constitution very very long answer
Answers
Every state has a constitution of its own, like every game having some rules of its own. Football has one set of rules and the cricket has a different set of rules. These rules for the state are called the constitutions. These rules are there to fix the structure of the supreme government. Every state must have a constitution, since every state functions on the basis of certain rules and principles.
In the broadest sense, a constitution is the fundamental body of rules governing the affairs of an organised group. Thus a parliament, a church, a social club or a trade union may operate under the terms of a formal written document called the constitution.
The provisions made in the constitution are considered to be basic. So the presiding officer of a club must hold that a proposal is out of order if it runs contrary to the provisions of its constitution.
Every national state has a constitution for the purpose of operating its important institutions according to some fundamental body of rules. In that sense, the only alternative to a constitution is a jungle life or a condition of anarchy.
The constitution is the fundamental law that not only determines the powers and responsibilities of the state but reflects the will of the people also. For R. M. MacIver, constitution is “that law which governs the state and which represents the will beyond that of the state.”
To Theodore Dwight Woolsey, it is a “Collection of principles according to which the powers of the government and the rights of the governed are determined and the relation between the two adjusted”.
Albert Venn Dicey’s definition of the constitution is “All rules which directly or indirectly affect the distribution or the exercise of sovereign power in the state”. Herman Finer’s concept of the constitution is precise – “A system of fundamental political institution”.
The accumulated material and the spiritual circumstances of the time are mirrored through the constitution. The political philosophy of the people and their time are reflected through the constitution. With the change in the philosophy of the people the constitution also changes. The constitution is the key to the forms of the government.
As R. G. Gettel rightly observes:
“The fundamental principles that determine the form of a state are called its constitution”.
According to Herman Finer:
“Constitutions are codes of rules which aspire to regulate the allocation of functions, powers and duties among the various agencies and offices of the government and define the relationships between these and the public”. The constitution may be a single document and it may be also some rules, maxims and conventions. So every constitution contains some written provisions and also some unwritten conventions.
The above account tells us that a constitution should possess the following attributes:
(i) It should lay down the powers of the government and the different organs of the government like the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.
(ii) In a federation the constitution distributes the powers between the federal authority and the units.
(iii) The constitution also deals with the rights and duties of the citizens.