1.1 Constitution

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What is a Constitution?

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The set of political principles by which a state or organisation is governed, especially in relation to the rights of the people it governs.

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Codified Constitution

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A constitution in which key constitutional provisions are collected together within a single legal document.

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Uncodified Constitution

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A constitution that is made up of rules that are found in a variety of sources, in the absence of a single legal document.

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What is an unentrenched Constitution?

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A constitution with no special procedure for amendment.

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What is an entrenched Constitution?

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A constitution with a special procedure for amendment.

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Unitary constitution

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A constitution that concentrates sovereign power in a single body.

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What is a Federal constitution?

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A constitution that is based on the principle of shared sovereignty, in that there are two relatively autonomous levels of government: national and regional.

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Parliamentary Sovereignty

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Parliament is the supreme legal authority in the UK, and can create, amend any law which cannot be overruled by courts.

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Rigid Constitution

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A constitution which stands above the other laws of the country and contains specific legal obstacles to be overcome before it may be amended.

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Flexible Constitution

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A constitution that may be amended by the ordinary process of legislation and is therefore relatively easy to amend.