[1] In the wake of the 1922 Dutch constitutional revision, in which the term "colony" was replaced by the term "overseas territory", the 1865 government regulation was replaced by the Basic Law of Suriname (Dutch: Staatsregeling van Suriname) on 1 April 1937.
After the Second World War, during which the Dutch government-in-exile had pledged to review the relationship between the Netherlands and its colonies, the Basic Law was extensively revised.
In March 1948, revisions to the Basic Law were adopted by Dutch parliament, which introduced universal suffrage for both men and women, which increased the membership of the Estates from 15 to 21, and which introduced a College of General Government (Dutch: College van Algemeen Bestuur) which was to assist the Governor in the everyday government of the colony, and which was the precursor to the Cabinet of Ministers.
A new Basic Law that reflected the new constitutional arrangements was adopted by the Estates of Suriname in 1955.
It was suspended after the 1980 Surinamese coup d'état and was replaced by the current constitution after being approved in a referendum held on 30 September 1987.