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Report on Constitutional Law INTRODUCTION: PRIMARY IDEAS OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: Constitutional law actually forms the backbone of public law. It is that branch of public law which determines the nature of the state, nature and structure of the government and its power, function, division of power among different constitutional organs, their relationship to each other and above all the relationship between the state and the individuals. 1According to Maitland” while constitutional law deals with structure and the broader rules which regulate the function, the details of the functions are left to administrative law”. According to Gettel2”constitutional law locates sovereignty within the state and thus indicates the source of law”. According to C.F Strong 3”a constitution may be said to be a collection of principles according to which the power of the government, the right of the governed and the relation between the two are adjusted” Again, some have defined constitution in narrower sence. According to Thomas paine and De Tocqueville-constitution means the aggregate of only those written principles which regulate the administration of the state. According to them4”if the constitution cannot be produced in a visible document, it cannot be said to be a constitution at all. Classification of Constitutional: Constitutions are widely classified into two categoris such as: 1.written and unwritten constitution: A written constitution is one in which the fundamental principles concering state administration are embodied and which has, as a specific document been passed by a specific body. So a written constitution can be produced and shown as a single document. The US constitution, Indian constitution, Bangladesh constitution provides example of written document. on the other hand, where the constitution has not been passed formally as a specific document by a specific body and the fundamental principles concering state administration exist in political customs, judicial decision and in some scattered documents, the constitution is an unwritten one. The British constitution provides the glaring example of unwritten constitution. An unwritten constitution must have some written elements. 2.Rigid and Flexible constitution: The distinction between a flexible and rigid constitution rests upon the method by which the constitution may be changed. the constitution which can be amended by ordinary law making procedure is called a flexible constitution. For example British constitution is flexible. This is because there is no distinction between ordinary and constitutional law in Britain. On the other hand, the constitution which procedure (like two-third or three-fourth majority) is 1 2 3 4
Constitutional history,1955,quoted by Takwani,C.K. 2nd edition. P-13 Gettel,R,G.political science,Revised edition.p-184 Strong,C.F.Modern political constitution,p-11 Zink.Harold,Modern Government,2nd edition.p-18