A constitution is a set of rules that guides how a country, state, or other political organization works. The vast majority of contemporary constitutions describe the basic principles of the state, the structure and processes of government, and the fundamental rights of citizens. The other laws of the government are not allowed to disagree with its constitution. The constitution may be amended or changed, but it cannot be unilaterally changed by ordinary law.
The content and nature of a particular constitution, as well as how it relates to the rest of the legal and political order, varies considerably between countries, and there is no universal and uncontested definition of a constitution. Nevertheless, any broadly accepted working definition of a constitution would likely include the following characteristics:
A constitution is a set of fundamental legal-political rules that:
Constitutions generate a set of inviolable principles and more specific provisions to which future law and government activity more generally must conform. This function, commonly termed constitutionalism, is vital to the functioning of democracy.
A second function that constitutions serve is the symbolic one of defining the nation and its goals.
A third and very practical function of constitutions is that they define patterns of authority and set up government institutions.
A constitution performs several functions:
The Ancient Greeks were the first people to think about constitutions. They established a form of democracy, in which some of the people had a say in how the government was run. However, for hundreds of years after this, most people were ruled by kings or queens. The people had no rights, and they had no say in how they were governed. Eventually, that began to change.
In 1215 the landowners in England were upset with their cruel and greedy ruler, King John. They banded together and forced the king to sign a document that guaranteed them certain rights. The document was called the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta served as a model for many future constitutions.
In the 1600s and 1700s, thinkers like John Locke in England and Jean-Jacques Rousseau in France wrote about an idea called the social contract. This idea states that people give up their freedom to do anything they want in return for the protection of a stable government.
The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any country in the world, while the Constitution of Monaco is the shortest written constitution. The Constitution of San Marino is the world's oldest active written constitution, having been established in 1600, while the Constitution of the United States is the oldest active codified constitution.
Today almost all countries have written constitutions. The most famous example of a country without a written constitution is the United Kingdom. The British constitution is a group of laws that have built up throughout history. Its elements include the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights of 1689, laws passed by Parliament, court decisions, and other sources.
Not all constitutions come from the people of the country. For example, the constitution of Japan was mostly drafted by American authors and reviewed and modified by Japanese scholars. This was formed after World War II.
And even the finest constitution does not guarantee that the government will follow it. Dictators, or rulers who take unlimited power, often ignore their country’s constitution.
Constitutions can be codified, uncodified, and mixed.
Codified means the constitution is written down in a single document. The most common example of this is the American constitution, drafted around 200 years ago, which is written down on a piece of paper and lays down the rights of American citizens and also the powers of her government.
An uncodified constitution in simple terms means it is unwritten and therefore comes from a variety of sources. For example, the UK’s constitution is an example of an uncodified constitution, and it could be found in royal prerogatives, conventions, common law, statute law, and famous written works by constitutional experts.
The main difference between the two is the variance in flexibility. While the codified constitution is rigid and ‘set in stone’, the uncodified constitution is adaptable to circumstances and emergencies that may develop in a country. This allows for changes to be made quickly and appropriately in line with the scale of the problem and a codified constitution can take much longer to amend.
As well as this, a codified constitution often states the rights of the country’s citizens so there is a degree of clarity. Whereas an uncodified constitution can lead to some confusion about how far an individual’s rights stretch.
Finally, it can be said that a written constitution keeps a tighter reign on the powers of those in charge and that an uncodified constitution gives much greater freedom and power to leaders. Once again taking the UK again as an example, the position of Prime Minister and their Cabinet are afforded great power by the constitution because they are members of both the Executive and the Legislature. In the USA, there is a clearer separation of powers and the President is only the Executive and his areas of influence are far less far-reaching.
Some constitutions are largely, but not wholly, codified. These are partially written, and called mixed constitutions. For example, the constitution of Australia and Canada.
No modern country can be governed from a single location only. Accordingly, all countries have at least two levels of government: central and local.
The distribution of powers between different levels of government is an important aspect of the constitutional organization of a state.
Depending on how a constitution organizes power between the central and subnational governments, a country may be said to possess either a unitary or federal system.
In a unitary government, the power is held by one central authority but in a federal government, the power is divided between the national government or federal government and local governments or state governments.
In a unitary system, although local governments may enjoy considerable autonomy, their powers are not accorded constitutional status; the central government determines which decisions to “devolve” to the local level and may abolish local governments if it so chooses.
Another important distinction between a unitary system and a federal one is that the states or provinces of a federal state have constitutionally protected sovereignty. Within a federal system, the state or provincial governments share sovereignty with the central government and have final jurisdiction over a broad range of policy areas.
Among states with two levels of government, distinctions can be made on the basis of the greater or lesser autonomy granted to the local level. The British government’s respect for local self-government has always been a characteristic of its constitution. In contrast, France traditionally had kept its local authorities under strict central control.
Federal government
Unitary government
Separation of powers is a doctrine of constitutional law under which the three branches of government - executive, legislative, and judicial, are kept separate. Each branch has separate powers, and generally, each branch is not allowed to exercise the powers of the other branches. This is also known as the system of checks and balances because each branch is given certain powers so as to check and balance the other branches.
A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of an entity like an organization, polity. Often amendments directly alter the text and included in the relevant sections of an existing constitution. Conversely, amendments can be added without altering the existing text of the document, as supplements appended to the constitution, these are called codicils.
A basic law or constitutional provision that makes certain amendments either more difficult or impossible to pass, making such amendments inadmissible. Overriding an entrenched clause may require a supermajority, a referendum, or the consent of the minority party. Most constitutions require that amendments cannot be enacted unless they have passed a special procedure that is more stringent than that required of ordinary legislation.
