Every country or state has their own constitutions just like some rules that every game has, the basis on which laws are enforced or made. It is actually a way or organizing relations between every individual that resides in the state and the government.
It is mainly distinguished by the acceptance of some of the written and some of the unwritten constitutions that performs as an elevated law which guarantees even against the government powers over certain human rights that people should never be deprived of for example their freedom, life, property, equality and the right to vote.
A suitable provision for amendment has been considered to be the very nature of a constitution. The word amendment has been used with respect to a constitution and it has all meanings which includes variation, revision, addition, alteration, repeal or deletion of any provision of a certain constitution with proper constitution process.
By the process of amendment every kind of change can be brought to a constitution. Also, if we talk in legal terms, the constitution never ends but rather it is amended. In the procedure described for amendment of constitution, there lies the essence of a written constitution.
In the broadest sense, a constitution can be described as the rules that governs the affairs of some organized groups. This includes a parliament, trade union, club or a church they all may operate under the terms of a written constitution or rules.
The constitution in a law that does not only determines the power and responsibility but also reflects the will of the people living in the state.
For Theodore Dwight Woolsey constitution is defined as, “Collection of principles according to which the power of the government and the rights of the governed are determined and the relation between the two adjusted.”
To R. G. Gettel constitution can be defined as, “The fundamental principles that determine the form of a state are called its constitution.”
For R. M. MacIver’s way of defining constitution is, “That law which governs the state and which represents the will beyond that of the state.”
To Herman Finer a constitution means, “A system of fundamental political institution.”
And to Albert Venn Dicey defines a constitution as, “All rules which directly or indirectly affect the distribution or the exercise of sovereign power in the state.”
A constitution is key to the forms of government and the political philosophy of the people and also their time are also reflected through a constitution, with the change in the people’s philosophy constitution also changes. Also, the material accumulated and the spiritual circumstances of the time are mirrored through a constitution.
The attributes the constitution should have are that it should lay down the powers of the government and the different organs of government such as legislature and judiciary. In a federation, it distributes the power between the federal authority and units and it also deals with the rights and duties of citizens.
A constitution should be kept stable and not changed too frequently and too easily. As it has a permanence that some ordinary law or Acts of Parliament does not has, it is the supreme source of power and the fundamental framework for political and legal institution.
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