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Information about Constitutional Law

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The French Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen, whose principles still have constitutional value
Constitutional law is the study of foundational or basic laws of nation states and other political organizations. Constitutions are the framework for government and may limit or define the authority and procedure of political bodies to execute new laws and regulations.

Types of constitution

Not all nation states have codified constitutions, though all such states have a jus commune, or law of the land, that may consist of a variety of imperative and consensual rules. These may include customary law, conventions, statutory law, judge made law or international rules and norms. A common error is to refer to countries, for instance, the United Kingdom, as having an "unwritten constitution". In fact, the "constitution" is written in a vast body of books, statutes and law reports, instead of being codified into a single document, such as the Grundgesetz or the U.S. Constitution. On the other hand, some communities may lack any constitution at all, because of the complete absence of law and order. These are referred to as failed nation states or anarchies.

Functions of constitutions

Constitutional laws may often be considered second order rulemaking or rules about making rules of exercise power. It governs the relationships between the judiciary, the legislature and the executive with the bodies under its authority. One of the key tasks of constitutions within this context is to indicate hierarchies and relationships of power. For example, in a unitary state, the constitution will vest ultimate authority in one central administration and legislature, and judiciary, though there is often a delegation of power or authority to local or municipal authorities. When a constitution establishes a federal state, it will identify the several levels of government coexisting with exclusive or shared areas of jurisdiction over lawmaking, application and enforcement.

Human rights

Main articles: Human rights and Human rights law
Human rights or civil liberties form a crucial part of a country's constitution and govern the rights of the individual against the state. Most jurisdictions, like the United States and France, have a single codified constitution, with a Bill of Rights. A recent example is the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union which was intended to be included in the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, that failed to be ratified. Perhaps the most important example is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights under the UN Charter. These are intended to ensure basic political, social and economic standards that a nation state, or intergovernmental body is obliged to provide its citizens with.

Some countries like the United Kingdom, have no entrenched document setting out fundamental rights; in those jurisdictions the constitution is composed of statute, case law and convention. A case named Entick v. Carrington[1] illustrates a constitutional principle deriving from the common law. Mr Entick's house was searched and ransacked by Sherriff Carrington. Carrington argued that a warrant from a Government minister, the Earl of Halifax was valid authority, even though there was no statutory provision or court order for it. The court, led by Lord Camden stated that,

"The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their property. That right is preserved sacred and incommunicable in all instances, where it has not been taken away or abridged by some public law for the good of the whole. By the laws of England, every invasion of private property, be it ever so minute, is a trespass... If no excuse can be found or produced, the silence of the books is an authority against the defendant, and the plaintiff must have judgment."


Inspired by John Locke,[2] the fundamental constitutional principle is that the individual can do anything but that which is forbidden by law, while the state may do nothing but that which is authorised by law.

Legislative procedure

Main article: Parliamentary procedure
Another main function of constitutions may be to describe the procedure by which parliaments may legislate. For instance, special majorities may be required to alter the constitution. In bi-cameral legislatures, there may be a process laid out for second or third readings of bills before a new law can enter into force. Alternatively, there may further be requirements for maximum terms that a government can keep power before holding an election.

Constitutions by region

Click on the "show" button to bring up different countries. Those links in red have no pages written yet and are still waiting to be filled in.

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Constitution of Africa
Sovereign statesAlgeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Cte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda So Tom and Prncipe Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
Dependencies and
other territories		Canary Islands Ceuta Mayotte Melilla Puntland Runion St. Helena Socotra Somaliland Western Sahara
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Constitution of North America
Sovereign statesAntigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama* Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago* United States
Dependencies and
other territories		Anguilla Aruba* Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Navassa Island Netherlands Antilles* Puerto Rico Saint-Barthlemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Turks and Caicos Islands U. S. Virgin Islands
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Constitution of South America
Sovereign statesArgentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Panama* Paraguay Peru Suriname Trinidad and Tobago* Uruguay Venezuela
DependenciesAruba* (Netherlands) Falkland Islands (UK) French Guiana (France) Netherlands Antilles* (Netherlands) South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (UK)
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Constitution of Asia
Sovereign states
and other territories		Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan1 Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China People's Republic of China (Hong Kong • Macau)] Republic of China (Taiwan) Cyprus Egypt1 Georgia1 India Indonesia1 Iran Iraq Israel (see also Palestinian territories) Japan Jordan Kazakhstan1 Korea (North Korea South Korea) Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia1 Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Timor-Leste (East Timor)1 Turkey1 Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen1
1Transcontinental nations
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Constitution of Europe
Sovereign statesAlbania Andorra Armenia1 Austria Azerbaijan2 Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus1 Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia2 Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan2 Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Republic of Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia3 San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey3 Ukraine United Kingdom
Dependencies,
autonomies, and
other territories		Abkhazia2 Adjara1 Akrotiri and Dhekelia land Azores Basque CountryCataloniaCrimea Faroe Islands Gagauzia Gibraltar Guernsey Jan Mayen Jersey Kosovo Man, Isle of Madeira4 Nagorno-Karabakh1 Nakhchivan1 Northern IrelandScotland South Ossetia2 Svalbard Transnistria Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus1, 5 Wales
1 Entirely in West Asia; included here because of cultural, political and historical association with Europe. 2 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border between Europe and Asia. 3 Partially in Asia. 4 Entirely in the African Plate, included here because of cultural, political and historical association with Europe. 5 Only recognised by Turkey.
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Constitution of Oceania
Australasia Australia Norfolk Island Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands New Zealand
Melanesia East Timor Fiji Indonesia1 New Caledonia Papua New Guinea Solomon Islands Vanuatu
Micronesia Guam Kiribati Marshall Islands Northern Mariana Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru Palau
Polynesia American Samoa Cook Islands French Polynesia Niue Pitcairn Samoa Tokelau Tonga Tuvalu Wallis and Futuna
1 Transcontinental country

