A constitution is a fundamental building block in any nation’s government foundation; it establishes the relationship between the government and the governed, highlighting the principles of the state and the organisation of the different branches in which we are managed and maintained. As a collection of statute law, common law, conventions, European treaties and laws and works of authority, each of these different sources that contribute to the constitution are processed and regulated in extremely different ways. A constitution is found in two ways; uncodified or codified, codified being the placement of all laws and statutes in one place such as the US constitution and uncodified being a collection of laws and statutes that aren’t compiled …show more content…
Remaining uncodified is a result of two main things: A codified constitution is usually the result of massive, constitutional change which our nation has not seen since the time of 1066 when we briefly became a republic with the abolishment of the monarchy. Therefore a codified constitution has never been seen as desirable nor needed in any capacity. The other main resulting factor of the United Kingdom’s Decision to never compact the constitution is the fact that an uncodified constitution is ultimately easier to change and develop, whereas a codified constitution would need super majority of over two thirds of parliament to alter the laws or amendments, resulting in a less flexible government in a quickly changing time of society. More recently, there has been many campaigns in support of a codified constitution by the lib Dems and a pressure group called unlock democracy with the prime focus of creating a more democratic and modern way of managing the country and reincorporating checks and balances into the …show more content…
The need for a constitution has never arisen during the United Kingdom history unlike the USAs Constitution which was desperately needed when the British colonies of North America finally became the United States of America, seen as no major event has forced us into a position of massive constitutional change, codifying the constitution can be rightfully deemed an unnecessary task. Although support for a codified constitution is limited in the United Kingdom, we move closer to this system as recently the European convention human rights forces us into a position where we cannot opt out of its regulations due to it not affecting our own constitution, unlike other member states of the EU where regulations deemed as unconstitutional can be omitted from the agreement, creating a situation where we are governing less of our own laws and losing our authority to an outside government known as the European parliament. Other recent approaches to a codified constitution include the agreement made by the coalition parliament in 2010; which overall tried to increase the democratic way in which the country is governed, by not only proposing a five year fix term but
Before the Constitution was drafted, the United States’ budding government, now independent from Great Britain, acted under a dysfunctional constitution called the Articles of Confederation. Although this constitution kept the new nation running, there were still flaws that needed to be fixed. The Articles of Confederation lacked a developed executive or judicial branch and a method for the main government to collect taxes from state governments, according to the background essay of the DBQ Packet. An assembly of fifty-five men eventually gathered for a Constitutional Convention in order to write a new constitution that would better satisfy the people’s needs. The trouble of creating another constitution lied behind creating a document
The strict constitutionalist within me would not be in agreement with abandoning our constitution under any circumstances. If we were to abandon this document, we return to the same situation that we were in during 1776. There would be nothing that would bind the states together. Not having a constitution almost caused us to lose the revolutionary war. During the decade that we were without the constitution, many events occurred such as Shay's Rebellion in Massachusetts, British contempt for treaties, Indian depredations, and Spanish movements on the western and southern borders. All of these combined to demonstrate how vulnerable the United States really were. Our first President, George Washington was quoted as saying " I confess to you candidly, I can foresee no evil greater than disunion".
A constitution is the system of fundamental principles according to which a nation is governed. Our founding fathers created the US Constitution to set specific standards for our country. We must ask ourselves why our founding fathers created the Constitution in the first place. America revolted against the British due to their monarchy form of government. After the American Revolution, each of the original 13 colonies operated under its own rules of government. Most states were against any form of centralized rule from the government. They feared that what happened in England would happen again. They decided to write the Articles of Confederation, which was ratified in 1781. It was not effective and it led to many problems. The central government could not regulate commerce between states, deal with foreign governments or settle disputes. The country was falling apart at its seams. The central government could not provide assistance to the state because there wasn’t a central army. When they realized that the Articles of Confederation was not up to par, they held a convention, known as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. As a result of t...
Firstly, the constitution would create a government with an immense amount of power and we would be putting ourselves into the same position Britain just had us in. A large central, binding government, that we are ordered to follow. So why would we make the same mistake of being controlled by a large central government again? Amos Singletary, a delegate to the Massachusetts Constitution
The constitution is the bedrock in which our country is based off of today. When it comes to learning and understanding the origins of our country the constitution is a highly important piece. This book goes into great depth explaining how the constitution was forged which makes its relevance to the course very significant.
