Constitution.

Constitution. In Politics, signifies a system of law established by the sovereign power of a state for its own guidance. Its main objects are to fix the limits and define the relations of the legislative, the judicial, and the executive powers of the state, both amongst themselves and with reference to the citizens of the state, regarded as a governed body. In continental countries, since the formation of the federal government of the United States of America, or, at all events, since the first French Revolution, the idea of a constitution has been generally that of a body of written public law, promulgated at once by the sovereign power. In Great Britain it is the whole body of the public law, consuetudinary as well as statutory, which has grown up during the course of ages, and is continually being modified by the action of the general will as interpreted and expressed by the parliamentary representatives of the nation. A constitutional monarchy is one in which the sovereign is restricted in his powers by chambers of the representatives of the people; the 'granting of a constitution' accordingly means the transforming of a monarchy more or less nearly absolute into a constitutional state. The constitutions of the various countries will be found under ENGLAND, UNITED STATES, FRANCE, GERMANY, &c., as also at PARLIAMENT, CONGRESS, GOVERNMENT, &c.