Constitution

A constitution, also known as a supreme law, is the collection of core principles and established precedents that form the legal foundation of a political entity, organization, or other type of body. It typically sets out how that entity will be governed. If these principles are recorded in one document or a group of legal documents, those texts are considered a written constitution. When they are contained in a single, all-encompassing document, it is called a codified constitution. The United Kingdom provides a well-known example of an uncodified constitution, as its rules are found across numerous legislative acts, court rulings, and treaties.

Constitutions apply to various levels of organization, from sovereign nations to businesses and unincorporated groups. A treaty that creates an international organization also serves as its constitution, defining how that organization is structured. Within countries, a constitution outlines the principles the state is built on, the process for making laws, and who makes them. Some constitutions, particularly codified ones, also limit state power by drawing lines that rulers cannot cross, such as protecting fundamental rights. Changing a constitution often requires a consensus or a supermajority.

The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any country, with 146,385 words in its English version, while Monaco’s is the shortest at 3,814 words. San Marino may have the oldest active written constitution, as some of its core documents have been in use since 1600, whereas the United States Constitution is the oldest active codified one. Since 1789, the average lifespan of a written constitution has been about 19 years. There are also different types, such as liberal, absolutist, Islamic, and communist state constitutions.

The word “constitution” comes through French from the Latin *constitutio*, which was used for regulations and orders like imperial enactments (*constitutiones principis*: edicta, mandata, decreta, rescripta). Later, it was widely used in canon law for important determinations, especially decrees issued by the Pope, now called apostolic constitutions. William Blackstone applied the term to serious and egregious violations of public trust so severe that they would justify a revolutionary response. For Blackstone, it did not refer to a legal text, nor did it include the later American idea of judicial review, because that would place the judicial power above the legislature, which he saw as subversive of all government.

Generally, every modern written constitution grants specific powers to an organization or institution, on the condition that it follows the constitution’s limits. According to Scott Gordon, a political organization is constitutional to the extent that it contains institutionalized mechanisms for controlling power to protect the interests and liberties of citizens, including minorities. Actions by officials that fall within their constitutional or statutory authority are called “within power” (*intra vires*); if they do not, they are “beyond power” (*ultra vires*). For instance, a students’ union might be prohibited from engaging in non-student activities; if it does, those activities are *ultra vires* its charter, and no one is bound to follow them. In sovereign states, a provincial parliament in a federal system trying to legislate on a matter reserved for the federal parliament, like ratifying a treaty, would be acting *ultra vires*. Such actions can be judicially reviewed and, if found beyond power, must stop. Legislation found beyond power is invalid and has no force, applying to both primary legislation (requiring constitutional authorization) and secondary legislation (usually requiring statutory authorization). Here, “within power,” *intra vires*, “authorized,” and “valid” mean the same; likewise, “beyond power,” *ultra vires*, “not authorized,” and “invalid” are equivalent.

In most modern states, the constitution takes precedence over ordinary statutory law. When an official act is unconstitutional—meaning it is not a power granted by the constitution—that act is null and void from the start (*ab initio*), not from the date of the ruling. It was never law, even if it was adopted through proper legislative procedures. Sometimes the problem is not that a statute itself is unconstitutional, but that its application in a particular case is; a court may decide that while some applications are constitutional, that specific instance was not allowed. In such cases, only that application is ruled unconstitutional. Historically, remedies for these violations involved petitions for common law writs, like *quo warranto*. Scholars debate whether a constitution must be autochthonous, arising from a nation’s “spirit.” Hegel argued that a constitution is the work of centuries, representing the idea and consciousness of rationality as developed in a particular nation. Constitutional legitimacy can be classified into base.