Philosophy of Constitution

A traffic constable at Dadar can stop your car, but the constable cannot make up a new fine on the spot. Somewhere there is a rule that says who can make rules, and the constable, the Commissioner and even the Chief Minister all sit under it. That top rule, the one that authorises every other rule, is what a constitution is. This topic asks what kind of thing it is, why everyone obeys it, and whether a document written in 1949 can still govern a country that has changed beyond recognition.

In two minutes

A constitution is the supreme law that creates and limits every organ of the State; constitutionalism is the idea that power must stay within those limits, and the Indian Constitution is meant to be a living, amendable document and not a fixed relic.

The rest of this chapter

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