INTRODUCTION
A Constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a State or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is. When these principles are written down into a single document or set of legal documents, those documents may be said to embody a written constitution; if they are written down in a single comprehensive document, it is said to embody a codified constitution. Constitution was written by a committee headed by Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. It took 2 yrs, 11 months, 18 days for compilation. It was adopted on 26th November, 1949 (celebrated as Law Day), and enforced fully on 26th January, 1950 (celebrated as Republic Day).
The Constitution of India is the longest written Constitution of any sovereign country in the world,
containing 444 Articles in 22 Parts, 12 Schedules while the United States Constitution is the shortest written Constitution, at 7 Articles. At the time of commencement, the Constitution had 395 Articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules.
- Constitution is said to be the supreme law of the land.
- The drafting of the document called the Constitution was pursued by an assembly of elected representatives called the Drafting Committee, which was chaired by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
- The above-said Committee prepared the draft of the Constitution. Then, several rounds of discussions took place. More than two thousand amendments were considered.
- Every document presented and every word spoken in the Constituent Assembly has been recorded and preserved under the name of Constituent Assembly Debates.
SOURCES OF CONSTITUTION
| SOURCE | PROVISION |
| BRITISH CONSTITUTION | Parliamentary government, Rule of Law, legislative procedure, single citizenship, cabinet system, citizenship, prerogative writs, parliamentary privileges and bicameralism. |
| UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION |
Fundamental rights, independence of judiciary, judicial review, impeachment of the President, removal of Supreme Court and High Court judges and post of Vice-President. |
| IRISH CONSTITUTION |
Directive Principles of States Policy, nomination of members to Rajya Sabha and method of election of President. |
| CANADIAN CONSTITUTION |
Federation with strong centre, vesting of residuary power in the centre, appointment of state Governors by the Centre, and advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. |
| AUSTRALIAN CONSTITUTION |
Concurrent List, freedom of trade, commerce and intercourse, and joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament. |
| WEIMAR CONSTITUTION OF GERMANY |
Suspension of Fundamental Rights during Emergency. Soviet Constitution (USSR, now Russia) Fundamental duties and the ideal of justice (social, economic and political) in the Preamble. |
| FRENCH CONSTITUTION |
Republic and the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity in the Preamble. |
| SOUTH AFRICAN | Constitution Procedure for amendment of the Constitution and election of members of Rajya Sabha. |
| JAPANESE CONSTITUTION | Procedure established by Law. |
While drafting the Constitutional Draft, several provisions were borrowed from various written
and unwritten Constitutions all over the world.
Similarly the Constitution as a whole stands to its effect after having incorporated several unique
features and provisions from several other Constitutions.
References