A Constitution "naturally expires at .the end of 19 years" wrote Thomas Jefferson, one of America's Founding Fathers, in 1789. This, he calculated, was the length of a generation. More than 200 years and 800 constitutions later, the life expectancy of a constitution proves indeed to be about 19 years. Some die much earlier. Egypt's latest one lasted just over six months. The committee now rewriting it seems to be on track to publish a draft on time, despite the tight 60 days it was given; the writers of Bhutan's first constitution, adopted in 2008, took three years.
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