Sources of constitutional law and constitutional conventions
LUG-104 Constitutional Law-I, Unit I: Constitutional law — rules of the Constitution, organic laws, rules of procedure, judicial decisions, constitutional conventions. · LLB · 60 min
This lecture takes the five sources of Indian constitutional law one by one: the text, the organic laws that complete it, the rules of procedure of the Houses, the courts and the executive, judicial decisions under Article 141 (including the debate on judicial activism), and constitutional conventions. The second half is on conventions: Dicey's definition and Jennings' tests, and the Indian conventions on the appointment of the Prime Minister, collective responsibility and the Governor's discretion, with the cases in which the Supreme Court has recognised them. It answers the 2022-23 question on judicial activism and the two-mark notes on the appointment of the Prime Minister and collective responsibility.
Objectives
- Explain each of the five sources of constitutional law with Indian examples and Article numbers.
- Distinguish an organic law from an ordinary statute and from a constitutional amendment.
- Explain judicial decisions as a source under Article 141 and evaluate judicial activism.
- Define a constitutional convention (Dicey, Jennings) and explain why conventions are obeyed though courts do not enforce them.
- Apply the Indian conventions on the choice of Prime Minister, collective responsibility and the Governor's discretion to a hung House.
Slides
- The text as the primary source
- Organic laws: statutes that complete the Constitution
- Rules of procedure
- Judicial decisions under Article 141
- Judicial activism: meaning and whether it serves a purpose
- Constitutional conventions: Dicey and Jennings
- Indian conventions (1): the appointment of the Prime Minister
- Indian conventions (2): collective responsibility and the binding advice
- Indian conventions (3): the Governor's discretion
- Conventions and the courts: recognised but not enforced
- How the examiner asks it
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