Should UK constitution be codified?
Constitution is a collection of rules and regulations which establishes to govern
the state. A legal definition was given by Prof Kc Wheare states that “the entire
system of government of the nation , the collection of rules which establishes or
regulates or governs the government”. This definition strengthens the
aforementioned view of constitution.
There are two main types of constitution that are written/unwritten constitution
and codified/uncodified constitution. The UK constitution is uncodified that
includes [Link] means UK constitution is not compiled in a single document or
book. While in codified constitution everything is written in the single document
or book that everyone have access to read the constitution easily. An academic De
Tocqueville said that “UK lacks the constitution as it is uncodified. Although UK
may not have codified constitution, but it doesn’t have variety of legal and non
legal sources, therefore his claim is unfounded.
Though UK constitution is uncodified but not wholly unwritten.
The other type of constitution are Rigid constitution and Flexible constitution.
The rigid constitution cannot be changed instantly and this is the drawback of
rigid [Link] the other hand Flexible constitution has an edge that it can
be amend [Link] has a flexible [Link] fascilitates the UK government
to amend the laws without rendering existing laws. For example UK was a part of
Eurropean Union(EU) and they left without any problem due to flexible constitution.
There are also Republican constitution and monarchial [Link] republican
the head of state is president while in monarchial the head of state is Queen or
[Link] next type is presidential and parliamentary. In presidential the president
holds the supreme powers of country such as USA. While in parliamentary the prime
minister holds all powers such as Pakistan.
Unitary and Federal constitution is also a type of constitution,In unitary all
supreme powers were in the hold of westminister then after the devaluation the
powers were allocated to states and they slowly diverting to federal system.
There are two types of sources legal and non legal sources. The legal sources
include Acts of parliament(statutes) and Common law While non legal sources include
progative powers and conventions.
Codified arguments are those that follow the legal rules and principles. Codified
arguments ensure consistency in the application of the law. In legal system
codified arguments is based upon acts of parliament (statutes), legal codes and
written laws as compared to arguments based on precedents. Judges refer to these
laws to construct and support legal arguments. These laws are compiled and
organised into legal codes.
In the legal system, saying “it is fine the way it is” It means that codified laws
are accessible to everyone as they are written. Judges can know easily what the law
says, that makes legal outcomes more accessible. It helps people to plan their task
with confidence, knowing that their case can be judged according to codified rules.
Since the laws are compiled, judges and lawyers have clear reference point.
Constitutional conventions are those uncodified or unwritten rules that tells how
to operate government but they are not legally enforceable. Although they are not
legally enforceable, they are considered as political binding. They are usually
develop to to fill gap in constitution .Besides that conventions have benefit of
being flexible and they can change easily. In UK conventions play an important role
in operating the government while in other countries such as America, conventions
help to interpret and then apply legal document in practice.
Constitutional conventions are uncodified due to several reasons such as historical
evolution, political systems and much more. Even there is no legal punishment , but
the say violating the conventions is politically damaging. The advantage is that it
is easier to amend. The main disadvantage of an uncodified constitution is that it
is harder to understand rather than codified constitution.
In conclusion we say that constitutional conventions are uncodified to maintain
flexibility, historical continuity and and political stability. The uncodified
nature of constitution makes a balance between historical practices and political
norms. Codified constitution provides clarity, transparency and also make balance.
On the other hand if UK constitution is codified then it will create burden on
courts. Ultimately the codified constitution for UK is more beneficial rather than
written constitution.