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- Explain and Illustrate.

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- Explain and Illustrate.

The modern republican form of democratic government is based on the concept of the right of the people to govern themselves through their own elected representatives.”Those representatives are the agents of the people. They govern the country for and on behalf of the people at large. But those very ordinary people are the owners of the country and such superiority is recognized in the Constitution,” asserted Justice Haque[1].

In the world, people play a vital role to start a new era and to continue an existing situation as well. So it is very important to have a potential kind of people who can take important decision when it is needed. That is why sovereignty is one of the most important elements. We can tell a nation sovereign when they have territory of their own, population and they have their own government. All of those things are possible only then when there are people. So it is true that sovereignty lies with the people.

All powers in the Republic belong to the people, and their exercise on behalf of the people shall be affected only under, and by the authority of, the Constitution. “This Constitution is, as the solemn expression of the will of the people, the supreme law of the Republic, and if any other law is inconsistent with this Constitution and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.”[2]

Constitution

Constitution is the one of the most important law for the people of a country which is related to the state and for all institution and legal entities under it. These rules are used for setting the people’s culture, tradition and the countries entity in mind. All countries of the world have few basic characteristics in their Constitution and these rules are to ensure that the basic rights of the people are protected. Constitution also plays an important role to set the rules for forming the rules and regulations for the government, for constructing political party and for arranging the election of the country. All political parties, organizations and institutions set their internal rules according to the constitution of the country so Constitution is very important for a country. The basic principle of the Constitution is to serve the people, organizations and institutions by providing them a proper guide line which is appropriate for the country.

The preface of the Constitution also required its aims and objectives and speaks for its supremacy. Unlike the starting of many other countries, the starting of our original Constitution has laid down exposed in clear terms.  The aims and objectives of the Constitution was so unclear and in certain terms it spoke of representative democracy, rule of law, and the supremacy of the Constitution as the embodiment of the will of the people of Bangladesh. Even the validity of a law is tested by the benchmark of the Constitution: but there is no such benchmark to test validity of the Constitution. Its validity is natural and as such it is unchallengeable.

The most common confusion was over sovereignty ever since the American Revolution founded the United States on a revolutionary concept of it.

Constitution and Sovereignty in the world

According to Harley G A Wright it was natural once the conflict with Britain reached the stage where independence was the only real alternative to submission that the men of the Revolution should turn to constitution making.

1. INTRODUCTION of Constitution After 1992

2. In Constitutional law, it was appeared to many that the High Court had adopted a new norm of constitutional interpretation: “parliamentary sovereignty” was replaced with “sovereignty of the people”.

3. This change was most marked in the “free speech” cases.

While some celebrated with promises of a new sense of citizenship and revitalized democratic traditions others saw these promises as empty and warned that judicial implication of rights threatened positivist legal values and judicial independence.[3]

1998 Sovereignty of the People – The New Constitutional norm 167 PART I – SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PARLIAMENT OR SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE – THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Rooted in the basic norm, ultimately, is the normative import of all the material facts constituting the legal system. A shift in the basic norm of constitutional interpretation compels examination, in both the old norm and the new, of the fundamental assumptions made about the people, the political process, the judiciary and the relationships between them. To focus such a potentially broad discussion, it is necessary to analyze the points at which the theoretical structures underlying each norm compete and clash. The familiarity of many of these arguments is perhaps explained by their thematic nature; the issues sketched below recur in different guises throughout constitutional discourse and lie at the bottom of many constitutional disagreements.[4]

As the most renowned legal minds have always known, cogency depends upon acknowledging the unknowable. 191 Part of the attractiveness and persistence of Diceyan theory is its open embrace of its limits, its open reliance upon political solutions in the extreme case. It is fitting perhaps, as the “inevitable” republic advances and as the constitutional ties with Britain are severed, “that the men of the Revolution should turn to constitution making”. However there are doubts as to the identity of the constitution makers. It should not be the responsibility of the judiciary alone. The revolution lacks just one thing – the consent of the sovereign people. 190 191 Wade has noted that “The closer judges come to constitutional bedrock the more prone to disorientation they seem to be”: H R W Wade and C Forsyth, Administrative Law, (7 ed 1994) at vi, cited by Justice Kirby, “The Struggle For Simplicity – Lord Cooke and Fundamental Rights”, speech delivered at the New Zealand Legal Research Foundation, 45 April 1997 at 59. As Dixon J stated in Melbourne Corporation v Commonwealth [1947] HCA 26 ; (1947) 74 CLR 31 at 82, “[ilt is not a question whether the considerations are political, for nearly every consideration arising from the Constitution can be so described, but whether they are compelling.” In a similarly open characterization, Sir Anthony Mason has referred to judgment as involving “objective and principled elaboration”: A Mason, “The Role of a Constitutional Court in a Federation: a Comparison of the Australian and the United States Experience” (1986) 16 F L Rev 1 at 28.[5]

Constitution in Bangladesh

The political government and military usurpers disregarded the supremacy of the Constitution and undermined the people’s sovereignty in the name of amendments since 1973. Of the total of 14 amendments made until 2004, only the eleventh and twelfth amendments got the consensus of both ruling and opposition parties.

