Personal comments on constitution

As it's known to all, constitution is the basic law in the legal system of a country including China.The history of constitution can date back to the period of ancient Greece.But the constitution of modern meaning emerged and developed with the the course of the bourgeois revolution.In 1789 the USA,the first written constitution of modern sense was enacted and implemented.After that the constitution quickly sprang up all around the capitalist countries .As to the constitution in China,the constitution-making experienced a long and harsh period of time.As early as the end of the Qing Dynasty,our country launched the first modern constitution --Outline of the Imperial Constitution.However,not until 1982 has our country almost perfected the system of the constitution.Although the 1982 Constitution has become stable constitutional document of China,there is a long way to go for the better-building of the constitution.

Constitution of our country clearly defined that constitution is the fundamental law of our country and has the highest legal authority in the preamble of constitution.So no other laws or legal documents can get beyond the constitution.However,the constitution awareness hasn't been deeply-rooted in everyone's minds.It's common and lamentable to see that some one ignores the constitution and copes with constitution-related problems according to his/her own 'laws'.Personally,promoting the

consciousness of constitution brooks no delay.Having been aware of the importance,measures have already taken place.Specialized constitutional protection offices and organizations have been founded to secure the realization of constitution.But that's far from enough. Popularizing the constitution and promoting constitutional education to the masses of the people must be put more efforts for our government instead of remaining committed to the so-called political achievements.The realization of constitution values depends not on the rigid legal provisions but on the wide acceptance and cognition of people. Only by that can constitution be the vitally important and fundamental law in sense and obeyed .

Compared with the Administrative law,the constitution puts more emphasis on the three basic principles:Principle of popular sovereignty ,Basic human rights principles ,and The principle of power constraints

(checks

and

balance).As

a

famous

saying

of

Lenin:Constitution is a written paper of the rights of the people,the constitution concentrates on the protection of citizens' rights.So it's the boundaries of state power,and the administrative power serves in guaranteeing civil rights. Following is the detailed opinions about the three vital principles:

①Principle of popular sovereignty:The host of a country is undoubtable not the empire but people.The government is empowered by the people to run the country.And the sovereignty must and only belong to the

people.Moreover,though the theory of people's sovereign rights is the kernel of Bourgeois democratic thought,Chinese constitution also uses the principle for reference and provides that all the power belongs to the people(Chapter I Article 2).

②Basic human rights principles:What does human rights mean?Almost everyone knows the answer,and is eager to acquire those rights.So human rights not like the other concepts or principles are the same in different social environments.To be emphasized,basic human rights is the key values and aim of our constitutions. What constitution can do is to guarantee and realize the human rights.In our country,many basic rights of citizens are written in the Chapter II.

③The principle of power constraints:As what I have sayed before:constitution is the boundaries of state powers,it's of great importance to secure the proper use of the state powers.Transplanted from capitalist

country,the

constitution

focuses

on

the

power

constraints.However,in our country,the principle presents in a unique form--supervision. I'd like to say that supervision is originally great but totally misused and essentially useless.Take the Wenzhou bullet train collision for example. It maybe the most serious train collision since the new century,but the handling of series events can't satisfy the ordinary citizens.The research was did by the China's Ministry of Railways,the aftermath of the accident was did by the China's Ministry of

Railways,and the explanation for the collision was again did by the China's Ministry of Railways.Although the different departments took charge of the events,all the departments are still under the lead of the China's Ministry of Railways ,and belong to the same organizational structure.So,the constraints,I think,are real in form but fake in core. Such constraints do no meaning to prevent the abuse of government's powers and secure the citizens' rights.Taking the people's and other democratic parties' supervision into consideration and strengthening the supervision system itself can be effective way to deal with the problem. When it comes to the future of the constitution,it ,in my opinion,lies in the combination of constitution and constitutionalism or rather the building of a country of constitutionalism with democracy ,ruling by law and human rights.Constitutionalism means the applying the constitution to secure the citizens' basic rights and democratic politics.And I think the most important feature of constitutionalism is restriction to the government powers.Building a limited government is quintessence of constitutionalism.As we all know,state powers are the vindicators of public interests,and rooted in the people's empowerment.So,we can sum up the two fatal principles of constitution:the first one:state powers can't go beyond the constitutional powers;the second one:state powers can't infringe on the citizen's rights and must pledge the legal rights.In addiction,democracy

must

be

restricted

one

and

constitutionalism-restricted one.Democracy emphasizes the most people's interests.Once being excessive,democracy may turn to tyranny of the majority.So,I think,constitutionalism must include republicanism which requires the consideration of minority's interests. Today's constitution idea haven't become the will of the whole people,so for the sake,Chinese constitutionalism is just started its pace from starting point and immature.However,constitutionalism building and research nowadays in China become hot topics.If compare the western country's constitutionalism to Benz,the Chinese constitutionalism is just like tractor.Only 'stealing' the Benz's parts and putting it into the tractor can't make the tractor run faster than the Benz's.So for our country,constitutionalism must be combined with the national conditions of China and need enough patience.By that,there is reason to believe that the tractor can get higher speed than the Benz one day.