...Constitution From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Constitution (disambiguation). A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed.[1] These rules together make up, i.e.constitute, what the entity is. When these principles are written down into a single document or set of legal documents, those documents may be said to embody a writtenconstitution; if they are written down in a single comprehensive document, it is said to embody a codified constitution. Constitutions concern different levels of organizations, from sovereign states to companies and unincorporated associations. A treaty which establishes an international organization is also its constitution, in that it would define how that organization is constituted. Within states, a constitution defines the principles upon which the state is based, the procedure in which laws are made and by whom. Some constitutions, especially codified constitutions, also act as limiters of state power, by establishing lines which a state's rulers cannot cross, such as fundamental rights. An example is the constitution of the United States of America. George Washington at Constitutional Conventionof 1787 signing of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world,[2] containing 444 articles in 22 parts,[3][4] 12 schedules and 118 amendments, with 117...
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...Following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the President and Congress saw fit to protect the United States by passing a bill called the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act significantly expanded the powers of law enforcement by allowing law enforcement and intelligence agencies to use types of electronic surveillance that were previously only allowed with legal warrants (Ibid, 2001). Additionally, the Patriot Act allows government agencies to detain suspected terrorists for unspecified lengths of time in order to investigate their activities (Ibid, 2001). The detainment of terrorist suspects does not allow these individuals access to an attorney, a trial, or any other guarantee promised in the Constitution. The United States legal and judicial systems utilize a network of checks and balances to ensure that the rights of citizens, as enumerated by the United States Constitution, are not violated. These systems call for crime investigation to require a warrant issued by the judicial branch in order to execute any search or seizure of personal property, as declared by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution (Madison, 1789). The framers of the United States started the Constitution with a Bill of Rights that set our inalienable rights. These rights are not allowed to be violated and the legal system is designed to protect these rights, even if suspected of a crime. If the police want to investigate, interrogate, or search for evidence of...
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...1. constitutionalism, constitutional supremacy and the rule of law 1. constitutionalism a. Constitution without constitutionalism? Keith E Whittington, constitutionalism [5] * Constitutionalism = the constraining of government in order to better effectuate the fundamental principles of the political regime. i.e. A system of effective restrains on governmental action. * Constitution (often) = the written document that formalizes the framework of government * => Constitutionalism should be distinguished from the mere possession of a constitution * Written constitutions may provide few effective constraints on government or may be ignored, and governments may be effectively constrained w/o a written constitution (e.g. Britain) * Constitutionalism often (does not mean it necessarily equals to) associated specifically with liberalism, protection of individual rights against the state. * => constitutional state identified not by possession of a constitution but by its effective protection of individual rights. * (but individual rights only one set of fundamental principles that might impose meaningful limits on power of the state) * Constitutionalism also used to constrain power holders to care for the common weal or adhere to particular conceptions of national identity or religious law * 3-fold classification of province of constitutionalism * Normative Constitutionalism (most touched-on area) * Concerned with...
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...constitutes the first ten amendments of the US constitution that prohibit the powers of the federal government. Written by James Madison, the Bill of Rights seeks to offer constitutional protection for the personal freedom and liberty of the US citizens. In addition to these personal freedoms, the Bill of Rights limits governmental powers in controlling judicial proceedings, with a reserve of specific powers to the public and individual states. Therefore, the Bill of Rights presents the US citizens with freedoms that were demystified in the principal Constitution, and transfers to the states or the citizens, any power that the main constitution does not grant to the federal government (Lewis 38). In the Bill of Rights, provisions bestowed upon states or individuals limit the power of the federal government (Levi 215). To start with, most of the amendments address the provisions about the people, and this paper looks at just a few of them. The first amendment of the Bill of Rights warrants freedoms of individuals in terms of religion, assembly, the right to expression, and petition. It limits the Congress from taking sides on religion, or controlling an individual’s religious beliefs. The amendment requires the Congress to allow people to speak freely, to promote a free press, and to permit peaceful assemblies of the citizens. The second amendment allows people to own firearms for their self-defense. The fourth amendment prohibits the powers of the federal government to forcibly search...
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...for the national government. The key structures, frameworks, parts, and procedures that encapsulate our national government are extremely point by point and need exceptionally pivotal consideration while deciding the upsides and downsides of the administration. It is anything but difficult to take a gander at another nation and think about the legislatures together, as I would see it as taking a gander at America's administration contrasted with that of different nations, our own is in fact the most grounded paying little mind to the negatives that it has. There are many important written documents that we as American language look onto. Probably, one of the most important document that our country does utilize on a daily footing is the United Commonwealth United States Constitution. When the institution fathers created this document, the three watchword probably are “We the Hoi polloi,” this show that the US Constitution is deeply important and that the people are the ones that are protected with this. This is figure on the idea of: lifespan, shore leave and freedom. I believe that the US Constitution has been extremely important because it has lasted for so long. The only intellect that it could have lasted is because of the way that it was written. Very intricate and many ways of looking at a scenario. We are still going back to the constitution now and looking at the way our instauration fathers could have interpreted the entropy. Each case is decided by using it. At the...
