h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A government above the law is a menace to be defeated.

Lord Scarman, Why Britain Needs a Written Constitution, 1992. (The Oxford Dictionary of 20th Century Quotations, ISBN 0-19-860103-4.)

How very apt.

I'm always careful about how much I *can* editorialise - I'm not sure how much I speak for something official on h2g2 and therefore for the BBC when I write the editorial, and I'm always trying desperately not to offend anyone. Maybe I'm overcautious, but it is a difficult line to walk.

Thanks for sharing.

Reading dictionaries of quotations is one of my hobbies.

TRiG.

Hmm. That's an interesting comment. I might borrow it for one of my columns.

before I do, in another thread, possibly on my space, could you explain what the difference between a constitution and the law is?

Lawyer: one skilled in circumvention of the law.

Ambrose Gwinett Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary. (Dictionary of Quotations, Geddes & Grosset.)

In Ireland: The Constitution, Bunriocht na hÉireann, was written at the foundation of the state. It is a body of many general laws.

a.) If there is a contradiction between any law and the constitution, the law is struck down and the constitution stands.

b.) If the Government wish to change any section of the constituion, they must call a referendum to do so. They cannot do it by an act of legislation.

TRiG.

But the referendum allows voters to vote on the amendment as written, not on the wording of the amendment. The amendment itself is still written by the same bozos who write laws.

I suppose there could in theory be an either-or ammendment proposed. Never known it to happen, though.

TRiG.

They do it in the states all the time. California and Texas come to mind.

It's never happened on a national basis that I know of, with the possible exception of the Equal Rights Amendment, but I think that used delegates.