constitution

CONSTITUTION IS DEFINED AS:

• A constitution is "the body of those written or unwrittenfundamental laws which regulate the most important rights of thehigher magistrates and the most important essential privilegesof the subjects."

Nature And purpose of a constitution

1) It serves as a supreme or

fundamental law• It is the charter that created a

government

• It is binding all individual citizens and parts of the government together as one

• It is the ultimate law; the law other laws must abide by

• It is the test of legality by government officials

2) Establishes the basic framework and

underlying principles of the government

• Prescribes the permanent framework of the system of government, and assigns to the different department or branches, their respective powers and duties

• To establish certain basic principles by which the government is founded

• Designed to preserve and protect the rights of the citizens against the powers of the state

KINDS OF CONSTITUTION

A Constitution may be classified into 2 according to

Sir Henry Maine


Historical and Revolutionary

Those constitutions which develop gradually according to the experiences, customs, and traditions of the people.


Those constitutions which are founded on speculative assumptionsremote from the experiences of the people

A Priori


ACCORDING TO FORM


WRITTEN CONSTITUTION

UNWRITTEN CONSITUTION

ACCORDING TO FORM


Written constitution

• A written constitution is a formal document defining the nature of the constitutional settlement, the rules that govern the political system and the rights of citizens and governments in a codified form.

• A constitution is the supreme law of the land which must serve as the basis of the acts of all the different branches and officials in the government.


Unwritten Constitution

• An unwritten constitution is one in which most of the principles of the government have never been enacted in the form of laws. It consists of customs, conventions, traditions, and some written laws bearing different dates. It is unsystematic, indefinite and un-precise. Such a constitution is not the result of conscious and deliberate efforts of the people.


ACCORDING TO

MANNER OF AMENDMENT


CONVENTIONAL OR ENACTED

RIGID

ACCORDING TO AMENDMENT


Convention or Enacted Constitution

• One is enacted by a constitution assembly or granted by monarch of his subject


Rigid Constitution

• One regarded as a document of “special sanctity” which cannot be modified in the same manner as other laws except by some special machinery, more burdensome than the ordinary legislative process. Whereas a flexible constitution is one which can be altered or amended in the same way to other laws

Constitution of the Philippines

Officially known as the “1987 Constitution of the Philippines”

Features:• Reinstitution of a democratic

government• Separation of church and state• Sovereignty of the people• Renunciation of war as a national policy• Supremacy of civilian authority over

the military• Separation of powers

Parts of the Philippine constitution

Preamble• Describes the purpose of the

document and governmentArticles• Establish how the government is

structured and how the Constitution can be changed. There are seven articles.

Amendments• Changes to the Constitution; the

first ten are called the Bill of Rights.

Preamble of the Philippine Constitution

“We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society, and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals

and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity, the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace,

do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.”

constitution

Documents

enacted constitution

constitution assembly

written laws

enacted rigid

form of laws

unwritten fundamental

important rights

manner of amendment