Political Law and the Constitution

Chapter One POLITICAL LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION

Introduction

Political law is defined as the branch of public law which deals with the organization and operation of the governmental organs of the State and defines the relations of the state with the inhabitants of its territory.

The Constitution

It is a written and codified document which serves as the fundamental law of the state. A written instrument enacted by direct action of the people by which the fundamental powers of the government are established, limited, and defined, and by which those powers are distributed among the several departments for their safe and useful exercise for the benefit of the people.

The constitution is the work or will of the people themselves, in their original, sovereign, and unlimited capacity. Law is the work or will of the legislature in its derivative and subordinate capacity. The one is the work of the creator, and the other of the creature. The constitution fixes limits to the exercise of legislative authority and prescribes the orbit within which it must move. In short, gentlemen, the constitution is the sun of the political system, around which all Legislative, Executive, and Judicial bodies must revolve. Whatever may be the case in other countries, yet in this, there can be no doubt, that every act of the legislature, repugnant to the Constitution, is absolutely void.