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...case for a written constitution in Britain. Discuss. A constitution is a set of fundamental principles; it sets out the distribution of power within a political system. In Britain we do not have a written or uncodified constitution meaning constitutional reforms are written down but have not been gathered together. There are many arguments surrounding the British constitution and its legitimacy and whether a change in our constitution would create a positive impact or whether our current system is the best and there are no convincing arguments against it. The fact we have parliamentary system means that there is no need for a written constitution. Parliamentary sovereignty means that parliament have the highest legal authority in the UK. Because of our democratic system in the UK we have to power to elect our government and therefore this puts limits on the level of parliamentary sovereignty, parliament cannot afford to ignore the electorate’s wishes. For example the Local Government Finance Act 1988 that introduced poll tax was replaced by Parliament but only after nationwide riots and demonstrations. However with a written constitution it is close to impossible to change anything. To say that there are no convincing arguments surrounding change in Britain’s constitution may be seen as an over statement as a written, codified constitutions do carry some advantages. It hugely reduces the risk of an elective dictatorship because there is separation of powers. It was also mean that...
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...Marbury versus Madison Sarah McClam MARBURY VERSUS MADISON In the weeks after John Adams lost his bid for re-election to Thomas Jefferson in 1800, the Federalist Congress increased the number of circuit courts. Adams placed Federalist judges in these new positions. One of the justices of the peace, William Marbury, filed a writ of mandamus demanding Secretary of State James Madison deliver the appointments. The Supreme Court led by John Marshall denied the request citing part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 as unconstitutional. This historic court case established the concept of Judicial Review or the ability of the Judiciary Branch to declare a law unconstitutional. This case brought the Judicial Branch of the government on a more even power basis with the Legislative and Executive Branches. The historic court case Marbury versus Madison accomplished this end thereby setting the precedent for numerous historic decisions in the future (Marbury verses Madison, 1803). On his last day in office, President John Adams named forty-two justices of the peace and sixteen new circuit court justices for the District of Columbia under the Organic Act. The Organic Act was an attempt by the Federalists to take control of the federal judiciary before Thomas Jefferson took office. The commissions were signed by President Adams and sealed by acting Secretary of State John Marshall (who later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and author of this opinion), but they were not delivered before...
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...Separation of power in Africa and their Limits Introduction. According to the online business dictionary, Separation of Powers is a constitutional principle that limits the powers vested in any person or institution. It is this principle that divides government authority into three branches namely the Executive (President or Prime Minister and the cabinet), Legislature (Parliament or Senate) and the Judiciary (Chief justice and other Judges). From this definition, Separation of Powers entails that each organ of the state, namely twill perform its functions without undue interference from the other organs. Each organ therefore, should be left to do what is assigned to it under the constitution. If any organ is not performing well it ought to be reminded and its performance monitored by way of accountability. This is not interference but a system of checks and balances in the interest of good government. But separation of powers does not mean insulation of powers because the three organs of the State, particularly the Executive and the Legislature, are at one level or another bound to interact and indeed complement each other in the running of the affairs of the State (World bank, 1992). In essence, the doctrine of separation of powers is that for a free and democratic society to exist there must be a clear separation between the three branches of government, namely:- The Executive This is the branch that executes the business of government. It comprises the President, Vice-Presidents...
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...Articles of the United States Constitution Tammie Johnson Grand Canyon University: POS 301 June 19, 2013 Principles and Articles of the United States Constitution Principles of the Constitution | Self-Government | The principle where the people are the decisive source of governing authority and decisions are made based on majority rules (Patterson, 2011). | Separation of Powers | The principle used for the allocation of power among the legislative, executive, and the judicial branches that outline the responsibilities of each branch. | Checks and Balances | A system of the government used to preserve a balance of power among the three branches of government so no one branch can over-power the other two. | In the United States, the federal government uses a system called checks and balances to ensure that the three branches of government are working equally and that no one branch becomes superior over the other two. The three branches that are based on the principle of separated institutions sharing power are the legislative, executive and judicial. Each branch has powers that it can use to check and balance the operations and power of the other two branches (Kelly, 2013, para. 1). What makes this system effective is that each branch must be willing to compromise to ensure the American people needs are put first and the safety and security of the nation is constantly being enforced. For instance in an attempt to limit the power that each branch could have over...
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...Introduction The Canadian charter of rights and freedom is one part of the Canadian Constitution. The Constitution is a set of laws containing the basic rules about how our country operates. For example, it contains the powers of the federal government and those of the provincial governments in Canada Importance The Constitution is the supreme law of Canada. Generally speaking, all other laws must be consistent with the rules set out in the Constitution. If they are not, they may not be valid. Since the Charter is part of the Constitution, laws that limit Charter rights may be invalid. This makes the Charter the most important law we have in Canada. It is important to point out, however, that the Charter itself allows governments to put some limits on Charter rights. Section 1 of the Charter says that other laws may limit the rights and freedoms in the Charter so long as those laws are reasonable and justified in a free and democratic society. So, a law that limits a Charter right is nevertheless valid if it conforms with section 1. The fact that the Charter is part of the Constitution also means that governments must try to make sure that new laws are consistent with it. For example, the federal Department of Justice must make sure that new laws proposed by the federal government comply with the Charter....
