[6] It lived under successive Burgundian, Spanish, French, Austrian sovereignty, until 1815 when the Congress of Vienna erected it into a grand duchy and assigned it to William I, King of the Netherlands.

[7] However, it was not annexed to the Kingdom of the Netherlands; instead, it formed a personal union within the German Confederation created by the Congress of Vienna.

[10] The written constitution is considered to be "evolutionary" in nature, and has continued to develop concurrently to historical and political events in Luxembourg over the last 200 years, instead of serving as a normative force.

It comprises 121 Articles, divided into 13 chapters, dedicated to describing the role of the Grand Duke, the rights and liberties of citizens and the power separation in the State.

[12] It specifically outlines the roles of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of Luxembourg's system of government, as well as the Conseil d'Etat, which is responsible for moderating parliamentary procedure with respect to the Constitution.

[9] The authoritarian regime prescribed by the 1841 Charter was not well received in Luxembourg society, prompting William II to succumb to demands for a revised, more liberal Constitution in 1848.

This is inspired by Article 147 of the Belgian Constitution which provides for a Court of Cassation to oversee uniformity and the legality of justice for the whole of Belgium.

According to Article 32, the Grand Duke, Henri Albert Gabriel Félix Marie Guillaume (2000 – present), exercises this sovereign power, conforming to this Constitution and to the laws of the country.

The Grand Duke's inviolability and unaccountability ensure the stability of the monarchical institution and his impartiality with respect to the political world.

According to Article 51 of the Constitution places the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg under a governmental regime of parliamentary democracy.

Hence, while Article 76 provides that the Grand Duke will regulate the organisation of the government, he is bound by the democratic principle in practice.

[12] Essentially, for an act issued by the Grand Duke to come into force, it must be countersigned by a member of the government who assumes full responsibility for it (Article 45).

[17] Luxembourg's parliament, known as the Chambre des Députés (Chamber of Deputies) represents the country and primarily exercises legislative power.

The Conseil d'Etat acts as the primary advisory organ and the 'guardian of the Constitution' and exercising a moderating function within the parliamentary procedure similar to that of a second chamber.

By establishing two systems, the constituent assembly has tried to avoid the ordinary courts' trespassing on the territory of the executive and thus infringing the principle of the separation of powers.

[21] However, the impact of a decision taken by the Constitutional Court's is strictly limited to the case which gave rise to the preliminary question.

The legislature has full discretion whether to take the decision forward and amend or annul a law the court has declared to be inconsistent with the Constitution.

The Constitution of Luxembourg is knowing for having a relatively short and fragmented chapter on fundamental rights, with some widely recognised principles missing.

Essentially, the Luxembourg Parliament was to approve a parliamentary initiative that, under certain conditions, would authorize euthanasia and medically assisted suicide.

The government believed that a decision of Parliament must be respected in all circumstances, so the disagreement between the Grand Duke and his ministers posed a constitutional question regarding who would prevail.

Ultimately, with the agreement of the Prime Minister and all members of Parliament, the Constitution was amended to reflect the abolishment of the right of assent.

In the aftermath of World War I, a national referendum confirmed the will of the Luxembourg population to remain a constitutional monarchy.

The Constitution also now explicitly stated that voters could express their views by referendum in cases and under conditions determined by law.

[9] Notably, these revisions to the Constitution cannot be of any legal significance until the legislature specifically implements measures that allow the courts to enforce them.

[9] Thus, Article 49 was introduced to hold that the exercise of powers reserved to the legislature, executive and judiciary may temporarily be vested by treaty in institutions governed by international law.

[28] In March 2007, Article 11 was amended in order to strengthen several human rights and to introduce new constitutional objectives such as protection of the environment.

[30] It was also intended to update the antiquated language used in the text and reduce the frequency of ad hoc revisions of the laws through amendments.

[32] In 2020, four separate "new" constitutional reform proposals, which split and repackaged the failed one, resurfaced to be analyzed and debated again.

[32] On 20 October 2021, the Luxembourg Parliament finally proceeded with a preliminary vote on the first of the four proposals on the constitutional reform of the judiciary.