The most fundamental, and in some cases nefarious, of those changes were brought through the fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth amendments. Many changes made with ulterior motives largely destroyed the basic structure of the Constitution and also damaged the parliament’s power and pre-eminence. In bringing amendments, the political and military rulers did not pay heed to the true spirit of amendment of the Constitution. In fact, the purpose of the two infamous amendments — fifth and seventh — was to hide and legalize illegal acts of military dictators of the two martial law regimes.

Therefore, the amendments contributed little for further advancement of the country’s citizens and further refinements of their constitutional position. Rather, successive governments abused the parliament’s authority in some cases to amend the Constitution.

Article 142 gives power to parliament to amend any provision of the Constitution by way of addition, alteration, substitution or repeal. Legal experts state a constitution is meant to be permanent, but as all changing situations cannot be envisaged and amendment of the Constitution may be necessary to adopt the future developments, provision is made in the Constitution itself to effect changes required by the changing situations.

“Addition, alteration, substitution or repeal are merely modes of amendment and if the act done does not come within the meaning of ‘amendment,’ it will not be valid, notwithstanding that all the procedural requirements have been fulfilled,” said former attorney general Mahmudul Islam in his book titled Constitutional Law of Bangladesh. He said that, when a legislature, which is a creature of the Constitution, is given the power of amendment, it is a power given not to subvert the Constitution, but to make it suitable to the changing situations. But, nothing was able to prevent the political governments and particularly military rulers from undermining the supremacy of the Constitution.

The constitution of Bangladesh also highlights on the role and rights of the people of Bangladesh. Some of the articles including article7, article27, and article31 express the right and equality given to the people of Bangladesh and it is obvious from the preamble that this constitution is opting for a democratic government in order to protect the fundamental human rights and leave in harmony beyond any form of discrimination.

“Those representatives (referring to the Member of Parliament who is selected by the people under the constitutional law) are the agents of the people. They govern the country for and on behalf of the people at large. But those very ordinary people are the owners of the country and their superiority is recognized in the Constitution,” – justice ABM Khairul Haque. The statement states that the core intention of the constitution of Bangladesh is to provide the power in the hand of the mass people through a democratic government.

Article 7 of the Constitution stipulates its supremacy and recognizes people’s power as it says: “All powers in the Republic belong to the people, and their exercise on behalf of the people shall be affected only under, and by the authority of, this Constitution.” This article also refers to the power that the people of Bangladesh posses according to the constitution. It also says: “This Constitution is, as the solemn expression of the will of the people, the supreme law of the Republic, and if any other law is inconsistent with this Constitution and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.”

Former Chief Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed in the landmark verdict on the Constitution Eighth Amendment case found that Bangladesh’s Constitution stands on certain fundamental principles, which are its structural pillars and if those pillars are demolished or damaged, the whole constitutional edifice will break down. He listed the following to be the basic structures of the Constitution, namely — sovereignty belongs to the people, supremacy of the Constitution as the solemn expression of the will of the people, democracy, republican government, unitary state, separation of powers, independence of the judiciary and the fundamental rights.[6]

The opening of the Constitution also stipulates its aims and objectives and speaks for its supremacy. “Unlike Preamble of many other countries, the Preamble of our original Constitution has laid down bare in clear terms the aims and objectives of the Constitution and in no uncertain terms it spoke of representative democracy, rule of law, and the supremacy of the Constitution as the embodiment of the will of the people of Bangladesh,” the Appellate Division asserted in the case of the Fifth Amendment.

Conclusion

From overall discussion we found that Constitution is very important embodiment for a country. By the Constitution a country get some rules and regulations by which they become able to drive the country properly. By the rules and regulations of the Constitution a country get the way to drive different industry, business and organization. As a result Constitution is very important. But all over the world in the Constitutional Law even in Bangladesh also we found that people play a vital role to complete all the things in an efficient way. So People are the main player of the Constitution and constitution is the perfect embodiment for a country.

References

1. Confusion and our Constitution. The Daily Star. Retrieved June 11,2011 From http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2010/November/chaos.htm
2. Retrieved June 10,2011 From http://www.constitution.org/aun/aun1–07.htm
3. Sovereignty of the people-the new grandnorm. Retrieved June 10, 2011. From http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/FedLawRw/1998/7.html.sino_text
4. Bangladesh Constitution. Retrieved June 10, 2011. From http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/bangladesh-constitution.pdf

[1] Confusion and our Constitution. The Daily Star. Retrieved June 11,2011 From http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2010/November/chaos.htm

[2] Retrieved June 10,2011 From http://www.constitution.org/aun/aun1–07.htm

[3] Sovereignty of the people-the new grandnorm. Retrieved June 10, 2011. From http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/FedLawRw/1998/7.html.sino_text

[4]Sovereignty of the people-the new grandnorm. Retrieved June 10, 2011. From http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/FedLawRw/1998/7.html.sino_text

[5] Sovereignty of the people-the new grandnorm. Retrieved June 10, 2011. From http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/FedLawRw/1998/7.html.sino_text

[6] Bangladesh Constitution. Retrieved June 10, 2011. From http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/bangladesh-constitution.pdf