Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Thomas Paine: Where a constitution cannot be produced in a visible form, there is none
Evolution:
Constitutional Structures:
Unwritten Constitutions: e.g., Britain, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Canada
British Constitution:
Indian British
Written Unwritten
Quasi Federal Union Constitution
Power is divided between centre and state Power is the with the centre
No monarchy/Republic Has King/Queen
Indian Constitution Vs Written Constitution
American Constitution:
Indian American
Not a result of agreement between states Result of an agreement between states
Single Citizenship Dual citizenship
Representatives are sent to the parliament Each state sends equal number of representatives to
depending on the population of the state the senate
No principle of equality between the states Principle of equality between the states
The states are not sovereign Union and each Unit is sovereign in its sphere
No state can separate from Indian territory State can separate from the federation
Only centre has residuary powers States have residuary powers
Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction No appellate jurisdiction for the Supreme Court
No referendum is necessary for amending the For amendment of Constitution a referendum is
Constitution necessary
Switzerland:
Indian Switzerland
Executive vested in the President Executive vested in the Federal Council
President elected by electoral college Federal Council Elected by Federal Assembly
Party Government Absent
States cannot conclude treaties Cantons can conclude treaties
Supremacy of Judiciary Judiciary cannot rule invalid a federal law
No referendum Referendum possible
Comparative Constitutional law and national identity:
The Constitution incorporates a national identity which is evident from the statements in
some of the constitutions below:
Quasi
Parlimentary Parlimentary Presidential/Quasi Parlimentary
Democracy Semi Presidential Democracy Prime ministerial Republic