Codified and uncodified constitutions
Also called: Written and unwritten constitution, Unwritten constitution · Topic: Making of the Constitution: Constituent Assembly, Sources and Salient Features · NCERT: Class 9, Ch 6 "Democracy"; Class 11, Ch 1 "Constitution: Why and How?"
Meaning
A codified constitution is written down in one compact document. An uncodified constitution has no single document. Its rules are spread across many ordinary laws, conventions (settled practices everyone follows) and court rulings. People also call these "written" and "unwritten" constitutions, but the uncodified kind is still mostly written down, just in many places.
Example
India and the USA have codified constitutions. The United Kingdom's is uncodified. Its rules come from Magna Carta (1215), the Bill of Rights (1689), the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, conventions and court rulings.
Don't confuse with
- Rigid and flexible constitutions: this pair is about how hard a constitution is to amend, not whether it sits in one document. India's codified constitution is partly rigid and partly flexible.