Assignment: “The Constitution declares that the sovereignty lies with the people and the constitution is the embodiment and solemn expression of the will of the people”
Abstract
The whole topic focuses on the certainty that a constitution proclaims that sovereignty lies with the people and constitution reflects the true and serious expression if the will of the people. However, the whole essay is based on what constitution really is, the classification of constitution, definitions of constitution from various points of view, sovereignty and so on. Over here I have tried to make the relevance between constitutional rules and regulations and is it really focusing on to the citizens of the state. Thus I had to find out various data regarding the constitution of Bangladesh. Other data such as, different amendments happened in our country and so on. Also in this essay, I have tried to include various definitions said by famous people. So that it could give the readers a clear idea about the relevancy of constitution and does it really reflect what citizens of a state really want? Finally, I have concluded my essay with a controversial issue, which is a big talk these days that does constitution really focusing on what people really want in a country or not.
Table of Contents:
Topic Page No.
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Definition of Constitution from various perspective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Classifying Constitution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Sovereignty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Does constitution really represents what people really want?. . . . . . . . . 4
Wrapping Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 6
“The Constitution declares that the sovereignty lies with the people and the constitution is the embodiment and solemn expression of the will of the people”
Introduction:
An independent country must need a constitution to run smoothly and to support the people living in that country. It is the constitution that represents what people actually wants from the government. Moreover, constitution is a foundation of an independent country. And this constitution creates a bond between the people and the state. And finally, the main objective of forming Constitution is to safeguard the interest of the people of the state.
Definition of constitution from various perspectives:
According to Professor KC, “(constitution) the whole system of a government of a country, the collection of rules which establish and regulate or govern the government” (1996, p 1)
On the other hand Mr. Thomas Paine states that “A constitution is not a act of a government, but of a people constituting a government, and a government without a constitution is power without right..A constitution is a thing antecedent to a government, and a government is only the creature of a constitution” (1792, pt II, p 93)
In a simpler way, a constitution is a set of rules which governs an organization. Every organization, whether social club, trade union or nation state, which has defined objectives and departments or offices established to accomplish those objectives, needs a constitution to define the powers, rights and duties of the organization’s members. This set of rules, in addition to regulating the internal working of the organization, will also make provision for the manner in which the organization relates to outside bodies. It can therefore be said that a constitution looks to both internal and external regulation of the body to which it relates[1].
There are two different things that a constitution must fulfill. They are definition and evaluation. The definition part includes descriptive and perspective. The constitution will define the manner in which the rules in fact operate and dictate what ought to happen in a given situation[2]. The rules in the constitution, that could be written or unwritten, have to facilitate the permanence and the predictability of the behavior[3]. Also these rules written in the constitution play as a benchmark. Organizations’ rules have special sorts of uniqueness and when we observe it, we find out that these rules have different kinds of “specificity” and “generality”. The way in which those rules and regulations are written down can be different. These rules can also be defined and how it can adapt to the circumstances[4].
From the above definitions, it is clear that, whether it’s a country or an organization, to operate efficiently, it requires a set of rules. And these set of rules represent the needs and wants of the people or the employees. Furthermore, from the definition of Thomas Paine, it can be concluded that, constitution works for the people who form the government and a government must have a constitution or else it will be regarded as Thomas Paine states, “power without right”.
Classifying Constitution[5]:
Professor KC spots the following classifications:
- Written and unwritten
- Rigid and flexible
- Supreme and subordinate
- Federal and unitary
- Separated powers and fused powers
- Republican and monarchical
According to Professor KC, constitution can be written or can be unwritten. A written constitution is document which contains the rules and regulations of a country. An example could be the constitution of Bangladesh which is a series of documents containing issues such as, fundamental rights, fundamental principles of state policy, the republic[6] etc. Then again, an example of unwritten constitution is the constitution of United Kingdom. Now, whether a constitution can be modified easily or not is a big issue. Since constitution is for the people and it represents the requirements of the people, constitution can be modified to fulfill the needs and wants of the people. For example, constitution of Bangladesh has been modified several times just for the citizens of Bangladesh. In the first amendment in 1973, it has been said that law can be enforced over war criminal and then fundamental human rights will be inapplicable. Then in the tenth amendment in 1990 stated that, providing for reservation of thirty seats for the next ten years in the Jatiya Shangshad exclusively for women members, to be elected by the member of the Shangshad. In the thirteen amendment in 1996 stated that, provided for a non-party caretaker government which, acting as an interim government, would give all possible aid and assistances to the election commission for holding the general election of members of the Jatiya Shangshad peacefully, fairly and impartially. The caretaker government, comprising the chief advisor and not more than 10 other advisors, would be collectively responsible to the president and would stand dissolved on the date on which the Prime Minister entered upon his office after the constitution of the new Shangshad[7]. These were some of the modifications done in the constitution of Bangladesh and these were done just for the betterment of the citizens of Bangladesh. Now constitution can be supreme or subordinate. Supreme constitution means the governing body has unlimited power towards lawmaking whereas subordinate constitution means higher authority has limited power[8]. These things basically vary in different countries and it depends on how the people want its lawmakers to be. Then comes the federal and unitary constitutions. In federal constitution, there is a central government and individual states which make up the federation. Examples include: United States of America, Canada, Australia and Malaysia. Obviously there are exceptions like United Kingdom which is a unitary state. Over here the central government is supreme[9]. In addition there are republican and monarchical constitutions. A republic is a state having an elected president and in a monarchical state the king or the queen is the head of a state[10]. An example of monarchical state is United Kingdom.
