In this article you will learn about the Written and Unwritten Constitution in Political Science.
Written Constitution
A written constitution is the constitution in which it is written in the form of a book or a series of documents combined in the form of a book. It is a consciously planned and enacted constitution which is formulated and adopted by a constituent assembly or a committee or a council or a legislature. Dr. Garner observes that, “A written constitution is a consciously planned and enacted constitution, formulated and adopted by deliberate actions of a constituent assembly or a convention.” It provides for a definite design of government institutions, their organisations, functions, powers and their interrelationships with others. It embodies the constitutional law of the state and enjoys distinct characters, special sanctity and place of supremacy. The government is bound by its provisions and it has to work strictly and scrupulously in accordance with its provisions. The constitution can be only amended in accordance with its corresponding provisions. A written constitution is a duly elected constitution.
The Constitution of India, Germany, Japan, the USA, Canada, France, Switzerland are all written constitutions. The Constitution of India was drafted and enacted by the Constituent Assembly which was constituted in 1946 and passed the constitution on 26th November 1949. The Constitution of the USA was drafted by the Philadelphia Convention in 1787 and it has been operated since 1789.
Unwritten Constitution
An unwritten constitution is the constitution which is neither drafted nor enacted by a Constituent Assembly. It is also not written in any form of a book or one document and it is a product of slow and gradual evolution. The government is organised and it functions in accordance with several settled laws and unwritten conventions. The people know their constitution and they are bound to accept and obey it. However, they do not possess it in a written form. An unwritten constitution cannot be produced in the form of a book or document and shown to the students of politics. The institutions of the government owe their existence and working to historical charters, precedents, rules and experiences. Such a constitution is drawn from several sources viz historical documents, legislative statutes, judicial decisions, scientific commentaries, and conventions.
However, this should not be taken to mean that an unwritten constitution is totally unwritten. Some of its parts are available in a written form but these do not stand codified in the form of a legal document or code of rule. According to Garner an unwritten constitution is the constitution in which most and not all rules are unwritten and these are not found in any one charter or document. For example, the constitution of the United Kingdom is an unwritten constitution.
An Unwritten Constitution is not a Constitution
Some writers like Thomas Paine and De Tocqueville advocate the view that an unwritten constitution is no constitution at all. They opine that a constitution in order to be accepted as a constitution must be a constitution written in the form of a book, enacted by an assembly, and must contain a special procedure of amendment.
The British Constitution has been an unwritten constitution. It has never been codified by the British Parliament. No constituent assembly has formally drafted and passed it. It is not available in the form of a single written document. It lives in several charters, statutes and judicial decisions. It functions on the basis of a large number of conventions, and hence, it is an unwritten constitution.
However, most contemporary political scientists do not subscribe to the view that the constitution must be a written constitution. They hold that a constitution can also be unwritten. It may or may not be enacted, and it may not have a special producer of amendment. The Constitution means the constitutional law of the land which lays down the organisation, powers and functions of the government and its three organs. It is not the name of the book in which such laws are written.
This article on Written and Unwritten Constitution in Political Science is contributed by Dipshikha Anand. If you like LawStudyPoint.com do follow us on our Twitter handle.