GROUP IV

CONSTITUTIONAL
L AW I
PRESENTATION
 DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

• Constitutional Law can be said to be the ‘law about law’

• The word ‘CONSTITUTION’ has two main meanings, narrow and broad;
• A Document having a special legal status/sanctity which sets out the framework and principal
functions of the organs of government and declares the principles or rules by which those organs
must operate.
• In countries in which the constitution has overriding legal force, there is often a high-ranking court
which applies and interprets the text of the constitution in disputed cases. Examples:
– The Supreme Court in USA and Canada
– The Federal Constitutional Court in Germany
• In these countries, when executive or legislative acts conflict with constitutional provisions, they are held to
be without legal force by the courts.
 DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

• ‘The whole system of government of a country, the collection of rules which establish and
regulate or govern the government.’
• “By constitution we mean, whenever we speak with propriety and exactness, that assemblage of
laws, institutions and customs, derived from certain fixed principles of reason, directed to certain
fixed objects of public good, that compose the general system, according to which the
community hath agreed to be governed.” ~ Lord Bolingbroke, 1733
• A constitution is a thing antecedent to a government, and a government is only the creature of a
constitution… A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a
government, and government without a constitution, is power without a right.
• Among this ‘assemblage of laws, institutions and customs…’ can be found the written
constitutions of most countries like Germany, Canada, India, the USA and many others and this is
because:
– Around a written constitution will evolve a wide variety of customary rules which adjust its working
to changing conditions.
 CONSTITUTIONALISM

• Deals with the relationship between state power, law, democracy and the preservation of liberal
values.
• ‘The doctrine that claims that political authority should be bound by institutions that restrict the
exercise of power’ ~ A Norwegian Political Scientist
• ‘The set of principles, manners, and institutional arrangements’ that have traditionally served to
limit the government. ~ A Hungarian jurist.
• ‘[the] special virtue of constitutionalism… lies not merely in reducing the power of the state, but
in effecting that reduction by the advance imposition of rules.’ ~ An American commentator.
• ~~~Typically a feature of the written constitution.
 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW – ITS MEANING AND
SOURCES
• In the presence of a written constitution, the following would comprise the formal sources of
constitutional law:
– The constitution itself, and amendments to it
– Acts of Parliament dealing with matters of constitutional importance
– Judicial decisions interpreting the constitution
• In the absence of a written constitution, the 2 main sources of constitutional law are the same as those of law in
general, and they are:
1. Legislation: Also known as enacted laws. Examples:
• The Magna Carta
• The Petition of Right
• The Bill of Rights and Claim of Rights
• Act of Settlement
• Other Statutes of Constitutional Importance
 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW – ITS MEANING AND
SOURCES
II. Case Law: Also known as Judicial Precedent: - the decision of the courts expounding common
law or interpreting legislation.
the 2 principal forms of Judge made law are:-
1. Common Law: -Consists of rules and customs which have long been declared to be law by
judges in deciding cases before them.
2. Interpretation of Statute law: - the courts have no authority to rule on the validity of an act
of parliament but they have the task of interpreting legislation where the meaning of an Act
is disputed.
III. The law and custom of parliament: - which derives from the authority inherent in each House
of Parliament to regulate its internal affairs.
 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW – ITS MEANING AND
SOURCES
• Other rules and principles, including constitutional conventions
– Many important rules of constitutional behaviour are contained neither in Acts nor in judicial
decisions.
– Disputes which arise out of these rarely lead to action in the courts and judicial sanctions are not
applicable if the rules are broken.
• “ Conventions, understandings, habits or practices which, though they may regulate the conduct of the
several members of the sovereign power… are not in reality laws at all since they are not enforced by
the courts”
• “Rules of constitutional behaviour which are considered to be binding by and upon those who
operate the Constitution but which are not enforced by the law courts… nor by the presiding
officers in the Houses of Parliament.” ~ Marshall and Moodie
• Conventions are observed because of the political difficulties which arise if they are not. ~ Sir Ivor
Jennings
• “The main purpose of conventions is to ensure that the legal framework of the constitution is
operated in accordance with the prevailing constitutional values of the period.”
 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW – ITS MEANING AND
SOURCES
• Consequences of a breach of conventional rule
– Severest consequence :- loss of office or departure from public life.

• Passing of legislation to avoid a similar breach in the future.

• See Southern Rhodesia Act 1965
• Parliament Act 1911

• Group Members
1. Mandy Mawulikplim Ketorglo
2. Nana Amissiwa Mensah Onumah
3. Valarie Sarpong
4. Maame Bemah Adjei
5. Haruna-Rasheed Mohammed