Constitution vs Legislation
Constitution and Legislation are two terms that are often confused when it comes to their definitions and connotations. The word ‘constitution’ is used in the sense of ‘the act or method of constituting the composition of something. The Oxford Dictionaries refers it to a body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a State or any other organization is acknowledged to be governed.
On the other hand the word ‘legislation’ is used in the sense of ‘the process of making laws’. It refers to ‘laws collectively’. This is the main difference between the two words ‘constitution’ and ‘legislation’.
Legislation deals with laws. On the other hand constitution does not only deal with laws but it deals with principles as well. Legislation does not deal with principles. This is another important difference between constitution and legislation.
Legislation is a process whereas constitution is not a process. On the other hand constitution is a composition. The constitution of a government constitutes the composition of the various principles related to the rights and duties of the people of that particular country.
On the other hand legislation deals with law making. Legislation determines the conditions and the terms under which a particular action or duty can be performed or done. It is interesting to note that both these terms are often interchanged though it is not correct to interchange these two words.
The word ‘constitution’ sometimes directly conveys the meaning of ‘composition’ as in the expression ‘the constitution of the human body’. The word ‘legislation’ is derived from the Latin ‘legis latio’. It is interesting to know about the usage of the word in the bigger word ‘legislative assembly’. These are the important differences between the two terms, namely, ‘constitution’ and ‘legislation’. This difference should be understood with precision.
Randy Barnett, A Constitutional Law Scholar at Georgetown differentiates legislation as the laws that govern us. A Constitution is the law that governs those who govern us.