BENUE STATE UNIVERSITY, MAKURDI

BENUE STATE

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NATURE OF WORK:
ASSIGNMENT

QUESTIONS
1. A constitution is referred to as a soul of a nation discuss not less
than three (3) pages .

NOVEMBER, 2022
INRODUCTION:
Constitution is known as soul of democracy because on its basis the laws
and rules are followed. Without any constitution democracy is nothing it
will become dictatorship after sometime because the ruling party will take
all the powers of government and dictate all of us

A constitution is a legal body that defines and regulates laws in a country.

Any constitution serves a particular purpose at a particular time for a
country. For instance, Germany rewrote their constitution in 1949, shortly
after the Second World War. The USA created their modified constitution in
1787, soon after gaining the independence from Britain. Therefore, every
constitution serves its purpose. Nevertheless, all constitutions can be
divided into several types according to their characteristics. 

The vast majority of contemporary constitutions describe the basic

principles of the state, the structures and processes of government and the
fundamental rights of citizens in a higher law that cannot be unilaterally
changed by an ordinary legislative act. This higher law is usually referred to
as a constitution.

Constitution is the basic principles and laws of a nation, state, or social

group that determine the powers and duties of the government and
guarantee certain rights to the people in it.

It is also a political agreement between mandated leaders about what the

most basic law in the land should be. In a sense, the
Constitution represents a discovery of nationhood because it reflects the
soul of the nation.

This Constitution is one of the most advanced in the world, establishing a

constitutional democracy in which a finely Grafted Bill of Rights enjoys
pride of place. It divides government into national, provincial, and local
spheres. In order to avoid the tensions and conflict inherent in this
separation, a principle of co-operative governance was adopted, which
obliges each sphere of government to co-operate for the greater good of the
entire country. The Constitution makes provision for an independent and
impartial judicial system including a powerful Constitutional Court. An
entire chapter is devoted to the establishment of state institutions designed
to support a constitutional democracy, and a representative, open, and
accountable government is guaranteed. It also obliges the civil service to be
broadly representative and to conduct itself in a transparent and
accountable manner. In addition, all institutions of government must
adhere to strict financial and accounting procedures.

A constitution sets out how all the elements of government are organised

and how power is carved up among different political units. It contains
rules about what power is wielded, who wields it and over whom it is
wielded in the governing of a country.

DEFINITION:
Constitution: is seen as a body of fundamental principles or established
precedents according to which a state or other organization is
acknowledged to be governed.

A constitution is the rule book for a state. It sets out the fundamental
principles by which the state is governed. It describes the main institutions
of the state, and defines the relationship between these institutions (for
example, between the executive, legislature and judiciary).

THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSTITUTION

A constitution is important because it ensures that those who make
decisions on behalf of the public fairly represent public opinion. It also sets
out the ways in which those who exercise power may be held accountable
to the people they serve.

 it ensures that those who make decisions on behalf of the public

fairly represent public opinion.
 It also sets out the ways in which those who exercise power may be
held accountable to the people they serve.
 To provide a set of basic rules that allow for minimal coordination
amongst members of society.
 To specify who has the power to make decisions in a society.
 It decides how the government will be constituted.
 To set some limits on what a government can impose on its citizens.

TYPES OF CONSTITUTION
 Written constitution is a type of document or documents created in
the form of laws. Written constitutions are usually very precise and
systematic. The creation of this constitution is usually defined as a
deliberate effort of the people. This legal body is elected to be the
main legal document for the specific period of history. Most countries
 have a written constitution, like the USA, India, Russia, France,
Germany, Nigeria, and so on.

 The unwritten constitution is a legal body where the principles have

never been enacted as laws. It consists of various customs, principles
or traditions of a country. It does not have a specific date of creation
and is not clear or precise in any way. Unwritten constitutions are
usually a result of the historical development of a country. One of the
classical examples is the English Constitution.

 Codified and uncodified constitutions are simply another name for

written and unwritten constitutions. The codified constitution is a set
of laws created at a specific period of time. At the same time,
uncodified constitution type is based on customs and traditions.
Nevertheless, there are no completely codified and uncodified
constitutions.

 Every codified constitution has uncodified elements. For instance,

take a classic example of the USA constitution. The constitution of
America provides for indirect elections of the President. Still, the USA
elections are already direct. In the same vein, the uncodified
constitution of England has a lot of codified law acts.

 Flexible and Inflexible Constitutions: These generally refer to how

easy you can change some clauses of the constitution. Codified
constitutions have a strict set of rules for when it comes to
constitution changes. One of the examples of inflexible constitutions
is the USA constitution. The specificity of this constitution makes it
very inflexible for changes. At the same time, the British Constitution
has constantly been changing since the 13th century.

 Monarchy and Republican Constitutions: The Monarchy

Constitution is one of the various types of constitution that provides
no head of the state power to citizens of a country unless they are
related to a monarch. This type of constitution may proclaim an
endless political power to a monarch or limit his/her political power. 

 The Republican Constitution is the most popular constitution today.

It proclaims rights and freedoms for all citizens. At the same time, it
provides the ability to choose political leaders or be chosen as a
political leader.
  Presidential and Parliamentary Constitutions: Presidential and
Parliamentary constitutions depends on how a government operates.
The presidential constitution places power in the hands of a
president. The parliamentary constitution gives power to a
parliament. These types of constitution primarily effect the head of
the executive and the head of state branches.

 Federal and Unitary Constitutions: Constitutions can also be

divided into unitary and federal types. The federal constitution
provides the ability to create the governments at the state level.
These governments can also have their constitutions. Nevertheless,
these should be connected and controlled by the central government.
The Unitary Constitution does not accept any governmental power
beyond the central government. Still, it can also provide the
devolution of power to parts of a country on the local level.

CONCLUSION/ SUMMARY
A Constitution needs to be stable. It should not be altered too frequently,
and probably not too easily. As the supreme source of power, and the
fundamental framework for a nation's political and legal institutions, it has
a permanence that ordinary laws or Acts of Parliament do not have.

Constitutions can declare and define the rights and duties of citizens. Most
constitutions include a declaration of fundamental rights applicable to
citizens. The Constitution of the United States established America's
national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain
basic rights for its citizens.

As the Government's Discussion Paper on the powers of the Senate puts it,
the Constitution ‘is not immutable. It was consciously designed with a
mechanism for change, the referendum process.’ The mechanism is
described in section 128: ‘This Constitution shall not be altered except in
the following manner.’ A bill (a ‘proposed law’) for altering the Constitution
must go through the Parliament, and then be ‘submitted to the electors’
whose vote is counted in two ways.
REFEREES
1. Online source: Introduction, definition, and the importance of
constitution

2. De Smith, Constitutional and Administrative Law,

3. Ackerman, Bruce, We the People, Volume 1: Foundations (Cambridge,

MA: Harvard University Press, 1993)

4. Austin, Reginald, ‘Constitutional Reform Processes’, in Writing

Autobiographies of Nations: A Comparative Analysis of Constitutional
Reform Processes (The Hague: Netherlands Institute for Multiparty
Democracy, 2009)

5. Lutz, Donald S., Principles of Constitutional Design (Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 2006)

6. Paul, Ellen Frankel, Miller, Fred D. Jr. and Paul, Jeffrey (eds.), What
Should Constitutions Do? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2011)