S.S.

Jain Subodh Law college, Jaipur

Affiliated to
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Law University

“Impact of world constitutions on framing of Indian Constitution”

Submitted by-: Yash Sharma Submitted to-:Mr. Pravesh Chauhan

Subject-: Constitution Law (Assistant Professor)

Semester-: 3rdSemesterLaw Collage

 Declaration by the student

I hereby declare that the work reported in this project entitled, “Impact of world constitutions
on framing of Indian Constitution” Submitted to the S.S. Jain Subodh Law College, Jaipur
is an authentic record of my work carried out under the supervision of Asst. Prof. Mr. Pravesh
Chauhan. It is further certified that there is no plagiarism in this work. I further attest that I am
fully responsible for this content.

( Signature)

Name-: Yash Sharma

Place -: Jaipur

Date -:
 Supervisor’s Certificate

This is to certify that the work reported in the project entitled, “Impact of world constitutions
on framing of Indian Constitution”, Submitted by Yash Sharma to the S.S. Jain Subodh Law
College, Jaipur is a bonafide record of his/her original work carried out under my supervision. It
is further certified there is no plagiarism in it. This work is being recommended for further
evaluation by the external examiner.

Place -: Jaipur ( Signature of the supervisor)

Date -:
 Acknowledgement

I acknowledge with profundity, my obligation to almighty god and my parents for giving me the
grace to accomplish my work, without which this project would not have been possible. I express
my heartfelt gratitude to my respected faculty, Mr. Pravesh Chauhan for providing me with
valuable suggestions to complete this dissertation. I am especially greatful to all my faculty
members at S.S. Jain Subodh Law college who have helped me imbibe the basic research and
writing skills.

Lastly, I take upon myself, the drawbacks and limitations of this study.

Date-:

Place-:Jaipur

Yash Sharma

( 3rd Semester)
 Index

 Introduction
 Abstract
 History
 The Sources of Indian Constitution
 Current Scenario Of Indian Constitution
 Conclusion
 Introduction

The Constitution is a fundamental and organic law of the nation that establishes the conception,
character, and organisation of the government of the nation and establishes the extent of the
power of the government and the manner in which such power can be utilised.  For the
establishment of the Constitution, a Constituent Assembly was formed. M N Roy, the pioneer of
socialist development gave the possibility that India must have a Constitution. 

The Constituent Assembly of India was a sovereign body which was made on the
recommendation of the cabinet mission plan which was made in 1946 to draft the Constitution
for the country.

Indian Constitution came into existence on 26th November 1949. Soon after its formation the
Chairman of the drafting committee, Dr B.R. Ambedkar called it the “Bag of Borrowings”. He
referred to it as a bag of borrowings as it is majorly taken from the world’s constitution. The
framers of the constitution thought it as very unrealistic and unreasonable to draft a completely
unique constitution, so they aimed to make a functional constitution that would help in the smooth
running of the administration. 

A major part of the constitution was taken from the “Government of India Act, 1935”. This Act was
passed by the parliament of the United Kingdom and it received the royal assent in August 1935. The
Act was passed in response to the raised demands of the Indian leaders for democracy. 

Regardless of the criticism being given to the constitution as it has been borrowed from different
countries, it is like a bouquet of best flowers plucked from different gardens. The borrowings have
been well justified by the constitution-makers, in the words of Dr. BR Ambedkar “Nobody holds any
patent rights in the fundamental ideas of the Constitution”.

The Constitution of India is drawn from sources including the Acts of Government and other nations.
Thus, the borrowed provisions helped the Constitution to build on the collective learning of
humanity.  
 Abstract

The Indian Constitution is unique in its contents and spirit. Though borrowed from almost every
constitution of the world, the constitution of India has several salient features that distinguish it
from the constitutions of other countries. Indian constitution is a written form of constitution.It
contains 395 articles and 10 schedules.According to the proposals the Constitution Mission
Plan ;Constituent Assembly was set up for framing the Union of India.The assembly consisted of
the representatives of the states first met in New Delhi in December 1946.The Constitution is
rigid in the sense that most of its parts cannot be amended by the ordinary law making process by
Parliament.Certain provisions can be amended provided by a bill.The research paper gives a
detailed study about the history and making of Indian Constitution . A depth study and
evaluation on the framing structure of Indian Constitution

Keywords: Indian constitution, Unique, written, Constitute Assembly, Rigid, Framing, World
Constitution.
 History

The constitutional history of India is traced from the time of the entry of East India Company in
the early 17th century apart from some exceptions. The British government took over the
governance of India from the “East India Company in the year 1858”. The making of the
constitution was not an easy task as they had to unite over three hundred million people.  The
difficulty was that provisions which were to be made had to be in consonance with the
minorities, dalits, backward classes and other indigenous people. 

