What is a Constitution?

Narrow sense :

A single set of a document or documents containing the basic or fundamental rules governing the affairs of the state. In other words, a constitution is understood as a single written document having special legal status, which establishes the state, and sets out the structure and powers of the state.

Broad sense:

A body of legal and non-legal rules concerning the government of a state. In other words, a constitution is understood as where the fundamental or basic rules governing the affairs of the state are not in a single set of document.

In Malaysia:

The constitution is the fundamental and basic law of the land. It is the law on which all other laws are based. Article 4(1) of the Federal Constitution : This Constitution is the supreme law of the Federation and any law passed after Merdeka Day which is inconsistent with this Constitution shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.

Definition by jurists:

Professor KC Wheare : "...the whole system of government of a country, the collection of rules which establish and regulate or govern the government"

Thomas Paine: " A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government, and a government without a constitution is power without right...A constitution is a thing antecedent to a government; and a government is only the creature of a constitution"

Barnett: “A living, dynamic organism which at any point in time will reflect the moral and political values of the people it governs, and accordingly, the law of the constitution must be appreciated within the socio-political context in which it operates”

Generally, a constitution is a set of rules which determine, among others, the manner the institutions are to be set up, the powers to be distributed and the justice to be administered. In other words, a constitution is a broad set of rules and principles by which a state is governed.