From 1990 to 2020 there have been at least 272 impeachment charges against 132 different heads of state in 63 countries. Impeachment is provided for in the constitutional laws of many countries including Brazil, France, India, Ireland, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. Most commonly, an official is considered impeached after the lower house votes to accept the charges, and impeachment itself does not strip the official of any powers. In many Latin American jurisdictions impeachment refers to the more broad process including the trial and conviction.
About Impeachment in brief
From 1990 to 2020 there have been at least 272 impeachment charges against 132 different heads of state in 63 countries. Impeachment is provided for in the constitutional laws of many countries including Brazil, France, India, Ireland, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. Most commonly, an official is considered impeached after the lower house votes to accept the charges, and impeachment itself does not strip the official of any powers. In many Latin American jurisdictions impeachment refers to the more broad process including the trial and conviction, thus an official charged and acquitted has not been impeached. The Prime Minister of Australia cannot be impeached by the Australian Parliament, but they can be replaced, a similar practice to impeachment in the U.S. Since 2007, Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull have all been removed as prime minister. The Austrian Federal president can be impeaching by the Federal Assembly before the Constitutional Court. The Australian constitution provides for the recall of the president of the country for a recall for the purposes of impeachment. The word ‘impeachment’ likely derives from Old French empeechier from Latin word impedīre expressing the idea of catching or ensnaring by the ‘foot’, and has analogues in the modern French verb empêcher and the modern English impede. Some contend that the word comes from the Latin impicare, that is the punishment that in Latin antiquity they gave to parricides, consisting of throwing them into the sea confined in a culleus, so that the water delayed in entering.
In West Africa, Kings of the Ashanti Empire who violated any of the oaths taken during his or her enstoolment, were destooled by Kingmakers. The process was first used by the English \”Good Parliament\” against William Latimer, 4th Baron Latimer in the second half of the 14th century. In the U States, for example, impeachment at the federal level is limited to those who may have committed \”Treason, Bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors\”. It is distinct from the motion of no confidence procedure available some countries whereby a motion of censure can be used to remove a government and its ministers from office. In many countries impeachment is a remedy to correct the office rather than a punishment for the official. For instance, if a king punished citizens arbitrarily or was exposed to be corrupt, he would be destooles. Once destooling from office, his sanctity and authority are lost as king; this includes Chief administrator, Judge, Military Commander and custodian of the land. He also loses the position as custodian. However, despite being destoolsed from the Royal Family, he remains a member of the Royal Royal Family despite being removed from his office and can be re-elected to the office of king. In Europe and Latin America impeachment tends to be confined to ministerial officials as the unique nature of their positions may place the minister beyond the reach of the law to prosecute.
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This page is based on the article Impeachment published in Wikipedia (as of Feb. 10, 2021) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
