San Marino’s constitutional history

San Marino traditionally dates its founding to 301, but this date comes from the legend of Saint Marinus rather than an uninterrupted documentary record of a state from that year. Its Statutes of 1600 remain an important foundation of its legal and constitutional order; together with the 1974 Declaration of Citizens’ Rights, they form the modern constitutional framework. The Statutes are often called the oldest written constitution still in force, although legal scholars debate whether the collection should be described as a single “constitution” in the modern sense.