Since then Belgium has been a parliamentary monarchy that applies the principles of ministerial responsibility for the government policy and the separation of powers.

After the revolution's initial success, an elected National Congress was convened in November 1830 to create a devise a political order for the new state.

The members of the National Congress reflected a variety of political ideals, but the vast majority supported the "Union of Oppositions" which had emerged before the revolution.

As three modern historians describe: The 1831 constitution was [...] a compromise between the landowners and clergy on the one hand and the liberal middle class on the other.

[2] The result was a "carefully balanced compromise" that mixed some radical liberal aspects with a firmly conservative ethos.

The Constitution guaranteed the freedoms of expression, education, religion and of the press, though the franchise was severely limited by a property tax qualification.

Dicey, a British legal theorist, concluded that the Belgian document codified a number of conventions long established in the United Kingdom, saying that it "indeed comes very near to a written reproduction of the English constitution".

[6] It also inspired contemporary liberal movements in other European countries, including Denmark which adopted its first constitution in 1849 explicitly based on the Belgian precedent.

Hers was the constitution that 'had everything' – the sovereignty of the people clearly recognised, a monarch and a dynasty owing their position to having taken an oath to honour the constitution, a bicameral legislature, both houses of which were completely elected fay the people, an independent judiciary, a clergy paid by the state but independent of it, and a declaration of the rights of the citizen firmly based on the principles of 1776 and 1789, yet in a number of respects containing improvements upon these.

State reform in Belgium reconfigured the Belgian political system into on a federal model which entailed significant amendments to the original document.

Article 14 guarantees the application of the principle of nulla poena sine lege (Latin: "no penalty without a law").

Article 16 stipulates that no one can be deprived of his or her property except when it's in the public interest, in the cases and the manner the law prescribes, and that fair and prior compensation must be made.

However, Article 19 also determines that abuses of these freedoms can be punished, a principle which is controversially applied in the Belgian Holocaust denial law, which made it an offence to publicly "deny, minimise, justify or approve of the genocide committed by the German National Socialist regime during the Second World War".

Article 31 of the Constitution determines that no prior authorisation is required to prosecute civil servants for acts of their administration.

Article 32 stipulates that everyone has the right to consult any administrative document and to obtain a copy thereof, except as provided by law or decree.

Article 34 of the Constitution expressly stipulates that the exercise of certain powers or responsibilities can be attributed to international public institutions by treaty or by law.

Article 39 provides that a law adopted with a qualified majority can assign competencies to the regional organs which it establishes.

Article 40 vests the judicial power in the courts and tribunals and provides that their rulings and decisions are carried out in the King's name.

In order to be eligible for election one must have the Belgian nationality, have the full enjoyment of civil and political rights, be at least 21 years old and be resident in Belgium.

Article 74 determines the cases in which the federal legislative power is exercised only by the King and the Chamber of Representatives, and not by the Senate.

This means that both the members of the Chamber of Representatives or of the Senate and the King, in practice the Federal Government, have the right to propose bills.

Section III, titled The competences, defines the constitutional powers of the King, which are, in practice, exercised by the Federal Government.

It also stipulates that those who lose their right to the crown in this manner, can be restored to the line of succession with the consent of both Chambers of the Federal Parliament.

Again, a transitional provision was inserted in Title IX stipulating that the marriage of Princess Astrid of Belgium and Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este, is deemed to have received such consent.

The United Chambers also have to provide for the regency in two other cases, in accordance with Articles 92 and 93: if the successor to the throne is a minor or if the King is unable to reign.

Article 93 also stipulates that the ministers must establish the inability to reign and subsequently convene the Chambers of the Federal Parliament.

It also provides that, between the monarch's demise and the taking of the oath of his successor or the Regent, the constitutional powers of the King are exercised by the Council of Ministers, in the name of the Belgian people.

The Belgian Government subsequently declared him unable to reign on 4 April 1990 and the ministers signed and promulgated the bill instead.

In accordance with Article 87 of the Constitution, the King cannot simultaneously be the head of state of another country without the consent of both Chambers of the Federal Parliament.

This is done by means of two so-called Declarations of Revision of the Constitution, one adopted by the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate, and one signed by the King and the Federal Government.