Advantages and Disadvantages of Written and Unwritten Constitutions

f each(prenominal) upon and discuss the advantages and injustices of create verb both last(predicate)y and extemporary tokens of personalitys. A authorship is a body of first harmonic rules or established precedents according to which a terra firma or organization is g of tot onlyy timeywherened, particularly when embodying the rights of subjects. A disposition sets erupt how each the elements of G overnment be organized and how king is carved up among different policy-making units. It contains rules ab step forward what place is wielded, who wields it and over whom it is wielded in the governing of a enounce.As a agreeable of deal or contract among those in force out and those who be subjected to this cater, a make-up defines the rights and duties of citizens and the devices that keep those in supply in check. A constitution is the positive fairness of the land in whatsoever given arna and no stark naked(prenominal) integrity may scrap with i t, nor may the government do allthing that violates it. Constitutions make up as national and regional. deuce types of national constitutions that exist atomic bend 18 the compose ( systemise) constitution and the un create verbally (un codified) constitution.Countries akin the unite terra firma, Israel and New Zealand put up the un pen constitution while countries like India, United States and states of the res prevalenta Caribbean possess the pen constitution. A written constitution is unitary that is contained in a hotshot school text file which is the one source of innate law in a state. Written constitutions be oft the product of some striking governmental transport such(prenominal) as a revolution as was the character of America and the gaining of independence by the Commonwealth Caribbean countries from Britain.The operate by which a realm adopts a constitution is closely only whentoned to the historic and governmental context movement these c onstitutional changes. The legitimacy and longevity of codified constitutions put one over often been tied to the process by which they were initially adopted. States that obligate codified constitutions formly give the constitution domination over cut-and-dry rule law. self-generated constitutions atomic number 18 the product of an evolution of laws and conventions over centuries. There argon advantages and injurys to both types of constitutions.Major principle and key constitutional provisions atomic number 18 intrench, safeguarding them from intervention by the Government of the day. An entrenched constitution tail non be altered in any(prenominal)(prenominal) way by a general assembly as part of its normal business concerning ordinary statutory laws. The strongest train of entrenchment exist in those constitutions that state that some of the just about fundamental principles atomic number 18 absolute, i. e. certain articles may non be amended down the stairs any circumstances. For simulation the German Federal Constitution which states that homophile dignity on the basis of pitying rights is saved.The fundamental rights or the right to life while atomic number 18 outlined. The circular of Rights ar clear outlines which deals with rights to equality, human dignity, life, privacy, freedom of speech, freedom of godliness and express mailion, labour relations, education, children and legal process. A level of Rights place limitations on the Government and creates an field of honor of freedom for the heap. Individual liberty is to a broader extent securely protected and authorative Government is unbroken at bay. The Government is straight jacketed, so absolute powerfulness can non be the norm of the government.The Constitution is supreme over ordinary jurisprudence law. If there is any conflict in the midst of a legal statute and the constitution, all or part of the statute ar decl ared ultra vires by a hook, and struc k down as unconstitutional. The constitution of the United States had many out of the blue(predicate) shortcomings which the Founding Fathers could not rush agnise over devil hundred eld ago. These had to be patched through amendments, just waste been honoured by Governments, and no dictatorship has been able to take h experient of it.The reversal effect of this was seen with the constitution of Argentina written many grades after in 1853 and was a better document, but did not prevent a succession of supreme Governments from ignoring it, such as the Perons forces Government which unattended the fundamental rights of the heap. In Argentina a state of indispensableness was declared 52 times to break constitutional guarantees. Non political judge are able to police the constitution to tick that its provisions are upheld by different public bodies.The court is unique in that it is not elected, but it is independent. Judges in Trinidad and Tobago and the rest of the Commonwealth Caribbean are appointive by the unlike Judicial and profound Service Commissions. As a yield no one, especially a twist politician can interfere in the work of the constitutional courts. The constitution is protected by the legal bodies of the courts, such as the Supreme motor inn, the Constitutional Courts or the spirited Courts of the heterogeneous countries. The responsibility of the court is to protect constitutionally established rights and freedom.Any constitutional intrusion by the administrator director, such as a politician who abuses the power of his established authorization can be held fibable in court. This was evident in Trinidad and Tobago, where many snarl that the last establish take care, Patrick Manning abused the powers of his obligation, and on many occasions was taken to court for discriminatory review. The German Constitutional Court is a special court devote solely to the protection of the constitution. Constitutional courts a re powerful instruments of judicial review with the power to declare unconstitutional a law that is deemed incompatible with the constitution.France has a Constitutional Council which decide the constitutionality of laws before the ratification process. The power of the legislative body is restrain, cutting its sovereignty down to size. A crucial function of a constitution and a classic feature of democracy is the division of power among the three pillars of Government, i. e. the legislative, the executive and the judiciary. The legislative assembly makes laws and monitors the executive. The executive makes policy, proposes laws and implements laws passed by the legislatures and the judiciary tries cases and administer justice.Each arm of the state keeps define over the powers of the other. The courts can judge the actions of the legislature and the executive but cannot pass laws. The legislature can make laws but cannot exceed down judgments or take executive action. The chall enge is to ensure that the executives do not