Constitution (politics)

Constitution (politics), in politics, fundamental system of law, written or unwritten, of a sovereign state, established or accepted as a guide for governing the state. A constitution fixes the limits and defines the relations of the legislative, judicial, and executive powers of the state, thus setting up the basis for government. It also provides guarantees of certain rights to the people. Most countries have a written constitution. Great Britain's constitution, embodying numerous documents (e.g. Magna Carta) and customs defining the relationship of the Crown, the Parliament, and the courts to the citizens, is unwritten, though on many occasions a written constitution has been proposed to bring Great Britain into conformity with the vast majority of other states.

Constitutions can be classified by various criteria: whether they are protected from amendment (entrenched constitutions), whether they exhibit clear separation of powers, whether their provisions can be enforced by judicial review of legislative or executive action, whether they constitute a federated or unitary state. Written constitutions are historically associated with political liberalism and the Age of Enlightenment. Many authoritarian and totalitarian states have elaborate constitutions, but these in practice cannot be enforced on the ruling group, who can always act outside them or suspend or cancel them.