Understanding the Indian Constitution: Key Features & Principles

Table of Contents

What is understood by the Constitution?

The Constitution is the fundamental and organic law of a nation that establishes the conception, character and organisation of the government of the nation. It also determines the sovereign functions of the state. A constitution may or may not have a preamble.

Features of Indian Constitution borrowed from different constitutions

Sources	Features
Government of India Act, 1935	Federal Scheme Office of governor Judiciary Public Service Commission Emergency Provisions
British Constitution	Parliamentary Government Rule of Law Legislative procedure Single citizenship Cabinet System Parliamentary privileges Bicameralism Single constitution
US Constitution	Fundamental rights Judicial Review Preamble Impeachment process of President President will be chief of armed forces President being executive head of the state Vice president as expected officio chairman of council of states
Soviet Russia constitution	Fundamental Duties Concept of Justice
German constitution	Suspension of fundamental rights during emergency
France constitution	Republic, fraternity and Liberty
Irish constitution	Directive principles of state policy Nomination of members to Rajya Sabha Method of election of president
Australian Constitution	Concept of Concurrent List
Canada	Residuary subjects to rest with central government Federation with unitary bias

Why is the Indian constitution the lengthiest written Act?

Indian constitution is lengthy and bulky due to following reasons

The Government of India Act, 1935, which acts as a basic model for the Indian constitution was itself detailed and bulky.
Diversity of India is also taken care of by the Indian constitution.
The Indian constitution includes not only the provisions related to administration of the country but also related to the states.
Indian constitution has special features which are not found in every constitution for example directive principles of State policy, fundamental duties, fundamental rights etc.
Various limits, exceptions and explanations have been included in the constitution itself.
Indian constitution is organismic in nature which means it is a flexible document open for amendments. Ex- Constitution has been amended 106 times.

Difference between Written constitution and Unwritten Constitution

Written Constitution	Unwritten Constitution
It is the one in which all articles, provisions and parts are codified into a single written document.	An unwritten Constitution does not have articles and laws codified into a single legal document. It is an abstract set of laws.
In the states with a written constitution, the Constitution is supreme over parliament.	Here, Parliament is supreme, not the constitution.
There exists a clear distinction between constitutional articles and other laws.	No distinction between ordinary laws and constitutional provision exists.
Here the judiciary enjoys wide power where it can declare an enactment of the parliament and an action of executive as unconstitutional and void on the grounds that they are not in line with the constitution.	Judiciary here has limited power since it can not declare an enactment of parliament as unconstitutional.
It can be flexible or rigid	It is always flexible as any change can be brought by just an enactment of parliament.
Written Constitution is an essential feature of a federal government.	Unwritten Constitution always give rise to unitary government.
Ex- India, US	Ex- United Kingdom, China, Canada