks for the update. If you (or in fact anyone else) would find more information on this topic, I would appreciate if it would be posted here.