5.

CLASSIFICATION OF CONSTITUTION

(a) Classification according to the form by which Constitutions are embodied (how it appears):

Written Constitution

-A written/codified/ constitution is a single document or a series of documents, with or without

amendments, defining the basic rules of the state.

-The origins of written constitutions come from the American War of Independence (177583) and
French Revolution (1789).

- The Constitutions of India, the USA, Germany, Japan, Canada, France, Switzerland and several other
states, are written constitutions.

Unwritten Constitution

-Unwritten/uncodified/ constitution that is not contained in a single document, consisting of several

different sources, which may be written or unwritten.

-What Britain has instead is an accumulation of various statutes, conventions, political customs,
judicial decisions (common laws), treaties, and exists in some scattered documents which
collectively can be referred to as the British Constitution.

-In UK, the sources of constitution are from Magna Carta 1611, The Petition of Right 1628, The Bill of
Rights 1689, The Act of Settlement 1700,European Communities Act 1972,Delegated legislation,
Common law, Law of European Union, Law and Customs of Parliament etc.

-E.g. UK, Israel, New Zealand

Challenges

Classification of Constitution (written and unwritten) is not a scientific one since no

Constitution can, in practice, be fully written or unwritten, an unwritten Constitution must
have some written elements.
Likewise, a written constitution cannot be fully written, some elements of it exist in
unwritten form.
For example, British Constitution is unwritten but some important elements of it are
contained in written documents like Magna Carta (1215), The Petition of Right 1628, The Bill
of Rights 1689, The Act of Settlement 1700, The Treaty of Union 1706, The European
Communities Act 1972, The royal prerogative/proclamations, Acts establishing devolution,
The Human Rights Act 1998, and etc.

On the other hand, the US constitution is written but some important Constitutional subjects
like political party organization, cabinet, committee of the Congress, working procedure of
the Congress etc. are not written they are largely based on political custom or convention.
 Rigid Constitution

-The Rigid Constitution is the kind of constitution that cannot be easily amended (usually, a Written
Constitution).

- The terms cannot be altered by ordinary forms of legislation, only by special amending procedures.

- Eg: Federal Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 that specifies procedure for its
alteration.

Flexible Constitution

-The kind of constitution that can easily be changed (usually, an Unwritten Constitution, i.e. a
constitution that has few or no special amending procedures.

-The Parliament can alter constitutional principles and define new baselines for government action
through ordinary legislative processes, e.g. UK and Canada Constitution.

Supreme Constitution

-A supreme constitution refers to a state in which the legislative powers of the governing body are
unlimited.

Subordinate/Ordinary Constitution

-A subordinate constitution is a state in which the legislative powers are limited by some higher
authority.
 Federal constitution

- A division of powers between central government and the individual states or provinces which
make up the federation.

-The powers divided between the federal government and states or provinces will be clearly set
down in the constituent document.

-Some powers will be reserved exclusively to the federal government (most notably, such matters as
defence and state security); some powers will be allocated exclusively to the regional government
(such as planning and the raising of local taxation)

-The common feature of all federal states is the sharing of power between centre and region each
having an area of exclusive power, other powers being shared on some defined basis. E.g. the USA,
Canada, Australia, Nigeria, Malaysia, Germany, Switzerland and etc.

Unitary Constitution

- A state is governed as a one single unit in which the central government is supreme and any
administrative divisions exercise only powers which their government chooses to delegate,

- E.g. U.K (Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland and England) etc.

Separated powers Constitution

- Is the Constitution which vest powers in the principal institutions of the state legislature,
executive and judiciary (i.e. state powers are not concentrated in a single institution). This
arrangement is most readily achievable under a written constitution.

- E.g. US Constitution, Malaysia Constitution.

Fused powers Constitution

-These are kind of Constitutions found in totalitarian states or purely monarchical states. Under such
a constitution [you] will find a single figure, or single body, possessed with the sole power to
propose and enact law, to administer the state, and both to apply and to adjudicate upon the law.
 Republican Constitution

-A republic constitution exists in a state which has its figurehead a (usually) democratically elected
President, answerable to the electorate and to the constitution.

- Presidential office is both a symbol of statehood and the repository of many powers.

Monarchical Constitution

-Such constitution exists where the government is headed by a monarch and hereditary in nature.
Usually, the office of head of state is held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and
includes a royal house (King or Queen),

- e.g. U.K. [the Queen or King is the head of the state (not necessary the government, i.e. he/she
plays a ceremonial role in the administration of the government)].