Definition of the Constitution

The modern constitutional State is necessarily

nationalist in background and democratic in tendency
In the making of a constitutional State the sense of
national unity may at first be concerned rather to
establish the independence of the group than to
achieve the liberty of its individual members, but
ultimately it generates the driving power for the
attainment of popular rights.
The objects of a constitution are:
(i) to limit the arbitrary action of the government;
(ii) to guarantee the rights of the governed; and
(iii) to define the operation of the sovereign power.
Then, concerning with the definition of
constitution, world constitutionalists expressed and
coloured the state constitution as follows:
- Constitution is the pillar of the State.
- Constitution is the mirror of the State.
- Constitution is the basic law of the all laws of the
land.
Some states in the world named and called their
state constitutions as
(i) Basic law (or)
(ii) Fundamental Law (or)
(iii) State Law.
Lord Bryce defined a constitution as a frame of
political society, organized
through and by law, that is to say, one in which law
established permanent institutions with recognized
functions and definite rights.
Explanation (for permanent institution)
According to C.F. Strong, a true constitution will
have the following facts-
(i) how the various agencies are organized;
(ii) what power is entrusted to those agencies;
(iii) in what manner such power is to be exercised.
Explanation (for agencies)
According to Wade and Phillips, Constitutional
law means the rules which regulate the structure of the
principal organs of government and their relationship
to each other, and determine their principal functions.
These rules consist both of legal rules in the strict sense
and usage, commonly called conventions, which
without being enacted are accepted as binding by all
who are concerned in government.
Unitary State

A Unitary State is one in which "The habitual

exercise of supreme legislative authority by one central
power."
A unitary State is one single whole. It is
composed of territorial administrative units (a simple
unitary state) but may sometimes include autonomous
formations (A complex unitary State). This autonomy
may be political (Legislative) and administrative
(without the right to legislate).
People's Republic of China is a unitary State.
There are role of autonomous province, autonomous
pre-facture and national area in China Constitution.
Republic of Indonesia is also a unitary state.
There are the self-governing units of that State.
The essence of a unitary State is that the
sovereignty is undivided, or in other words, that the
powers of the central government are unrestricted, for
the constitution of a unitary State does not admit of
any other law-making baby than the central one. It
does not mean the absence of subsidiary law-making
bodies, but it does mean that they exist and can be
abolished at the discretion of the central authority.
Theoretically, the two essential qualities of a
unitary state may therefore be said to be:-
(i) the supremacy of the central parliament and
(ii) the absence of subsidiary sovereign bodies.
 Every Unitary has the supremecy of the central
Parliament. So the Unitary State may be rigid
constitution and there are certain sorts of acts which
constitution does not allow the ordinary central
legislature to pass except under special constitutions.
In a unitary state, there is only one kind of legislature,
which is always and absolutely supreme.
The absence of subsidiary sovereign bodies is the
second mark of a unitary state the distinction between
subsidiary law making bodies and subsidiary sovereign
bodies is the distinction between the local authorities
in a unitary state and the state authorities in a federal
state. Example: U.K, France, Italy, China,---etc.
Composition

Under Section 83 (1) of the Constitution the

Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of members to
represent constituencies determined by law. This sub-
section (2) then goes on to say that the members of the
Chamber of Deputies shall be as nearly as practicable,
twice the number of members of the Chambers of
Nationalities. Although the Constitution envisages that
the actual number of members of the Chamber of
Deputies can fixed by law, it nonetheless stipulates that
it shall not be fixed at less than one member for each
100,000 of the population or at more than one member
for each 30,000 of the Population.
Under the Parliamentary Elections Act 1948,
Section 3 the total number of members for the
Chamber of Deputies is fixed at 250, and is to be sub-
divided as follows:-
(a) 25 seats for the representatives of the Shan
State.
(b) 7 seats for the representatives of the Kachin
State.
(c) 6 seats for the representatives of the Chin State.
(d) 2 seats for the representatives of the Karenni
State.
(e) 7 seats for the representatives of the Karen
State.
(f) 203 seats for the rest of the Union of Myanmar.
 The total number to seats for the Chamber of
Nationalities is fixed in the Constitution itself at 125
seats (Section 87). The subdivision is made in the 2nd
Schedule of the Constitution as follows:-
(a) 25 seats shall be filled by representatives from
the Shan State;
(b) 12 seats shall be filled by representatives from
the Kachin State.
(c) 8 seats shall be filled by representatives from the
Special Division of the Chins,
(d) 3 seats shall be filled by representatives from the
Kayah State,
(e) 15 seats shall be filled by representatives from
the Karen State;
(f) 62 seats shall be filled by representatives from
the Union of Myanmar.
Thus it will be seen that 63 seats are given to the
representatives of the States.
The Essence of People's Judicial System

