What is the Difference between a Written and an Unwritten Constitution?
Constitution:  The Constitution is the basic law of the country. It is the collection of fundamental principles that make the legal basis of any country's polity or governance. A Constitution may be Written or Unwritten. There is a difference between these two forms of Constitution. Take a look below to know more about it. Unwritten Constitution:  Any constitution in which laws or rules are not written in any form or incorporated into a book but are documented for the validity of the constitution is called Unwritten Constitution. Magna Carta, considered to be the oldest unwritten form of the Constitution, was a charter of rights for the nobles, signed by King John of England. It came into force on 15th June 1215. The charter vowed for protection of the rights of the nobility from any interference of the crown. The Magna Carta eventually evolved into the unwritten constitution of the United Kingdom later. Written Constitution:  Any Constitution which has been written down and has all the details available in form of a book that can be referred to at later stages is called a written constitution. The oldest written Constitution is of the United States of America. It was drafted on 17 September, 1787, ratified on 21 June, 1788. It came into force on March 4th, 1789. James Madison wrote the document that formed the model for the Constitution of the USA. He is known as one of the founding fathers of America. Difference Between Unwritten and Written form of Constitution:  Take a look at the table below to have a complete sense of difference between the two of the forms of Constitution. Unwritten Constitution Written Constitution Unwritten constitution refers to the unstructured version of the constitution Written Constitution refers to the codified, compiled and cohesive constitution, which can be stored for future reference The terms of an Unwritten Constitution evolve over a long period with a new set of laws and guidelines added as time passes on. Written constitutions like the Indian Constitution are framed by analysis and discussion on any possible issue and compiled in a step by step matter with subsequent changes made instantaneously or with time These type of Constitutions can be rigid or flexible or both Such constitutions are flexible that means the changes can be made in them with time The Parliament is supreme power in a country with an unwritten constitution The Constitution is supreme where there is written constitution The judiciary is limited in its powers and the Parliament can only challenge things when there is an Unwritten Constitution The Judiciary is more powerful and can have the power of judicial review so as to ensure constitutional supremacy The Magna Carta can be considered the earliest form of the unwritten constitution. The Constitution of the United States of America is considered as the oldest written constitution, that is still in force.