Constitution of Costa Rica

Costa Rica's constitution was approved on 7 November 1949 and took effect the next day, drafted by a Constituent Assembly convened after the 1948 civil war under the oversight of Jose Figueres Ferrer, and it replaced the long-serving 1871 constitution, using that earlier document as a starting point for debate. Its original text of 199 articles across 18 titles established a unicameral Legislative Assembly of 45 deputies and a president serving a four-year term without consecutive reelection, and its article 12 abolished the Costa Rican military, making Costa Rica only the second nation after Japan to eliminate its standing army by constitutional provision.