CONSTITUTIONS

What is a Constitution?
· A constitution is the instruction book for how things work.
· Many Territorians as members of clubs and associations are often familiar with what a
constitution does.
· The Northern Territory Self Government Act is similar to a constitution because it sets up
the system of NT Government BUT it is not the same because the Self Government Act
can be changed by people outside the Territory, the Australian Parliament, at any time.
· A Northern Territory State Constitution will come from the people agreeing to its creation
and including its own rules about how it can be changed.
· In Australia, we have an Australian Federal Constitution establishing the parliament for the
entire country and making the rules for the relationship with the States.
· This Constitution came into force on January 1 1901. When the States agreed to create a
nation called Australia.
· The system we use in Australia is described as the “Westminster system” coming from the
British system.
· Existing State constitutions invariably came from colonial acts of parliament. The
opportunity for a brand new State constitution offers a unique chance for Territorians to
take part in how their new State works.
· A new constitution for the Northern Territory should contain provisions for:
· An elected parliament
· A Governor representing the Queen of Australia.
· An Executive Government
· The Courts and the judiciary
· Financial provisions making sure the government is accountable for spending of
money
· Two draft constitutions were developed and published in the Northern Territory during the
1990s. One was adopted by a Committee of the Parliament and another was adopted by a
Constitutional Convention.
· Together with the principles in the Northern Territory Self Government Act, these can
assist us decide what we want in a future constitution.
To make your views known on a constitution for the Northern Territory you may
contact the Statehood Steering Committee.Constitution The Constitution of a given organisation defines its form, structure, activities, character, and fundamental rules. To view particular constitutions, refer to the list of national constitutions.
The term comes from Latin constitutio, which referred to any important law, usually issued by the emperor, and was widely used in canon law to indicate certain relevant decisions, mainly of the pope.
Particular kinds of organisations that often use the concept of Constitution include:
Governmental bodies (transnational, national or regional)
Voluntary organisations
Trade unions
Political parties
An organisation may be given specific powers on the condition that it abides by this constitution or charter limitation. The Latin term ultra vires describes activities that fall outside an organisation's or parliamentary body's constitutional activities. For example, a student union may be prohibited from engaging in activities not concerning students as students, if the student union becomes involved in nonstudent activities these activities are considered ultra vires of the student union's charter, or a bank that tries to act as a real estate agent. An example from the constitutional law of nation-states would be a provincial government in a federal state which may not have authority over banking under the federal constitution, so any laws the provincial parliaments pass regarding banking will be considered void or ultra vires of that parliament's constitutional authority.
Governmental Constitutions
Most commonly, the term "constitution" is used to refer to the set of rules that govern political bodies. These rules may or may not be summarized in a single document.
Possibly the most common usage of 'constitution' is to describe a single, written, fundamental law that defines how a nation or a subdivision is governed, legislation is passed, power and authority are distributed, and how they are limited. It is thus the most basic law of a area from which all the other laws and rules are hierarchically derived; in some areas it is in fact called "Basic Law".
Having a single written document gives the advantage of a coherent and easily understood body of rules. In democratic systems, the constitution is considered a fundamental social contract among citizens (following Rousseau's writings), where government receives its powers from the people, not the monarch or a parliament, and is bound by an express set of human rights. The constitution is thus considered a statute superior to "ordinary" statutes, which it can overrule, and is usually protected against constitutional amendments and by special courts (see below). This is considered the model followed by the United_States_Constitution, which is the oldest such document still in effect today, soon followed in Europe by Polish Constitution of the May 3rd 1791 and the French one in 1792.
By contrast, in the Westminster tradition which originated in England, unwritten constitutional conventions, precedents, royal prerogatives and custom collectively constituted the British constitutional law. In the days of the British Empire the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council acted as the constitutional court for many of the british colonies such as Canada and Australia which had federal constitutions.
In these systems, the difference between a constitution and a statute is somewhat arbitrary, usually depending on the traditional devotion of popular opinion to historical principles embodied in important past legislation. For example, several Acts of Parliament such as the Bill of Rights, Human Rights Act and, prior to the creation of Parliament, the Magna Carta are regarded as granting fundamental rights and principles which are treated as almost constitutional. However, these are in law no different to any other Act of Parliament and can be changed just as easily.
Constitutional courts
The constitution, of whatever form, is often protected by a certain legal body in each country with various names, such as supreme, constitutional or high court. This court judges the validity of legislation, its interpretation, and the manner in which such legislation is implemented by the executive branch of the state.
Such legal bodies are normally the court of last resort, the highest such body without further recourse, where this process of judicial review are integrated into the system of courts of appeals. This is the case, for example, with the Supreme Court of the United States. Other countries dedicate a special court solely to the protection of the constitution, as with the German Constitutional Court.
Finally, some countries have no such courts at all – for example, as the United Kingdom traditionally functions under the principle of parliamentary supremacy, the legislature has the power to enact any law it wishes. However, through its membership in the European Union, the UK is now subject to the jurisdiction of European Community law and the European Court of Justice; similarly, by acceding to the Council of Europe's European Convention on Human Rights, it is subject to the European Court of Human Rights. In effect, these bodies are constitutional courts that can invalidate or interpret British legislation. United States Constitution
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United States Constitution

