Theories about Constitutions

Constitution is defined as the body of doctrines and practices

that form the fundamental organizing principle of a political state.

In some cases, such as the United States, the constitution is a

specific written document; in others, such as the United Kingdom,

it is a collection of documents, statutes, and traditional practices

that are generally accepted as governing political matters.

The general idea of a constitution and of constitutionalism

originated with the ancient Greeks and especially in the theoretical

and descriptive writings of Aristotle. In his Politics, Constitution

of Athens, and other works, Aristotle used the Greek word for

constitution (politeia) in several different senses. The simplest and

most neutral of these was “the arrangement of the offices in a

polis” (state). In this purely descriptive sense of the word, every

state has a constitution, no matter how badly or erratically

governed it may be.

Aristotle’s classification of the “forms of government” was

intended as a classification of constitutions, both good and bad.

Under good constitutions-monarchy, aristocracy, and the mixed

kind to which Aristotle applied the same term politeia-one person,

a few individuals, or the many rule in the interest of the whole

polis. Under the bad constitutions-tyranny, oligarchy, and

democracy-the tyrant, the rich oligarchs, or the poor demos-rule in

their own interest alone.

Britain and the United States both have old constitutions, the

one being the oldest in the world, the other being the oldest written

constitution in the world. The British constitution comprises an

accumulation of traditions, customs, conventions, precedents and

Acts of Parliament. They all have been built up, bit by bit, over the

centuries. Some of them are written down in laws agreed by

Parliament, some of them have been spoken and then written

down and some of them have never been written down at all. For

example, there is no written law in Britain that says anything

about who can be the Prime Minister or what the powers of the

Prime Minister are, even though he or she is probably the most

powerful person in the country. Similarly, there is no single

written document which asserts people’s rights. Some rights which

are commonly accepted in modern democracies (for example, the

rights not to be discriminated against on the basis of sex or race)

have been formally recognized by Parliament through legislation;

but others (for example, the rights not to be discriminated against

on the basis of religion or political views) have not. Nevertheless,

it is understood that these latter rights are also part of the

constitution.

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