COSTITUTION OUTLINE REVIEWER

Political Law. That branch of public law which deals with the
organization ,and operations of the governmental organs of the State and defines
the relations of the State with the inhabitants of its territory. [People v. Perfecto, 43
Phil. 887; Macariola v. Asuncion, 114 SCRA 77].

Scope/Divisions of Political Law.

1. Constitutional Law. The study of the maintenance of the proper balance
between authority as represented by the three inherent powers of the State and
liberty as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights [Cruz, Constitutional Law, 1993 ed., p.
1].
2. Administrative Law. That branch of public law which fixes the organization
of government, determines the competence of the administrative authorities who
execute the law, and indicates to the individual remedies for the violation of his
rights.
3. Law on Municipal Corporations.
4. Law of Public Officers.
5. Election Laws.

CONSTITUTION:

Constitution is a body of rules and maxims in accordance with which the powers of sovereignty are
habitually exercised. (By Justice Cooley)

That written instrument enacted by the 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 body politic. (By Justice
Malcolm)

PURPOSES: The purpose of the Constitution is to prescribe the permanent framework of a system of
government, to assign to the several departments their respective powers and duties, and to establish
certain first fixed principles on which government is founded.

The Constitution is the basic and paramount law to which all other laws must conform and to which all
persons, including the highest officials of the land, must defer.
The Constitution must ever remain supreme.

CLASSIFICATION:
 1. Written or Unwritten
2. Evolved or Enacted
3. Rigid or Flexible.

A WRITTEN CONSTITUTION is one whose precepts are embodied in one document or set of documents.
An UNWRITTEN CONSTITUTION, on the other hand, consists of rules which have not been integrated
into a single, concrete form but are scattered in various sources, such as statutes of a fundamental
character, judicial decisions, commentaries of publicists, customs and traditions, and certain common
law principles.

A CONVENTIONAL CONSTITUTION is an enacted constitution, formally "struck off' at a definite time and
place following a conscious or deliberate effort taken by a constituent body or ruler.
A CUMULATIVE CONSTITUTION, by contrast, is the result of political evolution, "not inaugurated at any
specific time but changing by accretion rather than by any systematic method."

A RIGID CONSTITUTION is one that can be amended only by a formal and usually difficult process
whereas a FLEXIBLE CONSTITUTION is one that can be changed by ordinary legislation.

The CONSTITUTION OF THE PHILIPPINES is written, conventional (ENACTED) and RIGID.

PREAMBLE:
- Since the Preamble is a distillation of the ideals and aspirations of the Filipino people, they argue
that it should not be finalized until the body of the Constitution had been completed. However,
the commissioners proposed that a Preamble formulated in advance can serve as a guide. A
compromise was reached and agreed that the Preamble will still be subject for modification.