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...by the US Constitution? The number of hate groups in America today has reached over the thousand marks. That is an increase of 7.5% since 2010. ("CNN U.S.," 2011) This statistic was mind-blowing for me. Maybe it’s because I didn’t want to believe it was true. In the article it is mentioned that protecting this form of free speech would limit government control. Supporters of the 1st Amendment feel that we should combat this issue with groups that oppose hate speech. They fear that if the government is allowed to limit our speech, then we are allowing the government to limit our opinions. There are many valid claims stated in this article supporting the ban of hate speech in the US. Some say that hate speech promotes fear, threats and violence in the lives of minorities. Others agree that protecting this form of free speech encourages inequality and segregation. Does the use of speaking with hatred persuade Americans to get their point across using vulgar and degrading, sometimes even forceful words? I feel that it does all of these things and more. Emotions are at high peaks during a demonstration that comes to a violent end. Strong individuals have the power to influence more hatred and violence. We are governed by an outdated Constitution that almost encourages conflict. Amending the Constitution would give our modern, multi-ethnic nation a chance to embrace systemic change if we have any hope to match our ideals of democracy with the realities of our political practices...
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...Articles of the Constitution, the first three articles represent the three branches of government. The first article is The Legislative Branch, the second article is The Executive Branch and the third article is The Judicial Branch, the Farmers’ considered all of our branches of government equal, yet some appeared to be more powerful than others. The Farmers’ were concerned that these branches of government will abuse their powers, thus making a necessity for the separation of powers, and for checks and balances. Checks and balances is a system where the different parts of government have powers that can affect and control the other parts of government in order for the other branches cannot become too powerful. This is to prevent any branch of government from exerting too much power. Each branch of government has different powers and functions that they carry out, they are separate although they are constitutionally equal they are also independent from each other. This is the separation of powers. The Legislative Branch of government, which is the first Article of the Constitution, which is also known as Congress, is made up of the Senate, and the House of Representatives. The U.S. Senate consists of 100 members, and these senators are allowed to serve six years. The House of Representatives has 435 members which make up the HOR, these representatives serve two year terms. In total Congress is made up of 535 Congressmen. The Legislative Branch has many powers which are...
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...The Constitution of Florida The state of Florida’s Constitution can be defined as a brilliant structure of essential values for state government that is eternal and broad-spectrum in nature and derives from the people rather than the Governing body. In 1838 the first constitution was written. Every twenty years, the constitution is studied to decide whether or not improvements and adjustments must be made. The Florida law affects every attribute of everyday life, for instance, how and what location we construct our homes, the way we disburse our taxes, our well-being and physical condition, and our power to vote and partake in government. Florida’s Constitution is separated into twelve articles which summarizes context for government and for people’s rights. Article I-Declaration of Rights Some of Florida’s Bill of Rights which deals with political power, basic rights, right to assemble, religious freedom, right to work, military power, right to bear arms, due process, and freedom of speech. Article II-General Provisions This section institutes Florida’s limitations and delegate three branches of government. Article III-Legislature The section brings about a House and a Senate, in which House are voted to serve a term of two years and the senators serve for four. Article IV-Executive This article generates the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, Florida’s unique Cabinet, which incorporates secretary of state, attorney general, comptroller, treasurer...
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...office for five years." It appears, from the affidavits, that in compliance with this law, a commission for William Marbury as a justice of peace for the county of Washington, was signed by John Adams, then president of the United States; after which the seal of the United States was affixed to it; but the commission has never reached the person for whom it was made out. In order to determine whether he is entitled to this commission, it becomes necessary to enquire whether he has been appointed to the office. For if he has been appointed, the law continues him in office for five years, and he is entitled to the possession of those evidences of office, which, being completed, became his property. The 2d section of the 2d article of the constitution, declares, that "the president shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not otherwise provided for." The third section declares, that "he...
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...the healthcare bill is a good thing. It is not. It is just more government taking over what citizens can do and buy. This is unconstitutional at best. Many people think that healthcare is going to be free but it is not and the government will make everyone buy it. The argument is people do not get healthcare when they need it. That is simply not true. The United States of America has the best healthcare in the world and everyone gets healthcare if they choose. The framers of the United States Constitution would be appalled at how the Constitution is being interpreted today but I do not think that they would be surprised. They knew that eventually this system of government would eventually fail or at the very least need a “recharge” for lack of a better word. One way bad interpretations could have been avoided is if the framers of the Constitution were more specific in some of what they wrote. For example, the First Amendment should have been written how the framers meant the Constitution. Instead of saying what was meant by the amendment in a book, it should...
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