Definition and Scope of Constitutional Law
What is Constitutional Law?
- That branch of the public law of a state which treats of the organization and frame of government, the organs and powers of sovereignty the distribution of political and governmental authorities and functions, the fundamental principles which are to regulate the relations of government and subject, and which prescribes generally the plan and method according to which the public affairs of the state are to be administered.
- That department of the science of law which treats of constitutions, their establishment, construction and interpretation and of the validity of legal enactments as tested by the criterion of conformity to the fundamental law.
- A constitutional law is one which is consonant to, and agrees with, the constitution: one which is not in violation of any provision of the constitution of the particular state
Constitutional law is a type of public law that revolves solely around the distribution and exercise of government power. In the United States, the constitution is in essence, the framework for which all laws are established and to specify the separation of powers between the three branches (judicial, legislative and executive) of the federal government.
That being said, not all nation states possess a codified constitution. Those that do not; however, will typically utilize some form of law of the land that may consist of a number of consensual rules. These may include international rules on train, the separation of church and state, laws governing governmental powers, various statutory laws, customary law conventions, judge-made laws and an assortment of other frameworks.