PO101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: 2-Step Garage, Power Unlimited, Minority Government
Document Summary
Key elements of the state: laws, constitutions, legislatures, and federalism. Law and politics (constitutionalism conditions of just law) The view that the constitution is the most fundamental principle of political life: for the reason, changing constitution is often very difficult. Just law conditions: general in scope, public, prospective rather than retroactive, clear, consistent, relatively constant, capable of being obeyed, enforced as written. In a broad sense, constitution is the body of fundamental laws, rules, and practices that defines the basic structures of government, allocates power among institutions and regulates the relationship between the citizens and the state. In its narrower sense, the ter(cid:373) (cid:862)(cid:272)o(cid:374)stitutio(cid:374)(cid:863) refers to a spe(cid:272)ifi(cid:272) do(cid:272)u(cid:373)e(cid:374)ter (cid:272)olle(cid:272)tio(cid:374) of documents that embody the legal rules of constitution. A constitutional convention is a binding rule that is accepted as obligatory. However, conventions are not entrenched in a constitutional document, so they lack legal status (these rules are not legally enforceable). Examples of constitutional conventions: canada and usa.
