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What is constitution? Why do we need constitution 2024?

Today you are going to learn what is a constitution according to various legal schoolers

Further, with vivid examples, you will see why we need a constitution in our countries.

The word constitution is not a strange one in the world today.

In the vast majority of modern states or political societies, there exists an identifiable document, or a group of documents, called a constitution, embodying a selection of the most important rules about the government of the country.

There has also been awareness among people on the need and importance of having a constitution or amendments to the existing constitutions in different countries.

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A constitution provides a framework of rules that creates the structure and functions of a human organization.

Any organization might have a constitution, although an organization that depends on close personal bonds such as a family is unlikely to do so.

We are concerned with organizing a country comprising millions of people with few common purposes capable of giving shape to a constitution.

Let’s get started

What is a Constitution?

Wade and Phillips[mfn]Wade, ECS & Phillips, H. Constitutional Law, London, 1965. [/mfn] define a constitution to be “a document, having special legal sanctity, which sets out the framework and the principle functions of organs of government of a state and declares the principles governing the operations of those organs”

The above definition suggests that a constitution needs to:

  1. Be a legal document
  2. Set or establish the Pillars of the government
  3. Set the functions of those organs
  4. Set the powers and limits of those organs

However, this definition has received a lot of challenges from scholars who argue that it is not necessary for a constitution to be found in a document, a country can have its constitution in various documents.

The United Kingdom is mostly cited as an example whereby the Magna Carta makes her constitution of 1215, the Petition of right 1628, The Bill of Rights of 1688, The Act of Settlement 1701, and the Acts of Union.

Wheare[mfn]Wheare K. C. Modern Constitutions, Oxford University Press, London, 1964[/mfn] defines the constitution into two.

He firstly defines a constitution means “the whole system of government of a country, the collection of rules, which establish and regulate or govern the government.

These rules are partly legal in the sense that courts of law will recognize and apply them and partly non-legal or extra-legal taking the form of usages, understandings, customs, or conventions that courts do not recognize as law but which are not less effective in regulating the government than the rules of law strictly called”

In the above definition, Wheare talks much about what it means by the word constitution by basing it on the essence other than the form (document or documents) of the constitution. That is the wider and broader meaning of the term.

In the narrow sense of the constitution, Wheare says in almost every country in the world except for Britain, the constitution means “the whole collections of rules, legal and non-legal but rather a selection of them, which have
usually been embodied in one document or a few closely related documents”.

Prof. Issa Shivji[mfn] Vol. 11-14 EALR (1978-1981)- Publication of the Faculty of Law[/mfn] defines a constitution to be a piece of basic or fundamental law, that tells how the state and its various apparatus are organized, the interrelationships between them, and the division of power inter-se between and among these apparatuses.

Perhaps, one would agree with Prof. Shivji by saying that the Constitution is a law found in one or more documents that constitute State Power and define the relationship between major organs of the State and between the State and the Citizen.

Prof. A. V. Dicey[mfn]Dicey, 1915, p. 22[/mfn] defines a constitution to mean all rules directly or indirectly affect the distribution and exercise of the sovereign power in the state.

Therefore, Dicey focuses on the constitution being a composition of rules that bring about how state power is distributed and exercised.

By this notion, Dicey speaks on a constitution that puts in place state organs, whether all rules are to be found in a single document or in various documents that are not, which is a matter of concern and discussion to Dicey.

Anthony King[mfn]King, A. Does the United Kingdom Still Have a Constitution? 2001, London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2001.[/mfn] defines a constitution as the set of the most important rules that regulate the relations among the different parts of the government of a given country and also the relations between the different parts of the government and the people of the country.

With definition, Anthony seems to deal much with the idea that the constitution is made up of rules that set organs of government and how they relate between themselves and their relationships with individuals.

Anthony joins Dicey on the constitutional form, that the constitution might be a document or document.

Freidrich[mfn]Freidrich, Limited Government: A Comparison, 1974, p. 21. [/mfn] defines a constitution as the ordering and dividing of the exercise of political power by that group in an existent community who can secure the consent of the community and who thereby makes manifest the power of the community itself.

Freidrich’s definition suggests that a constitution establishes state power that results from people’s consent.
He stresses the consent of the community. (This seems to be a political approach).

Tully[mfn]4 Tully, J. (2002) ‘The Unfreedom of the Moderns’, Modern Law Review, 65: 204[/mfn] suggests that a constitution has a special status, he defines it as the cluster of ‘supreme’ or ‘essential ‘ principles, rules, and procedures to which other laws, institutions, and governing authorities within the association are subject.

Therefore, according to Tully, once a constitution exists all other laws, organs of the government, and institutions must derive their legality from the constitution. In this perspective constitution is supreme.

NB: It is also time to discourage the argument by some people who define the constitution to be a contract or agreement between the State and citizens or between the ruling class and the ruled one.

Prof. Shivji says this is not correct either historically or legally.

For, there is no evidence that rulers and the ruled sit together and negotiate a contract called the constitution.

If it is to be understood that a constitution is an agreement or contract it is to be shown as to when and where these two parties to a constitutional contract met and set terms of their contract, the thing that in normal circumstances cannot be obtained.

Again, for those constitutions that are not Democratic, how can citizens agree to a contract that violates or does not recognize their rights for example?

The modern philosophy of the constitution sees the constitution as a product of consensus among people themselves

In historical reality, various constitutions come about through different historical circumstances and reflect the results of social and political struggles in those societies.

Therefore, the argument that a constitution is a contract is wrong both, legally and historically.

Why do we need a constitution?

One will ask himself, after going through various definitions, why the Constitution?

There are several reasons why there is a need to have a constitution in countries around the world:

A constitution acts as a political manifesto of any government in power.

By being the political manifesto the constitution states the kind of government that is in power and its political ideology.

For example, the constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania states in the preamble that

WHEREAS WE, the people of the United Republic of Tanzania, have firmly and solemnly resolved to build in our country a society founded on the principles of freedom, justice, fraternity and concord:

AND WHEREAS those principles can only be realised in a democratic society in which the Executive is accountable to a Legislature composed of elected members and representative of the people, and also a Judiciary which is independent and dispenses justice without fear or favour, thereby ensuring that all human rights are preserved and protected and that the duties of every person are faithfully discharged:

NOW, THEREFORE, THIS CONSTITUTION IS ENACTED BY THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA, on behalf of the People, for the purpose of building such a society and ensuring that Tanzania is governed by a Government that adheres to the principles of democracy and socialism and shall be a secular state.

A constitution is also used to put in place the guiding principles for the ruling class and the ruled one. It puts the guiding principles in definitive words so that the rulers and the ruled may know those guidelines.

A constitution establishes the organs of the government and gives powers and limits to these organs.

In this, the constitution has the last say and acts as a supreme organ.

The above explanation as to why the constitution is summed up by Prof. Shivji who says, depending on how it was made that is whether it was imposed or arrived at by a consensus a constitution serves an important function of giving political power legitimacy, that is, acceptability and respectability.

Another important function of the constitution is to structure state power by establishing and defining the powers and functions of different organs and institutions of the state.

The third function of the Constitution is to limit the exercise of power by stipulating certain basic rights of citizens.

Isack Kimaro
Isack Kimaro

Isack Kimaro, a lawyer, Creative Writer and self-taught SEO expert has been a prominent author of law-related topics since 2017. Through hard work, dedication, and a relentless pursuit of knowledge, Isack has successfully navigated the legal industry by providing valuable and easy-to-understand legal information to 500,000+ individuals of all levels of understanding.