Constitutional Conventions. Should Conventions Be Made Into Laws Essay

Constitutional Conventions. Should Conventions Be Made Into Laws - Essay Example These are the nations which follow the Westminster system of government, common in the Commonwealth Nations. The constitutional conventions often distribute the powers between the head of the state and the head of the government making the head of the state a ceremonial post. For example in the Indian subcontinent (Present India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) the constitution is based on the Govt. of India Act 1935 which was formulated by the British legislators, the additions to the act are made in the form of constitutional conventions and the affairs of government in these states are being run by these constitutional conventions. There are other constitutional conventions which operate alongside written constitutions. In Britain there are many constitutional conventions which have been made into laws. Still there is a marked difference between Laws and Constitutional Conventions. According to Dicey [1883] laws are the set of rules which are enforced by the courts while const itutional conventions are those set of rules which are not actually enforced by the courts and are merely are the habits and practices of people in certain offices of the state. According to Hood Phillips â€Å"constitutional conventions are rules of practices which are regarded as binding by those to whom they apply but which are not laws because they are not enforced by the courts and parliament†. L.B. ... The traditions and practices which are followed by certain governmental procedurals over large periods of time are considered as informal rules and are made constitutional conventions. According to one perception the English constitution drifted from the monarchical system to parliamentary system by way of constitutional convention. The ultimate object of most of the conventions is that the affairs of public interest should be conducted in accordance with the wishes of the majority of the electorates. The origin of constitutional conventions also takes place when certain authorities try to exercise power which is actually not prohibited by law but a certain opposition is aroused against that exercise of power and the opposition is of such an extent that the same action cannot be taken in future and the opposition marks an end to that practice. In such a scenario the certain practices which are not actually forbidden by law becomes forbidden under the constitutional conventions. Const itutional conventions automatically assume the role of constitutional amendments as the legislators and the government starts following them. But the constitutional conventions are not enforced by the courts of law because sometimes these are in conflict with the legal rules and the courts are bound to enforce the legal rules and not the constitutional conventions. On an occasion the British Supreme court has ruled out the possibility of the constitutional conventions to be enforced as laws no matter how well-established and universally accepted they may be because there are instances when there is clash between the constitutional convention and a present law. The only way