Sovereignty:
Sovereignty is the superiority of being independent and being self sufficient. An independent country must have this divine and significant quality to pursue her rules and regulation written in the constitution. According to Socrates and Thomas Hobbes, the idea of sovereignty has always necessitated a moral imperative on the entity exercising it[11]. The theme of sovereignty is to perform for the best interest of the citizens of a country. If a state could not perform for the betterment of the people, it would not be regarded as a sovereign state[12]. Thus a government must perform on the basis of what the people really want from the government. And it is the constitution that announces that sovereignty lies with the people and the constitution also announces that it presents the severe and accurate picture of the will of the people.
Does constitution really represents what people really want?
From those entire scholarly definitions it can be clearly said that a constitution has to represent the needs and wants of the people and the main objective of forming constitution is to protect the interest of the people of the state. But to what extent the constitution actually protects the interest of the people that is a big question these days. At the present time, we are observing that in Bangladesh there is a movement of modifying constitution. As from the definitions, we know that constitution can be modified and it is done just for the betterment of the people. However, since the citizens of a country create the government, every government must respect the citizens’ needs and wants and form the constitution according to those citizens. The government must identify the requirements and wishes of the people and they must manipulate it that should go with the people’ desires. Again, it is a big question to think about!!
Wrapping Up:
To wrap up the whole easy and by discussing the whole constitutional activities, it can be clearly seen and found out that constitution whether it is written or unwritten is just for the citizens of a state. Does not matter what sorts of modification the government makes, the main subject matter will be that constitution is for the people. In addition to that, nevertheless constitution announces one of the most important things in human society which is independence. And an independent country must have this celestial eminence.
Reference:
Bangladeshi constitution changes over time but it don’t reflect the demand of the people of
Bangladesh (n.d.). Retrieved from http:// /resources.lawyersnjurists.com/research-
papers/assignments/miscellaneous/bangladeshi-constitution-changes-over-time-but-it-don’t-
reflect -the-demand-of-the-people-of-bangladesh/
Constitutional and Administrative Law (n.d.). Classifying Constitution. 1, 6
Constitutional and Administrative Law (n.d.). Classifying Constitution, 1, 8
Constitutional and Administrative Law (n.d.). Classifying Constitution, Supreme and
Subordinate Constitution, 1, 11
Constitutional and Administrative Law (n.d.). Classifying Constitution, federal and unitary
constitution , 1, 11
Constitutional and Administrative Law (n.d.). Classifying Constitution, federal and unitary
constitution, 1, 13
Constitution of Bangladesh (1972) Retrived from
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/bangladesh-constitution.pdf
Constitutional and Administrative Law (n.d.). What is a constitution? 1, 6
Sovereignty. (n.d.). Retrived June 9, 2011, from http:// en. wikipedia.org/ wiki /Sovereignty
[1] See Constitutional and Administrative Law, What is a constitution? Chapter 1, Page 6
[2] See Constitutional and Administrative Law, Classifying Constitution, Chapter 1, Page 6
[3] See Constitutional and Administrative Law, Classifying Constitution, Chapter 1, Page 6
[4] See Constitutional and Administrative Law, Classifying Constitution, Chapter 1, Page 6
[5]See Constitutional and Administrative Law, Classifying Constitution, Chapter 1, Page 8
[6] See Constitution of Bangladesh
[7] See lawyersnjurists.com Article: Bangladeshi constitution changes over time but it don’t reflect the demand of the people of Bangladesh
[8] See Constitutional and Administrative Law. Classifying Constitution, supreme and subordinate constitution, Chapter 1, Page 11
[9] See Constitutional and Administrative Law. Classifying Constitution, federal and unitary constitution, Chapter 1, Page 11
[10] See Constitutional and Administrative Law. Classifying Constitution, federal and unitary constitution, Chapter 1, Page 13
[11] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereignty
[12] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereignty