Do The Advantages Of A Codified Constitution Now Outweigh Its Disadvantages
720 Words3 Pages
‘The advantages of a codified constitution now outweigh its disadvantages’. Discuss.
A codified constitution is one that can be defined as a constitution entrenched in one, single document in one place. An example of a government with a codified constitution is the United States. Contrastingly, the UK has an uncodified constitution - which is made up of a variety of sources, mainly acts of parliament. Both types of constitution have their advantages - uncodified are easily altered to adjust to the times or changes in attitudes, whereas codified constitutions have a more explicit declaration of the rights of citizens, and ensure the various powers of government are separated. The UK constitution is derived from a number of sources, all of which are guided by 4 key principles: the sovereignty of parliament, the rule of law, the constitutional monarch and the unitary state. However, recently this uncodified constitution has verb put under threat, due to devolution and laws from the EU. This raises questions about whether the UK’s uncodified constitution works well enough in practice. The arguments for a codified constitution can be seen to be valid, however they are easily countered and, due to the attitudes of the British public, who generally resist…show more content… By doing this, corruption on politics is prevented. Additionally, like in the USA, the legislative powers are separated properly which arguably strengthens society. However, handing over more power to the courts is a controversial decision. In the US, the Supreme Court is often seen to have too much power in politics. UK courts normally function on previous verdicts, which allows flexibility, however if judges and courts have a larger role in the legislative process then this flexibility could be damaged. Therefore, codifying can actually see to be damaging to