Without a loose interpretation, the Constitution would not be as adaptable and influential of a document as it is today. The Constitution, created in order to address the need of a flexible governing document, due to the Articles of Confederation’s failure to succeed in successfully governing the newly created United States. In order to ensure the flexibility of the Constitution, clauses such as the elastic clause and procedures such as the amendment procedure included in the Constitution. Without these flexible aspects of the Constitution, the document would not be as relevant to 21st century America and the issues that occur today. Although some argue that the Constitution should not be interpreted, I believe this document would not be as withstanding if it was not interpreted throughout history. The Constitution is a document for interpretation, a “living document”, not a direct translation, and must apply to the events occurring in 21st century America. It is a document with many new amendments since its inception as well as citations for application, and will continue to include new amendments and applications for years to
Constitutional conventions were once defined by Freeman as ‘a whole code of political maxims, universally acknowledged in theory and universally carried out in practice’. Essentially making them rules of practice that have no legal capability. This alone gives doubt to whether we should
The document I chose to write about is the United States Constitution. When the thirteen British colonies in North America declared their independence in 1776, they laid down that “governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” The “colonies” had to establish a government, which would be the framework for the United States. The purpose of a written constitution is to define and therefore more specifically limit government powers. After the Articles of Confederation failed to work in the 13 colonies, the U.S. Constitution was created in 1787.
The United States' Constitution is one the most heralded documents in our nation's history. It is also the most copied Constitution in the world. Many nations have taken the ideals and values from our Constitution and instilled them in their own. It is amazing to think that after 200 years, it still holds relevance to our nation's politics and procedures. However, regardless of how important this document is to our government, the operation remains time consuming and ineffective. The U.S. Constitution established an inefficient system that encourages careful deliberation between government factions representing different and sometimes competing interests.
This essay did mention the role of a codified constitution earlier in the definition section, and what was mentioned was, that a codified constitution does not only create constraints and limitations for the government of the day, but it also is a framework and guideline for how politics should be conducted. This guideline serves as a mechanism of stability and clarity for the work of a government. As Keith Whittington puts it “Constitutionalism is the constraining of government in order to better effectuate the fundamental principles of the political regime.” (Whittington, Keith p. 282) Thus it allows the political bodies to focus on important issues. An example where the
At the present time, there is nothing wrong with the constitution, and if there was anything wrong with it, it could be changed by referendum, once again proving that becoming a republic is pointless. Currently, we are not tied down at all by the monarchy, and although the Queen does have the power to intervene in the running of our country, she doesn't out of tradition, and therefore, probably never will, bound by the tradition. If we become a republic, we would lose valuable ties with England and perhaps part of our heritage that goes with it. England can support us through many unfortunate events that we may face and England, being on the other side of the world may not, putting them in a position to offer us financial, military or other support.
Many would state that the constitution is not a living document and therefore, it does not change to meet the needs of the nation. One purpose behind this contention would be the constitution comprising no Bill of Rights. A Bill of rights is the arrangement of the most essential rights to the natives of a nation. Australia is the main Western popularity based nation with not a protected or elected administrative bill of rights to ensure its natives (Mchugh 2007). According to Lowitja O'donoghue, previous ATSIC Chair It says very little about what it is to be Australian. It says practically nothing about how we find ourselves here - save being an amalgamation of former colonies. It says nothing of how we should behave towards each other as human beings and as Australians. This in itself obviously depicts the incapacity of the constitution as a political rule of the country. A sample would be the situation law of Gradidge v Grace Bros Pty Limited (1988). There, a hard of hearing quiet in the Compensation Court of New South Wales obliged manual/visual dialect translation. The translator kept on translaing trades between the judge and the advodates throughout lawful submissions. She persevered in doing so notwithstanding the direction of the judge that the trades did not have to be deciphered. Her emphasis after deciphering everything that happened in the general population ...
The Arguments For and Against a Codified Constitution A constitution is a set of rules that seek to establish the duties, powers and functions of the various institutions of government, regulate the relationships between them, and define the relationship between the state and the individual. The most common way of classifying constitutions is to distinguish between codified and uncodified. The UK has an uncodified constitution. A written constitution is precisely a charter that has been codified, in that the rules and regulations that citizens / individuals must abide by are stated in a single document format.
While an uncodified constitution has the advantages of dynamic, adaptability and flexibility to meet the ever-changing needs of the society , it poses much difficulty in pinpointing the ultimate constitutional principle that should provide legitimacy in the British constitution. This results in a battle between two broad schools of thought––political constitutionalism and legal constitutionalism.
In any constitution, written or unwritten there must be a source of ultimate authority, one supreme power over all and above all other powers in the state. In the case when a state has a written constitution, the highest source of power is the constitution interpreted by the Supreme Court. The United Kingdom does not have a written or codified constitution. Thus, parliamentary sovereignty is the central element of the British constitution. The highest source of authority is the United Kingdom Parliament and Acts of Parliament are the highest form of