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Constitution
CONSTITUTION IS DEFINED AS:
“The body of those written or unwritten
fundamental laws which regulate the most important
rights of the higher magistrates and the most important essential privileges of the
subjects."
WHY DO WE NEED CONSITUTION?
To state how your
association is to be
structured
To detail the safeguards needed to
ensure that it operates fairly on
behalf of the whole
community
As a basic requirement to apply for
funding
Nature and Purpose of a Constitution
1) It serves as a supreme or fundamental law
• Charter that created a government•Binding all individual citizens and
parts of the government together as one• The ultimate law ; the law other
laws must abide by
• Test of legality by government officials
2) Establishes the basic framework and underlying principles of the
government• Prescribes the permanent framework
of the system of government, and assigns to the different department or branches, their respective powers and duties
• Establishes certain basic principles by which the government is founded
• Designed to preserve and protect the rights of the citizens against the powers of the state
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION
ACCORDING TO FORM
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION WRITTEN
CONSTITUTION
UNWRITTEN CONSITUTION
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION
Written constitution
• One which has been given definitive written form at particular time, usually by a specially constituted authority called a “constitutional convention”
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION
Unwritten Constitution• One which is entirely the product of political evolution,
consisting largely of a mass of customs, usages and judicial decisions together with a smaller body of statutory enactments of
fundamental character, usually bearing different dates.
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION
Pros and cons of a written constitution
• Pro: It has the advantage of clearness, definiteness, and rigidness that the unwritten doesn’t have. It cannot be easily altered.
• Con: It is difficult to make changes. To change, it requires to go through “charter changing” which may take a while before any changes can be made.
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION
ACCORDING TO
THEIR ORIGIN
KINDS
Conventional or Enacted
Cumulative or Evolved
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION
Conventional or Enacted Constitution
One is
enacted by a constituent assembly
or granted by a monarch
of his subject
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION
Japanese Constitution
Cumulative or Evolved
One which is a product of long growth or a long period of development originating in customs, traditions, judicial decisions, etc., rather than from a deliberate and formal enactment.
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION
ACCORDING TO
MANNER OF AMENDMENT
Kinds
•Rigid or inelastic•Flexible or elastic
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION
Rigid or Inelastic Constitution
• One regarded as a document of “special sanctity” which cannot be modified in the same manner as other laws except by some special machinery, more burdensome than the ordinary legislative process.
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION
Constitution Of the United States of America
Flexible or elastic
• One which possesses no higher legal authority than ordinary laws and which may be altered or amended in the same way as other laws.
Exercise
• Israel’s constitution is an accumulated body of documents and precedents, some of which date back to biblical times. Is the constitution of Israel enacted or evolved? Why?
• In Sweden, constitutional amendments must be passed by two successive legislatures, with a general election in between. As to amendment, is their constitution rigid or flexible? Why?
• The British Constitution consists of some laws passed by the Parliament and court decisions and no single document has been codified as constitution to set forth the basic principles of the organization of power. As to form, is the British Constitution written or unwritten? Why?
Thank you!