Difference between codified and uncodified constitution
- Pages: 2
- Word count: 480
- Category: Constitution Law
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Below are presented some differences between codified and uncodified constitutions.
The first differnce between this two sorts of constitutions is that the codified is written in one document while uncodified has a variety of sources. For example, the US constitution is a single document where is written a set of principles, in contrast to US constitution UK constitution is an uncodified document that is drawn from five different sources: Statue law
Common law
Conventions
Authoritative works
European union law
The next difference consist in how they are written. The codified is fully written whereas uncodified is partly written.
One of the important difference is that the codified constitution is explicit.(for example US or Germany constitutions, or Russian) In the Russian constitution is written everything about how the president should behave himself. As an example in UK constitution it isn’t written anything about what PM or Queen should behave them. And in UK constitution some rules aren’t written and clarified and this is lead to some curios and strange situations.
Also the codified constitution has a Two-tier legal system. This means that there are two levels of law. Higher laws are those that concern constitutional arrangments-who has power, the relationship between institutions, the rights of citizens and these are safeguarded and entrenched(it is the other difference) in Germany, for example, these higher laws are known as basic laws. Below this are ordinary laws, which concern relations between citizens, administration of the state, criminality, etc. These lower laws can normally be changed without special procedures and are not safeguarded by any special procedures. The uncodified constitutions like a UK has a single-tier legal system.
Above was mentioned that the codified constitution is legally entrenched and protected but the uncodified one is not legally entrenched but often politically entrenched. Entrenchment is the device that protects a constitution from short-term amendment. This is a rather more important matter than codification. UK isn’t entrench the constitutional principles. This is because Parliament is sovereign. The dominant government can effectively control the constitution. Many argue this kind of flexibility is an advantage of the UK constitution. For example legislation in countries where is a codified constitution can be declared void by judicial review and subject to judicial interpretation whereas in countries where is a uncodified constitution legislation cannot be overturned by judicial review and interpretation less relevant. For an example we can take the US system. In the US and similar systems, by contrast, the government and legislature have to accept the findings of a judicial review. The only way they can rewrite the constitution is by engaging in complex amendment procedures. The UK Parliament can amend the UK Constitution by simple Act of Parliament.
So, constitution, whether codified or not, are a vital aspect of the most stable political systems.