See also

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Law -
Legal subjectsConstitutional and Administrative law Criminal law Contract Tort Property Trusts and Equity Public international law Conflict of laws Supranational law
Further disciplinesLabour law Human rights Procedure Evidence Immigration law Family law Wills Commercial law Corporate law Intellectual property Unjust enrichment Restitution Tax law Banking law Competition law Consumer protection Environmental law Admiralty law Military law Product liability
Legal systemsCommon law Civil law Religious law Socialist law Comparative law
Legal theoryHistory of law Philosophy of law Economic analysis of law Sociology of law
Legal institutionsJudiciary Legislature Executive Military and Police Bureaucracy Legal profession Civil society

References

1. ^ Entick v. Carrington (1765) 19 Howell's State Trials 1030
2. ^ Chapter 9, Line 124, John Locke, Second Treatise on Government (1690)
LAW may refer to:
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A constitution is a system for governance, often codified as a written document, that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity. In the case of countries, this term refers specifically to a national constitution defining the fundamental political
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government is a body that has the power to make and the authority to enforce rules and laws within a civil, corporate, religious, academic, or other organization or group.[1]
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This article has been tagged since September 2007.

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Jus commune or ius commune is Latin for "common law". It is often used by civil law jurists to refer to those aspects of the civil law system's invariate legal principles, sometimes called "the law of the land" in English law.
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In law, custom can be described as the established patterns of behavior that can be objectively verified within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law.
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For other uses, see Convention.
A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted social norms, norms, standards or criteria, often taking the form of a custom.
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common law.) In addition to the statutes passed by the national or state legislature, lower authorities or municipalities may also promulgate administrative regulations or municipal ordinances that have the force of law — the process of creating these administrative
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Case law (also known as decisional law) is that body of reported judicial opinions in countries that have common law legal systems that are published and thereby become precedent, i.e. the basis for future decisions).
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International law can refer to three distinct legal disciplines.
  • public international law, which involves for instance the United Nations, maritime law, international criminal law and the Geneva conventions.

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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2]   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
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Germany

This article is part of the series:
Politics of Germany

  • Constitution
  • Federal Council (Bundesrat)
  • Federal Diet (Bundestag)
  • Federal Assembly
    (Bundesversammlung)
  • Constitutional Court

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For Noam Chomsky's 2006 book, see .


A failed state is a state whose central government is so weak or ineffective that it has little practical control over much of its territory.
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A unitary state is a state or country whose three organs of state are governed constitutionally as one single unit, with one constitutionally created legislature. The political power of government in such states may well be transferred to lower levels, to regionally or locally
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A legislature is a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to adopt laws.

Legislatures are known by many names, the most common being parliament and congress, although these terms also have more specific meanings.
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In the law, the judiciary or judicial system is the system of courts which administer justice in the name of the sovereign or state, a mechanism for the resolution of disputes.
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federation (Latin: foedus, covenant) is a union comprising a number of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central ("federal") government. In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states is typically constitutionally entrenched and may
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Human rights refers to "the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, often held to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law.
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Human rights law is a system of laws, both domestic and international which is intended to promote human rights. Human rights law includes a number of treaties which are intended to punish some violations of human rights such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
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Civil liberties is the name given to freedoms that completely protect the individual from government. Civil liberties set limits for government so that it can not abuse its power and interfere with the lives of its citizens.
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Motto
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem
"La Marseillaise"


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A bill of rights is a list or summary of rights that are considered important and essential by a group of people, generally leaders of the group create this bill. The purpose of these bills is to protect those rights against infringement of people.
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The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union is a document containing human rights provisions, 'solemnly proclaimed' by the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, and the European Commission in December 2000.
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Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE), commonly referred to as the European Constitution, was an unimplemented international treaty intended to create a constitution for the European Union.
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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (abbreviated UDHR) is an advisory declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/217, 10 December 1948 at Palais de Chaillot, Paris).
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"We the Peoples of the United Nations... United for a Better World" The United Nations Charter is the treaty that forms and establishes the international organization called the United Nations[1].
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A statute is a formal, written law of a country or state, written and enacted by its legislative authority, perhaps to then be ratified by the highest executive in the government, and finally published. Typically, statutes command, prohibit, or declare policy.
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Case law (also known as decisional law) is that body of reported judicial opinions in countries that have common law legal systems that are published and thereby become precedent, i.e. the basis for future decisions).
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