The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the Federal Government of the United States. It provides the framework for the organization of the United States Government. The document defines the three main branches of the government: The legislative branch with a bicameral Congress, an executive branch led by the President, and a judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court. Besides providing for the organization of these branches, the Constitution carefully outlines which powers each branch may exercise. It also reserves numerous rights for the individual states, thereby establishing the United States' federal system of government. It is the shortest and oldest written constitution of any major sovereign state.[1]
The United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention (or Constitutional Congress[citation needed]) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and later ratified by conventions in each U.S. state in the name of "The People"; it has since been amended twenty-seven times, the first ten amendments being known as the Bill of Rights.[2][3] The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was actually the first constitution of the United States of America.[4] The U.S. Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation as the governing document for the United States after being ratified by nine states. The Constitution has a central place in United States law and political culture.[5] The handwritten, or "engrossed", original document penned by Jacob Shallus is on display at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.
History
Main article: History of the United States Constitution
Drafting and ratification requirements
In September 1786, commissioners from five states met in the Annapolis Convention to discuss adjustments to the Articles of Confederation that would improve commerce. They invited state representatives to convene in Philadelphia to discuss improvements to the federal government. After debate, the Congress of the Confederation endorsed the plan to revise the Articles of Confederation on February 21, 1787.[6] Twelve states, Rhode Island being the only exception, accepted this invitation and sent delegates to convene in May 1787.[6] The resolution calling the Convention specified that its purpose was to propose amendments to the Articles, but through discussion and debate it became clear by mid-June that, rather than amend the existing Articles, the Convention decided to propose a rewritten Constitution.[7] The Philadelphia Convention voted to keep the debates secret, so that the delegates could speak freely. They also decided to draft a new fundamental government design, which eventually stipulated that only nine of the thirteen states would have to ratify for the new government to go into effect (for the participating states).[7] Current knowledge of the drafting and construction of the United States Constitution comes primarily from the diaries left by James Madison, who kept a complete record of the proceedings at the Constitutional Convention.[8]
Work of the Philadelphia Convention
The Virginia Plan was the unofficial agenda for the Convention, and was drafted chiefly by James Madison, considered to be "The Father of the Constitution" for his major contributions.[8] It was weighted toward the interests of the larger states, and proposed among other points:
A powerful bicameral legislature with a House and a Senate[9]
An executive chosen by the legislature
A judiciary, with life-terms of service and vague powers
The national legislature would be able to veto state laws
The Philadelphia Convention
An alternative proposal, William Paterson's New Jersey Plan, gave states equal weights and was supported by the smaller states.[10] Roger Sherman of Connecticut brokered The Great Compromise whereby the House would represent the people, a Senate would represent the states, and a president would be elected by electors.[11]
The contentious issue of slavery was too controversial to be resolved during the convention. As a result, the original Constitution contained four provisions tacitly allowing slavery to continue for the next 20 years. Section 9 of Article I allowed the continued "importation" of such persons, Section 2 of Article IV prohibited the provision of assistance to escaping persons and required their return if successful and Section 2 of Article I defined other persons as "three-fifths" of a person for calculations of each state's official population for representation and federal taxation.[12] Article V prohibited any amendments or legislation changing the provision regarding slave importation until 1808, thereby giving the States then existing 20 years to resolve this issue. The failure to do so was a contributing factor to the
Ratification
Ratification of the Constitution

