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Unit 3: Constitutions and Constitutionalism

England’ is hardly convincing in view of the fact that a constitution may not necessarily be in the Notes
form of a specific ‘document’ made at a particular time of history. The rules may either be written,
or they may exist in the form of conventions of the constitution and both of them may have the
same force of application. What makes a constitution, therefore, is the actual observance of
recognised principles relating to the government of a country. James Bryce has rightly added that
such principles do exist in England in the form of a host of conventions, usages, judicial decisions,
etc. that have acquired general acceptance together with a number of formal charters and statutes.
It is for this reason that we find uniqueness in the character of the English constitution. As
Neumann says: “What makes the English constitution so unique is the uncommonly large number
of its rules which are based solely on conventions and the fact that no act has a higher degree of
authority than a simple act of Parliament.”
Whether the constitution is in the form of a document made at a particular time of history as the
American constitution was made by the “Philadelphia Convention in 1787, or it is in the form of
numerous laws, institutions, and conventions as in the case of the English constitution, the western
concept of constitutionalism lays emphasis on this point that the basic laws of the land should be
such that difference between the government of the people and the constitution of the state is
discernible. The constitution is more important than the government. It makes adequate arrangement
for the establishment and maintenance of restraints so that the areas of a civilised government are
well preserved. These restraints may be embodied in the legal framework, they may also be in the
form of informal arrangements. What is really needed is that the restraints must be effective so
that the government remains limited and also committed to realise the ideals of the constitution.
The problem of effectiveness “involves a factual situation and an evaluation and existential judgment
of that situation. If no one has ‘absolute’ power, if in actual fact there exists no sovereign who
holds unrestrained power in a given community, then the restraints may be said to be effective.”
The western or liberal concept of constitutionalism desires a ‘constitutional state’ that has a well-
acknowledged body of laws and conventions for the operation of a limited government. It has a
legislature, an executive, and a judiciary all required to work within the prescribed framework by
following the defined procedure. If there is a change, it should be peaceful and orderly so that the
political system is not subjected to violent stresses and strains. There is the rule of law ensuring
liberty and equality to all; there is the freedom of the press to act as the ‘fourth estate’; there is a
plural society having freedom for all interests to seek the ‘corridors of power’; there is a system
that strives to promote international peace, security and justice. Thus viewed, constitutionalism
becomes ‘an addiction’ to the existence and operation of a democratic political system that is
fundamentally different from those systems where constitution “is treated with neglect or contempt.
Marxist Concept of Constitutionalism
Different from this is the case of the Marxist concept of constitutionalism. In a’socialist’ country,
the constitution is not an end in itself, it is just a means to implement the ideology of ‘scientific
socialism’. It is a tool in the hands of the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ that seeks establish a
classless society that would eventually turn into a stateless condition of life. The purpose of
having the constitution is not to limit the powers of the government but to make them so vast and
comprehensive that the ideal of “workers’ state” is realised and ‘a new type of state’ comes into
being. The real aim of the constitution in such a country is not to ensure liberty and equality,
rights and justice for all but to see that the enemies of socialism are destroyed and the new system
is firmly consolidated. In this way, the real aim of the constitution is “to firmly anchor the new
socialist discipline among the working people.”
The socialist concept of constitutionalism is based on the principles of the particular ideology of
Marxism-Leninism according to which the state is viewed as a class institution whose raison d’etre
is to act as an instrument of exploitation and oppression by one class over another. If the bourgeois
class makes use of this instrument to perpetuate its rule of exploitation and oppression over the
working class, the proletariat will make use of the same instrument for the purpose of liquidating
the enemies of socialism and all counter-revolutionary forces. Thus, not the constitution of the
state but the policy of the Communist Party is supreme. Without concealing his mind, Stalin once

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