wield its authority without existence contained by the other branches. Division of power in this way ensures checks and balances within the system in a country. Lord performions assumption was, power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely.The concentration of all power into the hands of one individual or group places them in a spotlight to abuse that power and thus to bestow fear into the cat valium man, hence the involve for the doctrine of the separation of powers in a democracy. The written document has an educational value in that it highlights the central values and overall goals of the political system. The ceremonial preamble of the Trinidad and Tobagos constitution makes reference to the supremacy of God, fundamental human rights and freedoms. The American constitution excessively draws reference to God.The constitution of the Republic of southbound Africa 1996 which is called the birth certificate of a brisk South Africa states the hopes and aspirations of the nation torn aside by apartheid. This preamble recognizes the injustices of the past and honours degree those who suffered for injustices and freedom and respect for those who work to complaisantise the country and believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in diversity. One disadvantage of the written constitution is that it is more than(prenominal) than rigid and may and then be less responsive and pliable than an extemporaneous one.It is the view of many politicians and academics globally that a constitution should grow with the community in keeping with that particular time in the historical development of the country. This type of constitution does not forfeit for a prominent amount of organic change over time and does not slow take into account the needs of the participatory system and the throng. A majority is take in fan tan to attempt any kind of modification. The United States constitution is stuck with old provisions that mickle mobilize are a bad idea, e. . the right to bear implements of war and the right to a board trial in federal cases involving more than twenty dollars. After time near of these old provisions are ignored or never used in a modern society, since they are not relevant to the needs of the the great unwashed. Last year the St. Vincent Government essay constitutional reform, but needed a majority of 70 five percent of the voters in a referendum. The Government was not able to pass this majority, so they are stuck within the marge of their old constitution.Within the last couple of age the Peoples National parkway under the Prime Minister Patrick Manning, of Trinidad and Tobago attempted constitutional reform, but they did not hold back a majority in parliament so they went about it in a different way. The draft proposed constitution was printed and astray distributed to citizens of the country so that their views were shared. Througho ut the country there were public meetings and consultation with the people. The people were given a forum to express their desire or disgust for the proposed constitutional document.There was also consultation with the leader of the opposition, because the prevail of the opposition was needed to make any kind of amendment to the proposed constitution. The second disadvantage of the written constitution is that Government power may be more effectively constrained by regular elections than by a constitutional document. In democratic countries, cosmopolitan Elections are held ever so often so that the people can see who forms the next Government. In the United States, elections are held every four historic period, but a President cannot reply more than two terms, so he cannot run for office after his second term is up.This is another(prenominal) way to keep someone out of the Presidency for too long, like in some of the African countries where it is noted that Presidents who dole out for more than twenty years or so, allow the power to go to their heads, and as a consequent use the constitution and the military to stay in power for an unlimited number of years, which history has be is unhealthy for the development of those countries, since those countries have been plagued with civil war, unrest and economic problems. The third disadvantage is that constitutional supremacy resides with non elected resolve rather than with public accountable politicians.By rectitude a politician is accountable to the people and in a democratic country like Trinidad and Tobago if one is not commodious by a Member of Parliament he can take action, as was the case when a Moslemeen member was dissatisfy because his daughter could not attend a Catholic School with her traditional Muslim garb. The gentleman went into the office of the Education Minister and demanded account readiness. Others politicians are also asked to publicly account because in those cases the media inte rvene to voice the grievances of the people. tho settle are not accountable to anyone for their actions, whether they are right or nonviable wrong.They are insulated from outside interference. Judges can be advantageously corrupted in cases where they have large debts or have vices that they need money to maintain. It is a jet sight to see resolve at exclusive casinos in Trinidad and Tobago. One of their hobbies is gambling, and it is head known that most gamblers are continuously in debt because the mathematical probability of all gambling games is designed for the players to lose most of the time. Once criminal elements know which judges are in debt, they can intimately reach out financially to these judges, and of conformation for favors in return.In the past in Trinidad and Tobago judges took bribes in the form of money, land, houses, and luxurious estates in send to empty charges, fix out a case or govern some legal technicality or loophole to dismiss a case. Duri ng the 1970s, 1980s and archaeozoic 1990s the well known dose dealer and killer Dole Chadee had every single one of his cases dismissed at the Princes Town Magistrates court, and it was the same judge who sat on those cases, because he was not accountable to anyone, not even the Prime Minister at the time.The Medellin Drug combining in Columbia controlled the medicine muckle in that country during the 1980s and they were uninfluenced by politicians and law enforcement during their reign. Judges had to cut out charges against any member of this Cartel if they ever went to court because the Cartel Bosses threaten the judges with violence and death. Because these judges had the power to drop these cases and were not accountable to any political directorate, they had no choice but to throw the cases out, else they and their families would have face executions by the drug cartel.The fourth disadvantage of a written constitution is that constitutional provisions are enshrined in usa nce and conventions and may be more widely respected because they have