Outline constitutions in general and explain what factors have shaped the most recent constitution of one country you have studied

Essay by NickhereUniversity, Bachelor'sA, January 2004

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Constitutions in general have many great similarities. They can be described as a 'set of rules by which an organisation works' . Constitutions also contain information regarding the way of life for those people inside that 'organisation', or in this case, country. Just like different countries, constitutions are as unique from one to the next, from the unwritten constitution of the United Kingdom, to the short and some, may argue, very much out of date constitution of the United States of America. However there are certain similarities between virtually all constitutions.

The constitution of Australia, a Federal constitution, is mostly made up of descriptions of Australia's three branches of government; the legislature, the executive and the judiciary . This is all here to deal with the way in which Australia is to be run as a country, as well as the way parliament must deal with the constitution and the method to amend it.

This is dealt with in the first three out of eight chapters of the Australian constitution, which was formed after Australia was granted independence of government in 1901, and deal with the new commonwealth structures. The UK also has a place in its constitution for the same general points, under different titles. However, being unique in the fact that it does not have a written constitution, the UK does not have a distinctive procedure for dealing with changes to the constitution, unlike states such as the USA and Australia, and so does not have specific rules in the constitution regarding the legislature and the change of the constitution , which is unusual compared to most countries. In general, there is usually a link between the method of changing the constitution and the way in which it was formed. By looking at the way in...