Abstract
Constitution (from lat. constitutio – “device, establishment, addition”) is the basic law of the state, a special normative legal act that has the highest legal force. The constitution defines the foundations of the political, legal, and economic systems of the state. The constitution is the founding document of the state, which sets out the main goals of the creation of the state. In the vast majority of countries, the constitution is adopted by a constituent assembly or by referendum. The constitution is given the following legal designation: a normative legal act of the highest legal force of the state (or state-territorial commonwealth in interstate associations), fixing the foundations of the political, economic, and legal systems of this state or commonwealth, the foundations of the legal status of the state and the individual, their rights and obligations.
TopClassification
According to the form of the constitution, they are divided into two groups:
Written constitutions (constitutions in the formal sense) are either a single normative act (exist in the vast majority of countries), or a combination of several constitutional or organic laws (for example, the Constitution of Sweden, and the Constitution of Spain).
Unwritten constitutions consist of norms of a constitutional nature, “scattered” over a large number of acts, as well as those contained in constitutional customs (typical for the countries of the Anglo-Saxon legal family (except the USA), the British Constitution).
In turn, written constitutions are divided into:
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Codified (consisting of a single piece of legislation called the Constitution). An example is the constitutions of France, Russia, and the USA.
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Non-codified (consisting of laws, judicial precedents, legal customs, doctrines, and having a collective name “constitution” that is not fixed anywhere). These include the constitutions of New Zealand and Great Britain.
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Constitutions are drawn up and adopted:
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extremely convened parliament (constituent assembly) (e.g. French Constitution, 1947 Italian Constitution, 1948 Czechoslovak Constitution, 1946 Yugoslav Constitution, Romanian Constitution, 1946 Albanian Constitution, 1919 German Constitution, Greek Constitution, Bulgarian Constitution, Constitution Poland 1920 and 1952, Constitution of Norway;
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a regular parliament (for example, the Danish Constitution, the 1978 RSFSR Constitution, the 1968 Constitution of the GDR, the 1949 and 2011 Hungarian constitutions, and the 1997 Polish Constitution)
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Congress of Councils of Deputies (Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918, 1925, 1937)
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provisional parliament (Constitution of Czechoslovakia 1919, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany 1949, Constitution of the GDR 1949)
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by the people, bypassing elected bodies (French Constitution of 1958, Russian Constitution of 1993)
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the head of state (German Constitution of 1871, French Constitution of 1814, Italian Constitution of 1861, Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire of 1906);
Also, the constitution usually establishes the procedure for adopting amendments and additions. According to the order of adoption of amendments and additions, flexible, rigid, and combined constitutions are distinguished:
Key Terms in this Chapter
Constitution: An aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization, or another type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
Written Constitution: 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.
Democracy: Is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (“direct democracy”), or to choose governing officials to do so (“representative democracy”). Who is considered part of “the people” and how authority is shared among or delegated by the people has changed over time and at different rates in different countries, but over time more and more of a democratic country's inhabitants have generally been included. Cornerstones of democracy include freedom of assembly, association and speech, inclusiveness and equality, citizenship, consent of the governed, voting rights, freedom from unwarranted governmental deprivation of the right to life and liberty, and minority rights.
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.
Constitutional Democracy: Government processes that allow people, through their elected representatives, to exercise power and influence the state’s policies.