A Constitution of a country is the whole body of fundamental laws or rules that guides a country. It can also be defined as a written or unwritten document containing the rules and regulations of a country. Types of constitution include: written constitution, unwritten constitution, flexible constitution, rigid constitution, unitary constitution etc.
SOURCES OF A CONSTITUTION
The sources of a constitution can be gotten from different ways which are:
- The acts of parliament; these are laws that are passed by members of the legislature (National Assembly) and State House of Assembly.
- Historian Documents; these are histories of man and the country which could be used as part of the constitution. Examples are The Bill of right or fundamental human rights of 1689, the politician rights of 1628 etc.
- Common Laws of the land; these are customs, conventions, norms, values, principles or traditions of the country.
- Written and commentaries of constitutional lawyers or scholars of note; example is the rule of law by A.V. Dicey, separation of power by Baran Montesquieu etc.
- International agreements and treaties; these are agreements and treaties that are signed between and among nations of the world e.g the UDHR agreement on human rights.
ROLES OR IMPORTANCE OF CONSTITUTION
- It brings law and orderliness into a country
- It safeguards the rights of a citizen
- It prevents dictatorship
- It spells out the duties and obligations of the citizens
- It also explains the limitations to power of the different arms of government
- It gives room for effective governance
- It is used as reference in the court of law