COUNTRY AND CONSTITUTION
What is a country?
A country is a distinct region of the world. It has clear and definite borders. People live permanently in that region. It also has a government with the power to govern the region.
A country needs to be governed so that the people living in it are happy and safe. For that reason, the government of a country needs rules telling how it is to be governed. It needs to have principles and values that it should follow. The people of the country should have rights as well as duties. That is where a constitution comes in.
What is a constitution?
From the earliest times, countries decided to set up laws, principles, rights and duties for their government and people. This is called the constitution of a country. It could be written or not written down.
If there was no constitution, there would be no laws. A country’s government as well as its people could do anything they liked. There would be confusion, disorder and injustice in the country.
Without guidelines given by the constitution, a country’s government would not know how to administer the country so that the people’s needs and comforts are looked after.
A constitution also gives rights to the people. The police force and law courts make sure that these rights are upheld, and people do not suffer injustices.
At the same time, people also have duties to the country which are given in the constitution.
Just like the human body is kept alive by a beating heart, a strong constitution keeps a country alive. In that way, a constitution can be called the heart of a country.
The earliest known laws used to govern were discovered in Mesopotamia. Written in Akkadian language on a stone slab, these laws were by King Hammurabi who ruled Babylon between 1755–1750 BCE. While there were other ancient constitutions, we know that the state of Athens developed a written set of laws for its government that gave its workers some rights. This was followed by a constitution by the Roman Empire. In the 3rd century, the Mauryan king in India, Ashoka the Great, founded the edicts or laws for his government. They were carved into stone monuments for his people to read and know.
Over the years, countries such as China, England, Germany, Japan, Sweden and many others also developed their own constitutions. Today, most of the countries in the world have written, unwritten or semi-written constitutions.
A constitution lays down the basic laws and principles for a country. The constitution is above all other laws made afterwards. The constitution can be changed, and additions can be made to it, but the constitution cannot be destroyed. A constitution is usually introduced by a preamble that declares its aims, purpose and important ideas.
As Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, known as the architect of the Constitution of India, said about the constitution, ‘It is workable, it is flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country together both in peace time and in war time.’
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What is Magna Carta? The Magna Carta, signed 1215 CE in England, introduced the ideas of reducing the powers of the ruler and protecting the rights of people. Many constitutions that were written later were based on these ideas.
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