CONSTITUTION :

IT’S NATURE &

FUNCTION
ZAIDE & ZAIDE (1966)

• He defines the constitution as the whole body of fundamental

rules, written or unwritten, legal or extra-legal, according to
which a particular government operates. It is therefore, the
fundamental law on which the government of a country is
organized and prescribing the manner by which the powers of
the government are to be exercised.
DE LEON (2003)

• It is an instrument by which the fundamental powers of

the government are established, limited and defined
for the safe and useful exercise of these powers for the
benefit of the people.
DANNUG & CAMPANILLA (2004)

• Constitution is the fundamental law of the state, upon which a

government is organized and provides the framework for the
organization of government. The constitution organizes the
government by -- distributing, regulating, and limiting it's
legislative, judicial, and executive powers, guaranteeing and
safeguarding the basic rights and freedoms of the people;
stipulating the manner by which sovereign powers can be
exercised.
• The definitions cited are similar in two respects.
They all consider the constitutions as a
fundamental or supreme law of the land. Two
implication can be drawn from the foregoing
concept of the constitution
• Another point of convergence among the various
definitions cited is on the function or purpose
served by a constitution. From these definitions
can be inferred the following functions of the
supreme or fundamental law of the land:
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BASIC FRAMEWORK OF
GOVERNMENT
• The constitution identifies and regulates the specific
powers and functions of the executive, legislative, and
judicial branches of the government. There is a need to
regulate the government's exercise of its sovereign
powers to preclude it from becoming despotic,
oppressive and tyrannical.
REGULATION OF THE RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS ENJOYED BY THE
INDIVIDUAL FOR THE COMMON GOOD

• This is a very important function served by a

constitution. If people's exercise of their liberties is not
regulated, there shall be chaos, anarchy and public
disorder.
PROTECTION OF THE PEOPLE FROM GOVERNMENT
ABUSES

• Our constitution, for instance, protects the

people from possible abuses by the
government through the following means:
• By ensuring that each branch of government exercise
only the powers conferred to it by the constitution;
• 2. By prohibiting the government from exercising
powers infringing the declaration of principles and state
policies; and
• 3. By specifying the basic rights of the people, which
the government has to respect and safeguard.
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION

• Enacted or Conventional - a constitution is drafted and

passed by a constituent assembly or granted by a
sovereign to the people.
• Evolved or Cumulative - a constitution which is the
product of a long history usage by customs, traditions
and judicial decisions rather than by formal or
deliberate of enactment.
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION

• Written - a constitution either granted by a ruler, or

enacted by the legislature, or framed by a constituent
body and ratified by the people.
• Unwritten -a constitution that consists of customs,
usages, legal traditions, statutory legislations and is
entirely the product of political growth and development.
KINDS OF CONSTITUTION

• Rigid or Inelastic -- a constitution that is difficulty to

change or alter except by some special machinery more
cumbrous than the ordinary legislative process. 
• Flexible or Elastic - a constitution that is easy to amend
as it can be altered in the same way as other laws.
• On the basis of the foregoing classifications of the
constitution, it can be said that Philippine constitution,
then and now, is enacted. It is enacted as it was drafted
by a constituent assembly. Aside from being enacted, it
is also written because it has a definite written form.
Moreover, it is also rigid, as it cannot be modified
except through the procedures stipulated in the
constitution.