Contrary to the process for "alteration" spelled out in Article 13 of the Articles, Congress submitted the proposal to the states and set the terms for representation.
On September 17, 1787, the Constitution was completed in Philadelphia at the Federal Convention, followed by a speech given by Benjamin Franklin who urged unanimity, although they decided only nine states were needed to ratify the constitution for it to go into effect. The Convention submitted the Constitution to the Congress of the Confederation, where it received approval according to Article 13 of the Articles of ConfederationOnce the Congress of the Confederation received word of New Hampshire's ratification, it set a timetable for the start of operations under the Constitution, and on March 4, 1789, the government under the Constitution began operations.
Historical influences
Several of the ideas in the Constitution were new, and a large number of ideas were drawn from the literature of Republicanism in the United States, from the experiences of the 13 states, and from the British experience with mixed government. The most important influence from the European continent was from Montesquieu, who emphasized the need to have balanced forces pushing against each other to prevent tyranny. (This in itself reflects the influence of Polybius' 2nd century BC treatise on the checks and balances of the constitution of the Roman Republic.) John Locke is known to have been a major influence, and the due process clause of the United States Constitution was partly based on common law stretching back to Magna Carta of 1215.[9]

Influences on the Bill of Rights
The United States Bill of Rights consists of the ten amendments added to the Constitution in 1791, as supporters of the constitution had promised critics during the debates of 1788.[14] The English Bill of Rights (1689) was an inspiration for the American Bill of Rights. For example, both require jury trials, contain a right to keep and bear arms, and prohibit excessive bail as well as "cruel and unusual punishments." Many liberties protected by state constitutions and the Virginia Declaration of Rights were incorporated into the United States Bill of Rights.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
”
The Preamble does not grant any particular authority to the federal government and it does not prohibit any particular authority. It establishes the fact that the federal government has no authority outside of what follows the preamble, as amended. "We the people", is one of the most-quoted sections of the Constitution. It was thought by the Federalists during this time that there was no need for a bill of rights as they thought that the preamble spelled out the people's rights
United States

The article establishes the manner of election and the qualifications of members of each body. Representatives must be at least 25 years old, have been a citizen of the United States for seven years, and live in the state they represent. Senators must be at least 30 years old, have been a citizen for nine years, and live in the state they represent.
In Article I Section I, the Constitution reads "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives." This gives Congress more than simply the responsibility to establish the rules governing its proceedings and for the punishment of its members; it places the power of the government primarily in Congress.
Article I Section 8 enumerates the legislative powers. The powers listed and all other powers are made the exclusive responsibility of the legislative branch:
The Congress shall have power... To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
Article I Section IX provides a list of eight specific limits on Congressional power and Article I Section X limits the rights of the states.
The United States Supreme Court has interpreted the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause in Article One to allow Congress to enact legislation that is neither expressly listed in the enumerated power nor expressly denied in the limitations on Congress. In the 1819 McCulloch v. Maryland ruling, the Supreme Court fell back on the strict construction of the necessary and proper clause to read that Congress had "[t]he foregoing powers and all other powers..."

Article Two: Executive power
Main article: Article Two of the United States Constitution
See also: wikisource:Constitution of the United States of America#Article II
Article Two describes the presidency (the executive branch). The article establishes the manner of election and qualifications of the President, the oath to be affirmed and the powers and duties of the office. The President must be a natural born citizen of the United States, be at least 35 years old, and a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. It also provides for the office of Vice President, and specifies that the Vice President succeeds to the presidency if the President is removed, unable to discharge the powers and duties of office, dies while in office, or resigns. The original text ("the same shall devolve") leaves it unclear whether this succession was intended to be on an acting basis (merely taking on the powers of the office) or permanent (assuming the Presidency itself). After the death of William Henry Harrison, John Tyler set the precedent that the succession was permanent, and this was followed in practice; the 25th Amendment explicitly states that the Vice President becomes President in those cases. Article Two also provides for the impeachment and removal from office of all officers of the government.
Judicial review
See also: Judicial review in the United States
The way the Constitution is understood is also influenced by the decisions of the court system, and especially the Supreme Court. These decisions are referred to, collectively, as precedents. The ability of the courts to interpret the Constitution was decided early in the history of the United States, in the 1803 case of Marbury v. Madison. In that case, the Supreme Court established the doctrine of judicial review, which is the power of the Court to examine legislation and other acts of Congress and to decide their constitutionality. The doctrine also embraces the power of the Court to explain the meaning of various sections of the Constitution as they apply to particular cases brought before the Court. Over the years, a series of Court decisions, on issues ranging from governmental regulation of radio and television to the rights of the accused in criminal cases, has affected a change in the way many Constitutional clauses are interpreted, without amendment to the actual text of the Constitution.
Legislation, passed to implement provisions of the Constitution or to adapt those implementations to changing conditions, also broadens and, in subtle ways, changes the meanings given to the words of the Constitution. Up to a point, the rules and regulations of the many agencies of the federal government have a similar effect. If the actions of Congress or federal agencies are challenged as to their constitutionality, however, it is the court system that ultimately decides whether or not they are allowable under the Constitution.