Bouiver defines a Constitution as ‘the fundamental law of State, directing the principles upon which the Government is founded and regulating the exercise of the sovereign powers directing to what bodies and persons these powers shall be confined and the manner of their exercise”.
It is said to be “an auto biography of a power relationship.” Gilchrist defines a constitution to be “that body of rules or laws written or unwritten, which determines the orgnisation of the Government, the distribution of powers to the various organs of Government and the generals principles on which these powers are to be exercised”, perhaps the smallest definition of the Constitution is given by H.fincer He defines Constitution as the “System of fundamental political institution of a country.” Dicey says, “All rules which directly or indirectly affect ^he distribution of the sovereign power in the state make up the Constitution of the State.”
According to Bryce, “Constitution is a set of established ruler embodying and enacting the practice of Government. “Observes, “The term constitution signifies the arrangement and distribution of the sovereign power in the community or for, of Government.”
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According to Woolsey, “Constitution is the collection of principles according to which the powers of the Government, the rights of the governed and the relation between the two are adjusted According to Leacock. “Constitution is the form of Government “Constitution,” according to Jellinek, “is a body of judicial rules which determine the supreme organs of the States, prescribe their mode of creation, their mutual relation, their sphere of action and finally the fundamental place of each of them in relation to the State
Features of the Constitution:
A survey of above definitions of the constitution leads us to the following features of the constitution.
Firstly, a constitution is a set of fundamental rules, laws or customs governing a State It is the fundamental law of the land. In other words the constitutional provisions have a primacy over all other rules customs or laws within a community.
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This distinction is conspicuous in States having written constitution. The supremacy of constitutional provisions makes every other rule subordinate In India, U.S.A. and Switzerland constitutional supremacy; incorporated in the constitution itself. All rules and laws repugnant to the constitution are null and void to the extent of their repugnancy to the constitution.
Secondly, constitution of powers among the various organs of the governments. However constitutional provisions do not go into minute details but deal Constitution, only with broad features of the government orgnisation and the basic principles according to which the various branches of the government will interact.
Lastly, constitution of the State should be interpreted in forms of the social and political climate in which it operators. This is significant for the correct understanding of a constitutional set-up. Often socio-economic forces modify and revise the written provisions in the statute book. So it a constitution is to be defined as “a system of fundamental political institution,” we cannot isolate it form the social environment, the economic institutions, the cultural heritage and historical background of the State.