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Britain's Magna Carta, the Great Charter of 1215, is now widely accepted by general consent of history as the world's first major constitutional document. Indeed it is interesting to read the constitutions of the USA, both the federal constitution and those of individual states, as well as the constitutions of many Commonwealth countries, and to note how many passages from Magna Carta have simply been copied word for word. Magna Carta provided Britain's reformers with a firm foundation, a cornerstone on which subsequent constitutional documents could be added to form the assemblage which, combined with unwritten custom, is commonly referred to as Britain's "constitution" today.
Constitution limits absolute power. This it achieves by placing conditions on the use of that power, by requiring the sharing of power with those subject to it through a process of debate, and by establishing boundaries beyond which the law may not intrude. No government, president or monarch, no institution of law or enforcement, should be created or be allowed to exist and to function without a constitution. No one should have power over others, unless and until that power and the conditions of its use have been strictly defined. In the words of Thomas Paine: "government without a constitution is power without right".
It is interesting to note that the Magna Carta, the Great Charter of 1215, was a rare example of a consumer-driven constitution.
The Magna Carta was drawn up by the clergy and barons as the king's subjects and in their capacity as "consumers" of the law. The Clauses of Magna Carta told the king exactly what he might and might not do, and certain procedures he was to follow, its major purpose being to protect the people's liberties.
By contrast, the United States constitution was not drawn up by "the people" but was the product of a power-sharing contest between the States and the proponents of a strong central, federal government. Though the powers of the different branches of government were specifically limited through the celebrated checks and balances between different and equal branches, it was Madison's Amendments, the Bill of Rights, which asserted some basic rights of citizens relative to government - an essential, if not the most essential element of a constitution.
An interesting
example of latter-day constitution-writing can be seen in the
efforts of the European Union. Here again, as in Philadelphia 1787,
the basic focus is a power struggle between federalists and nationalists,
with barely a nod of recognition towards the eurocitizens whose
daily lives the document would hope to regulate.
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