been endorsed by history and not invented or drawn up by earth On major advantage of the unwritten constitution is its flexibility and responsiveness to change. It is easily adapted to change and amendments. It is flexible and pliant to different customs, and since the British population is more diverse now than ever with immigrants from all different societies, cultures and races, this is important.The laws have been flexible to allow Muslim men to have more than one wife in British society. The laborious process of amendment does not have to be through simply because a minor change in political practice. For example, if the minimum age to vote was to be changes from 18 to 17, in the United States, a formal amendment would take years any may even fail to advance for a number of years because of adjective reasons. Such a change in the United soil could easily be done in a librate of hours.Therefore the unwri tten constitution allows for a great amount of organic change over time, to easily take into account the changing times and needs of the democratic system. It allows itself to be shaped by the needs of the people, adopting as required by circumstances. It is quite general for out of date or unfeasible bits of laws to be discarded for new procedures and customs. Non written traditions and customs carry greater exercising weight in the United Kingdom as oppose to the written constitution. The British people are extremely majestic of their monarchy, their historical achievements, their progressive democracy, their freedom and dignity.They are the orbits oldest democracy and as a result the people are proud to respect the conventions and uphold law and order in society. The first major disadvantage of the unwritten constitution is that there is no single text that can be invoked and there is no definition of state powers and no limits except customs, consequence that whatever com promise is necessary between current opinion and the Government finger of virtue may come into conflict. The British constitution exists in every single piece of legislation ever passed in Parliament.These also exist in common law, treaties with foreign powers, analysis and comments made by experts such as politicians and academia. Since the British constitution is the product of evolution of laws and conventions over centuries which include written source and e. g. constitutional statutes enacted by Parliament (House of Communities Act 1972, Human Rights Act 1998), and also unwritten sources such as constitutional conventions, observation of precedents, royal prerogatives, customs and traditions , such as always safekeeping a General Election on Thursdays.Altogether these constitute the British constitutional Law. The other disadvantage is that only a involve few can acquire such knowledge of the unwritten constitution since they are scattered across many documents. and then i t is only these select few who are able to interpret it and what is worrying is that these people might be the ones to connive in constitutional subversion. Most British people would struggle to put their hands on what their rights are or in which text they can locate these literature.So the responsibilities that goes with being British may never fully be understood by the average citizen because those rights are scattered across a legion of different places. The next disadvantage is that withdraw and insert can be done on the constitution if by contingency one day a written one is implemented. Minor violations would go unobserved because the average citizen is not aware of the various types of British laws. The Parliament could easily shake off a written constitution to serve itself and executive members without the public ever being aware of this.Another disadvantage is that limits to state powers are not clearly expressed and this is of great concern to the knowledgeable peop le of British society. Parliament has unlimited law-making powers and there is no clear separation of powers among the three arms of the Government. Historically the United Kingdom has not had a definition of individual rights and freedoms. The 1689 Bill of Rights sets out the powers of the Parliament, but relies on the purpose of residual freedom and the concept of parliamentary sovereignty.Therefore individual rights remained dependent on the ad hoc statutory protection or upon judicial protection under common law. The immediate thing the United Kingdom has to a Bill of Rights is the Human Rights Act of 1998 which incorporates the European Convention of Human Rights 1950 into domestic law. The ability of ordinary people to challenge the actions of various institutions of Government is formally limited to the acts of public authority by section six.The new counter- terrorism measures appeared to erode civil liberties in the wake of the September 11th 2001 contend in New York, an d the July 7th 2005 bombings of the tube in London. The last disadvantage is the enquiry of British sovereignty. The entry of the United Kingdom into the European joint in 1973 was a major constitutional development, bringing Britain under the supranational jurisdiction of the European nub in a limited number of areas, which has gradually grown over the years.This illustrates the corrosion of the United Kingdom unfettered sovereignty. wholesome known British politicians over the years have commented publicly on this income tax return of Britain slowly losing its sovereignty. After World Was Two the American troops seized covert plans from the Germans that outlined another future attempt by to unify Europe under German rule, but this time without the use of war. It entailed the legal jointure of Europe which Hitler wanted to achieve by use of force and the military, and the ultimate devastation of America.This information has been declassified within late years. One has to question the diplomatic motives fucking the driving force of the European Union and its acceptance of Britain into the Union, so Britain should seriously think about it sovereign erosion. Although there are differences between written and unwritten constitutions with respect to their advantages and disadvantages, one must carefully divvy up the usefulness of a constitution and its promotion of democracy and the rights and freedom of the people.We can see that although the United Kingdom does not have a written document, it is the oldest and one of the greatest democracies in the world. The British people are proud and law abiding. The United Kingdom has so far been a collected and stable country, whereas countries like China, Russia, North Korea, Vietnam and Myanmar all have written constitutions, but staple human rights are not enjoyed by a number of citizens of those countries. A perfect(a) example of democracy that truly value the rights, freedom and aspirations of the peop le is in the United States where there is a written constitution.