The Chief Justice of the Union, Dr. Maung Maung

explained and exhorted at length about the principles
and essence of the People's Judicial System or socialist
style and methodology of judicial administration, in the
following was the architect of Myanmar Independence,
Bogyoke Aung San had guided that there should be
established a judicial system administered by the
people for their own general welfares and well-being".
The People's Judicial System was meant the
people's committees being formed by people's
representatives, administrating justice on public affairs
and legal disputes according to prevailing laws and
custom or any traditions fairly and properly. As these
committee members were mere conversant with the
public affairs of their own localities, they were in a
position to weigh and consider more properly than the
alien judges and judicial officers. They knew their own
people, own place and own fields. If possible, they
should settle the matters amicably by conciliation,
negotiation and arbitration. The people of the locality
would better understand and appreciate the decisions
passed by their own representatives of the Judicial
Committee
Those People's Committees were not full-time
judges and not on permanent basis. They are
composed of local farmers and peasants, people's
workers and just philanthropic participants,
contributing their time and labour for the public good
and justice. They sit as judges on rotation. After having
done their services, they go back to their own jobs. If
they decide unfairly and with bias they could not and
dare not face their own people when they go back.
Thus, this fact is a protection against corruption".
The basic unit of the States is village and locality.
When the villages are amalgamated they become
township; when townships are merged, they become
State and Divisions; when the States and Divisions are
combined they are formed into a State. Most of the
people live in various localities and villages. The legal
disputes used to rise in such places. For that reason, all
the legal matters process could be made more easily
without consuming time and money at the localities
and villages. The litigants need not spend much time
and legal costs by that way, and hence, there will be
better speedy and fair legal trials. Thus, it will not affect
individual and state economy, man-power and human
resources.
Basic Principles of the Constitution (1974)

Basic principles of the Constitution of the

Socialist Republic of the Union of Myanmar were
stipulated in Chapter 2 of the Constitution as follows:-
• goal of the State is a socialist society.
• The economic system of the State is a Socialist
economic system
• Socialist democracy is the basis of the State
structure.
• There shall be no exploitation of man by man nor
of one national race by another in the State.
• The State safeguards the interests of the working
people whose strength is based on peasants and
workers.
• The State shall adopt a single-party system. The
Myanmar Socialist Programme Party is the sole
political party and it shall lead the State.
• The sovereign powers of the State reside in the
people, comprising all national races whose
strength is based on peasants and workers.
• The State shall nationalize the means of
production within the land-Suitable enterprises
shall be owned and operated by cooperatives.
• All citizens shall be equal before the law.
• The State consistently practices in independent
foreign policy, aimed at international peace and
friendly relations among nations, and upholds
the principles of the peaceful co-existence of
nations, Basic principles were stipulated from
Article 5 to 27.
Powers and Functions of the President

The President may, with the approval of the

Pyidaungsu Hluttaw,
(a) designate the Ministries of the Union
Government as necessary, and make changes
and additions to the Ministries;
(b) designate the number of the Union Ministers as
necessary, and may increase or decrease the
number. (Section 202)
The President may have, in accord with law,
(a) the power to confer honorary titles and
awards. (Section 205)
(b) and the power to revoke conferred
honorary titles and awards. (Section 205)
The President, in accord with the law, may
appoint and dismiss Heads of the Bodies of Civil
Services. (Section 208)
The President shall have the right to occasionally
deliver an address or send a message to the session of
the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw or Amyotha Hluttaw, or to the
entire country relating the policies and general
situation of the Union. (Section 210)
The President may intimate the Speaker of
Pyidaungsu Hluttaw to summon an emergency or
special session of Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, if necessary.
(Section 211)
 The President may declare war or make peace
only with the assent of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw.
(Section 213 (c))
The President shall sign laws and promulgate in
the official Gazette. The President shall be exempted
from answering act done by him but the exemption
does not deal with the provisions relating to
impeachment.
The Constitutional Tribunal of the Union
Formation

The Constitutional Tribunal of the Union shall be

formed with nine members including the Chairperson.
(Section 320) Functions and Duties The functions and
duties of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Union are as
follows:
(a) interpreting the provisions under the
Constitution;
(b) vetting whether the laws promulgated by the
Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the Region Hluttaw, the
State Hluttaw or the Self-Administered Division
Leading Body and the Self-Administered Zone
Leading Body are in conformity with the
Constitution or not,
(c) vetting whether the measures of the executive
authorities of the Union, the Regions, the States,
and the Self-Administered Areas are in
conformity with the Constitution or not;
(d) deciding Constitutional disputes between the
Union and a Region, between the Union and a
State, among the Regions, among the States,
between a Region or a State and a Self-
Administered Areas and among the Self-
Administered Areas,
(e ) deciding disputes arising out of the rights and
duties of the Union and a Region, a State or a
 Self-Administered Area in implementing the
Union Law by a Region State or Self-
Administered Area;
(f) vetting and deciding matters, intimated by the
President relating to the Union Territory;
(g) functions and duties conferred by the laws
enacted by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Section 322)
The resolution of the Constitutional Tribunal of
the Union shall be final and conclusive. (Section 324)
'Rigid' and 'Flexible'

Lord Bryce suggested an alternative approach

that would have "some more definite and
characteristic test" to make off types of constitutions.
His new classification was 'Rigid' and 'Flexible'. He
wants to differentiate the relation which each
constitution bears to the ordinary laws of the state, and
to the ordinary authority which enacts those laws.
The older type of flexible constitutions has
elasticity, because they can be bent and altered in form
while retaining their math features, Constitutions of
newer kind cannot, because their lines are hard and
fixed. So, they got the name of Rigid Constitution.
A 'Rigid' Constitution is one that needs special
procedure for its amendment: a procedure different
from that needed for the amendment of extra-
constitutional law. A Flexible constitution is one that
requires on special procedure for its amendment.
A rigid constitution is thought of as a
Constitution which, because it contains legal obstacles,
is hard to alter and is seldom altered. (1974 Myanmar
Constitution, A 194, Latin America and U.S
Constitutions.)
A flexible constitution is thought of as a
constitution which is easy to alter and is often altered.
Lord Bryce pointed and wrote "depends not so
much on its form as on the social and economic forces
that stand behind and support it, and if the form of the
Constitution corresponds to the balance of those
forces, their support maintains it unchanged".