ARTICLE XIII. TRANSITIONAL
Section 1. Existing Law to Continue
- Subject to this Constitution
- the existing law shall, until repealed or revoked, and subject to any amendment thereof, continue in force on and after the effective date of this Constitution;
- all rights, obligations and liabilities arising under the existing law shall continue to exist on and after the effective date of this Constitution and shall be recognized, exercised and enforced accordingly.
- Any right, obligation or liability expressly acquired on behalf of the people of the Republic of the Marshall Islands acting through their elected representatives shall become, on and after the effective date of this Constitution, a right, obligation or liability of the Government of the Republic.
- Nothing in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Section shall affect the extent to which any right, obligation or liability of the Administering Authority, or of the Government of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands or of the Marshall Islands District of the Trust Territory shall become, on and after the effective date of this Constitution, a right, obligation or liability of the Government of the Republic.
Section 2. Municipal Councils
Every Municipal Council, whether chartered or not, existing immediately before the effective date of this Constitution shall be a local government for the purpose of Article IX.
Section 3. Transition to Government under this Constitution
Notwithstanding any other provision in this Constitution, and only for so long as their terms require, this Constitution shall have effect subject to any transitional provisions either made as described in Section 5 of this Article by the Republic of the Marshall Islands Nitijela, or made as described in Section 7 of this Article by or pursuant to resolution of the Constitutional Convention, for the purpose of enabling any institution or officer of the government of the Marshall Islands District of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands to function, as from the effective date of this Constitution, as an institution or officer of the Government of the Republic, or for the purpose of otherwise enabling this Constitution to function in an orderly manner as from its effective date.
Section 4. Conformity with the Trusteeship Agreement
Notwithstanding any other provision in this Constitution, and only for so long as the Trusteeship Agreement extends to the Republic of the Marshall Islands as part of the law of the Republic, this Constitution shall have effect subject to any transitional provisions made as described in Section 5 of this Article by the Marshall Islands Nitijela for the purpose of enabling the government of the Republic under this Constitution to be conducted in conformity with the Trusteeship Agreement.
Section 5. Provisions made by the Republic of the Marshall Islands Nitijela
For all or any of the purposes referred to in Section 3 or Section 4 of this Article, the applicable transitional provisions shall be those made, before the effective date of this Constitution, by Act of the legislature of the Marshall Islands District of the Trustee Territory of the Pacific, known as the Marshall Islands Nitijela, confirmed by Order of the Secretary of the Interior of the United States.
Section 6. Implementation of a Compact of Free Association with the United States
For the purpose of achieving consistency between this Constitution and any provision of a Compact of Free Association between the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Government of the United States, and only for so long as that provision is in force, this Constitution shall have effect, notwithstanding any of its other provisions, subject to such provisions for that purpose as may be made by Act and be duly certified by the Speaker as having been approved by a majority of the votes validly cast in any plebiscite in which the people of the Republic also approve that Compact of Free Association.
Section 7. Residual Responsibility of the Constitutional Convention
If at any time before the effective date of this Constitution transitional provisions for all or any of the purposes referred to in Section 3 of this Article are adopted by or pursuant to a resolution of the Constitutional Convention, in the exercise of its responsibility to make adequate provision for the exercise of governmental functions, those transitional provisions shall have effect for all intents and purposes as part of this Constitution, and shall prevail over any inconsistent provision made as described in Section 5 of this Article.
