Constitutional Law and Constitutionalism
MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY (NAIROBI CAMPUS)
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 1
CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT TEST 1
ENOCK CHISENGO
BLAW/2014/67533
SEMISTER 1
LLB: YEAR 1
UNIT CODE: 1202
Question
Constitutional Law May be deemed elusive and immaterial when the constitutions in
Consideration are either dead, hogwash and unrealistic. Critically analyze the above statement using relevant case law and statutory provisions.
In looking at the above statement, I will attempt to define constitution, Constitution Law and constitutionalism and try to look into how the governments of the world especially Africa and the West, more specifically Kenya and the United states of America have tried to uphold constitutionalism and on the other hand how lack of it has brought the disregard of the constitutions by in most cases, the ruling elites and hence the statement” Constitutional Law May be deemed elusive and immaterial when the constitutions in Consideration are either dead, hogwash and unrealistic”.
A constitution is a set of laws either written or unwritten that govern the relationship between the different organs of a government that is the Executive, Judiciary and the Legislature and the relationship between the government and the governed in a given state or country. This is the supreme law of any given state.
Constitutional Law is that branch of law that governs and guides constitutional interpretation and implementation as well as sets down the relationship between different entities of a state namely the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. It is essentially a body of law derived from a country's written constitution that lays down and guides the duties and powers of the government, and the duties and rights of its citizens and residents. All States can be said to have some form of norm that governs the relationship between the arms of the government and a government and its people, however the problem comes in in implementation of the said norms i.e. constitutionalism.
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 1
CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT TEST 1
ENOCK CHISENGO
BLAW/2014/67533
SEMISTER 1
LLB: YEAR 1
UNIT CODE: 1202
Question
Constitutional Law May be deemed elusive and immaterial when the constitutions in
Consideration are either dead, hogwash and unrealistic. Critically analyze the above statement using relevant case law and statutory provisions.
In looking at the above statement, I will attempt to define constitution, Constitution Law and constitutionalism and try to look into how the governments of the world especially Africa and the West, more specifically Kenya and the United states of America have tried to uphold constitutionalism and on the other hand how lack of it has brought the disregard of the constitutions by in most cases, the ruling elites and hence the statement” Constitutional Law May be deemed elusive and immaterial when the constitutions in Consideration are either dead, hogwash and unrealistic”.
A constitution is a set of laws either written or unwritten that govern the relationship between the different organs of a government that is the Executive, Judiciary and the Legislature and the relationship between the government and the governed in a given state or country. This is the supreme law of any given state.
Constitutional Law is that branch of law that governs and guides constitutional interpretation and implementation as well as sets down the relationship between different entities of a state namely the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. It is essentially a body of law derived from a country's written constitution that lays down and guides the duties and powers of the government, and the duties and rights of its citizens and residents. All States can be said to have some form of norm that governs the relationship between the arms of the government and a government and its people, however the problem comes in in implementation of the said norms i.e. constitutionalism.
References: 1. The 2010 Kenyan Constitution. 2. Judicial Activism in India: Meaning and Implications- a paper by Lipika Sharma 3. Fifth Amendment by The Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law school. 4. Business Dictionary- Definition of a Constitution