CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

Constitutional Law



Constitutional Law

Constitutions provide an ultimate statement regarding a political community. They define not only the institutions of the political system but also the purpose and character of the polity itself. However, aside from that general perception, universal generalizations about constitutions are difficult to identify and express. Given the numerous constitutional systems of the past and present, constitutionalism itself is varied and at times subjective. Examples of ancient constitutions, especially of the Greek city-states as evaluated by Aristotle (384-322 BCE), offer testimony to their enduring and universal significance. Nonetheless, the importance of this field has become particularly relevant to the modern world.

Constitutions are inherently political, rather than parochially legal, institutions. They are not created by legal practitioners, but by politicians. Therefore, they generally exhibit qualities that are associated with politics at its most fundamental level. Those qualities include power, beliefs and values, identity, and institutional expression. Beyond such broad generalizations, constitutions, when compared among different political systems, cultures, and historical periods, lack consistent features.

Nonetheless, constitutions do share certain basic features. Furthermore, one can categorize them, especially during the modern period, according to characteristics that are shared among constitutional systems of various cultural, political, and philosophical backgrounds. At the universal level, constitutions can be distinguished by their reflection of sovereignty, political power, and fundamental social and political beliefs.

The ultimate expression of political power exists in the concept of sovereignty. Its quality is demonstrated, however, not just in terms of exercising political authority but also in terms of being free from any higher authority. A sovereign is the foundation of a political system and its institutions. It provides a society with its seminal focus and the basis for all other expressions of legitimate authority. Generally, therefore, the sovereign claims a monopoly over legitimate violence (such as police powers) and other acts of political expression. Any other exercise of power occurs only with the consent of, or in violation of the will of, the sovereign.

Sovereignty can be administratively unified as a unitary system. However, the exercise of sovereign authority may also be divided among different political levels. A federal system (such as the United States, Canada, India, and many other countries) constitutionally distributes the administration of some aspects of sovereign authority to the level of separate substates and other powers to a central level of government. A confederal system (such as, arguably, the European Union) is similar to a federal system in this respect, except that the separate states that constitute the confederal union retain the option of ultimately withdrawing that delegated sovereignty from this union.

Only a sovereign can create and maintain a legitimate constitutional system. The emergence of the modern nation-state was distinguished by the parallel rise of modern constitutions. That sovereign identity became a necessary characteristic for international law to recognize a political community as a state. The presence of a constitution that clearly reflects this sovereign authority forms the basis for this international recognition of a legitimate state. It also provides the basis for recognizing the power that ...