What is a constitution, and why is it important?
The constitution has a pretty important role is governing and controlling the country. It may just be a super old and dreary document in some countries, or just a load of separate pieces of paper in others, but it contains vital laws for protecting our rights, and was the very beginning for our democracy.
Constitutions are such an important part of a countries culture, that if a country is ever faced with an undemocratic, elitist or extremist leader, that they will first aim to destroy or completely modify the constitution, as they often retain leaders power.
The first constitution was created under King Johns leadership, as he started to raise the taxes to fund his (unsuccessful) wars in France. The Barons therefore created the Magna Carta in 1215, to ensure monarchs do not has an extremely excessive amount of power, and to be subject to law. For a few years it 'vanished', until Edward Cook MP, challenged Charles the First as his own powers grew.
Oliver Cromwell (being the jolly soul he is) chose to ignore the Magna Carta, until Thomas Jefferson incorporated its decrees in the American Constitution.
Since then, the Magna Carta has been the base for all constitutions around the world, enshrining our democracy.
Constitutions can come in different forms - codified and uncodified.
A codified Constitution means that the constitution exists in a single document, such as France, USA, China and Norway. When a constitution becomes codifed, it normally always takes place after an event which calls for a codified constitution. For example, the USA codified their constitution after the independence of British Colonies, and Norway after the counties freedom from Danish rule.
In a codified constitution,the document itself is authoritative, in the sense that it constitutes 'higher' law. The constitution binds all political institutions, including those that make ordinary law. This gives rise to a two-tier legal system, in which the constitution stands above statute law make by the legislature.
Identification is another benefit of a codified constitution. The Americans worship their Constitution, and the country even sells pocket sized editions of the constitution, and when becoming the President, they have to take a pledge to protect it.
However, codified constitutions are extremely hard to alter - since the USA introduced theirs, its only been modified 28 times - but this is so dictators cannot easily amend it.
The opposite of a codified constitution is an uncodified constitution, as seen in the UK, Canada and New Zealand. This means that the constitution has many sources- in the UK, parts of the constitution can be found in statues, conventions, common law and traditions; because it has so many sources, the UK constitution can be easily amended, and with new laws being passed in the Commons and Lords very often, the UKs constitution can be changed every week.
To summarize - King John was a bit of an idiot, but thanks to him we now have the super fancy 'magna carta', America loves their guns and the UK could be easily overthrown because of their uncodified constitution. Boom.
