1948년 국회의 법적 성격에 관한 연구

Abstract

This article aims at reviewing the character of the 1948 National Assembly

which made the first Korean Constitution. After the liberation from Japanese

colonial ruling, US Military Government began to rule South Korea on

September 11, 1945. During the US Military Government period, South Korea

tried to build a new sovereign nation. As the first step, the National Assembly,

which should make a constitution to build a nation, was composed of members

elected by universal, equal, direct ballot. This election was carried out on May

10, 1948.

The National Assembly began to work for making a constitution. It elected 30

members for drafting a constitution on June 1, 1948. The members of the

National Assembly deliberated and debated on the Draft from June 23. They

passed a vote of the Draft on July 12. The president of National Assembly

promulgated the first Constitution on July 17. The article 102 of this

Constitution prescribed that the National Assembly should be converted to a

legislative body.

It was usually said that the 1948 National Assembly had double characters as

a constituent assembly and a legislative body during its all period. However, my

opinion is this like understanding is not correct. In this article, I make the new

suggestion that the 1948 National Assembly had the character of a constituent

assembly from May 31 to July 17 and the character of a legislative body after

July 17, 1948. I made a comparison between Korea and US in a

constitution-making to clear up this point.