Should a constitution always be written
Answers
Answer:
A constitution is an aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.[1]
Constitution of the Year XII (First French Republic)
When these principles are written down into a single document or set of legal documents, those documents may be said to embody a written constitution; if they are encompassed in a single comprehensive document, it is said to embody a codified constitution. The Constitution of the United Kingdom is a notable example of an uncodified constitution; it is instead written in numerous fundamental Acts of a legislature, court cases or treaties.[2]
Constitutions concern different levels of organizations, from sovereign countries to companies and unincorporated associations. A treaty which establishes an international organization is also its constitution, in that it would define how that organization is constituted. Within states, a constitution defines the principles upon which the state is based, the procedure in which laws are made and by whom. Some constitutions, especially codified constitutions, also act as limiters of state power, by establishing lines which a state's rulers cannot cross, such as fundamental rights.
The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any country in the world,[3] with 146,385 words[4] in its English-language version,[5] while the Constitution of Monaco is the shortest written constitution with 3,814 words.[6][4] The Constitution of San Marino might be the world's oldest active written constitution, since some of its core documents have been in operation since 1600, while the Constitution of the United States is the oldest active codified constitution. The historical life expectancy of a constitution since 1789 is approximately 19 years.[7]
Answer:
written constitution’ is a supreme and fundamental law. It is supreme in the sense that it is harder to change than ordinary law and prevails over ordinary law in case of incompatibility. It occupies a place at the apex of the hierarchy of legal norms, as the lex superior from which other laws derive their authority. It defines the state, proclaims its basic principles, protects the rights of citizens, establishes governing institutions, and regulates the relationship between them. An unwritten (or uncodified) constitution would be defined, as Lord Bolingbrooke once put it, as “the whole assemblage of laws, institutions, traditions, customs and practices that embody how we are governed”. Parts of that ‘unwritten constitution’ are of course written down, but that is immaterial: what they lack, and what makes the term ‘unwritten constitution’ as self–contradictory as an ‘unfloating boat’ or ‘inedible food’, is supreme and fundamental law status. Form and function can’t be separated.
Any great human endeavour – not least the governance of a democratic state – needs rules and principles by which to function. At the most basic level a written constitution will ensure that government is operated in accordance with rules and principles that are known, enforceable, and cannot be unilaterally changed by those in power. In the absence of these, all is arbitrary and chaotic – a pot–mess of ordinary statutes, conventions and traditions that can be changed at will by a government with a working majority in Parliament. An unwritten constitution cannot be sufficiently clear or explicit. It cannot be enforced and upheld against harmful transgressors, and it cannot be protected against hasty, self– interested and destructive changes.