Understanding Constitutions

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  • Understandin Constitutions
    • Types of Constitution
      • Codified and Uncodified
        • Codified
          • Enshrined in law
            • Created
          • Based on the existence of a single authoritative document
            • Core principle of the system of government
              • Duties
              • Powers
              • Fuctions
              • Statement of citizens' rights
          • Key Features
            • Authoritative
              • Highest law
              • Binds all political institutions
                • Two-tier legal system
            • Entrenched
              • Difficult to amend or abolish
            • Judiciable
              • All political bodies are subject to the authority of courts
                • Supreme
                • Constitutional
        • Uncodified
          • Made up of customs and traditions
            • Organic
          • Key Features
            • Not judiciable
              • Judges can't declare actions as constitutional or unconstitutional
            • Not entrenched
              • Can be changed
              • Parliament can make, unmake and amend any law
            • Not authoritative
              • Same status as ordinary laws
                • Single-tier legal system
        • No constitution is entirely written
          • Not entirely formal rules that are legally enforceable
          • Not all documents can define all constitutional practice
        • No constitution is entirely unwritten
      • Unitary and Federal
        • Unitary
          • The supremacy of government over provincial or local bodies
            • The government can create, abolish, strengthen or weaken all institutions
        • Federal
          • Divide sovereignty between two levels
            • Central and Regional possess their own powers
      • Rigid and Flexible
        • Rigid
          • Mostly codified constitutions
            • Amendment
          • Sometimes uncodified constitions
            • Principles of parliamentary sovereignty and the constitutional monarchy
        • Flexible
          • Mostly uncodified constitution
          • Sometimes codified constitutions
            • Judicial interpretation
              • The US Constitution means what the Supreme Court says
    • Constitution
      • Establish duties, powers and functions
      • Regulate relations between institutions
      • Define the relationship between the state and the individual

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