American and the British Constitution

The most fundamental difference that exists between the constitution of the United States and the constitution of United Kingdom is there being or absence of a constitution. The United States of America has a written constitution while the British people have an unwritten constitution. In the United Kingdom there is no single document that can call the constitution, the United Kingdom constitution is not written but it is uncodified. Much of the constitution is derived from Acts of parliament, written documents judgments made in United Kingdom Courts, and also in treaties (Gillespie, 25). There are other sources such as the royal prerogatives and the constitutional conventions by the parliament. According to Hamowy, the constitution of the United States is the supreme law in the United States and works as a framework for how the country is run (2). It provides the relationship between the federal government and states and the American people. The constitution of United States is difficult to amend it, as there is need of a greater consensus in Congress which is not easy to achieve. In the United Kingdom, it is very easy to change parts of the constitution as what one needs is a simple majority in the parliament and the constituent is changed through Acts of Parliament

A similarity between the United States and the United Kingdom’s Constitution is that they both employ the common law system. The common law is a form of system where in the interpretation of the constitution, the judges in both countries who have the role of interpreting the constitution will put into consideration precedents from past judgments and also the historical practices in these countries. This is unlike other nations where they apply judicial codes in the interpretation of their laws. The practice allows the use of former precedents that were set by judgments on previous cases before the interpretation of the law.