The Britishers decided to examine the possibility of allowing independence to India in the year
1946. Hence, a British Cabinet mission was consigned to India to hold discussions with the
representations of the British India in contemplation of agreeing on the framework for writing a
constitution for India. The Britishers had their restored and adopted decentralisation of powers
between the state and the region. The “Government of India Act, 1919” brought the legislative
councils into existence in all the provinces. After this Act, our constitution adopted the quasi-
federal; and bicameral structure. 

The demonstration of the discretionary standard laid down the foundation for a parliamentary
framework in India. The Muslims worried if our constitution was made similar to that of British
Constitution then it would abandon the greater part of Hindu.[3]  After this, a Constituent
Assembly was formed by the provincial legislatures including 278 representatives and 15
women. This assembly served as the first ‘Parliament’ of our independent India.  The strength of
the Constituent Assembly was 389 which was divided into 2 broad parts i.e 296 from British
India and 93 from princely states. The seats of the Constituent Assembly were allotted in the
proposition to the respective population of the state. The Constituent Assembly was headed by
Dr Rajendra Prasad (President) under the chairmanship of Dr BR Ambedkar. There were
conferences held in 1930, 1931 and 1932 in London which gave voice to other groups who were
interested. These groups represented the Anglo-Indians and led to the Government of India Act,
1935 which contributes a lot in our constitution. The Constitution was drafted with the help of
the Constitutions of the other countries as well as from the Government of India Act, 1935. 
 The sources of the Indian Constitution

Government of India Act, 1935

This Act was passed by the Parliament of Britain. Many key features have been taken from this
Act.  It was passed to provide a framework for our government and in response to the demands
of the leaders of India for democracy. It is an extensive report having three hundred and twenty-
one areas and ten plans. This Act conveys to the foundation of an All India Federation. This Act
abolished diarchy and presented commonplace self-rule. 

The office of governor, federal scheme of government, Public Service Commissions, the system
of judiciary and the provisions of emergency are borrowed by our Constitution. In the Federal
legislature, this act proposed that the legislature will have two houses- “the council of states and
a federal assembly”. Our structure is Quasi-federal which means Federal with unitary proclivity.
The upper house is the council of states for a period of three years and comprises two hundred
and sixty members.

The lower house is the federal assembly with a period of five years comprising two hundred and
fifty members. The Act authorised the Provincial governments to be responsible only to the
provincial legislatures and helped them to get free from any external control and intrusion. The
provincial autonomy provided three lists- the federal list with fifty nine items for the Centre, the
Provincial list with fifty four items for provinces and the Concurrent list with thirty six items for
both centre and the provinces. 
 British Constitution

Our constitution borrowed the rule of law, Bicameralism, Single citizenship, Cabinet system and
the Parliamentary System. The system of writs which are Articles 226 and 32 have also been
taken from British Constitution. The Supreme Court and the High Courts in our country have the
power to issue writs to make the Right to Constitutional Remedies available to the citizens of
India. Some more features like the Law-making techniques, Institution of the Speaker and his
part and the parliamentary arrangement of Government and leader of the state are great import
from Britain.

The parliamentary form of government is basically where a country is governed by a cabinet of

ministers which is governed by the Prime Minister.  This form of government basically ensures
that one or more opposition parties are there to keep a check on the ruling party and its
functioning. “Rule of law” states that a state cannot be governed by the people or the
representatives of people but only by the law of that country. The rule of law is codified under
Article 14 of the Indian Constitution. The idea of single citizenship basically implies that a
person who is born or migrated to India may enjoy political or civil rights of India but not of any
other country. Hence, India does not allow dual citizenship. 
 US Constitution

An important part of our constitution which is Part III, fundamental rights have been taken from
the US Constitution. These rights are the “basic human rights” which are given to the citizens of
India (Articles 12 to 32). These rights assure them that they have an equal stance in the society. 
Apart from the fundamental rights, the Position of the Vice President, the System of Judicial
Review, Removal of judges of Supreme Court and High Court and the Impeachment of the
President is also taken. Article 124 mentions the removal of judges of the Supreme Court and the
High Court.

Judicial Review is an important part of our constitution. It gives the judiciary an upper stake in
interpreting the Constitution. Thus, the Judiciary can annul any order passed by the legislature or
the executive if the order is in conflict with the Constitution of the country. 

The Basic Structure Doctrine asserts the power of the parliament that it can amend up to a limit
which means some features of our constitution cannot be amended. In 1975, the then Prime
Minister of the country, Indira Gandhi violated the Doctrine with imposing emergency in the
country to prevent her prosecution by the 39th amendment. After that, a review judgement was
made by calling a bench of thirteen judges. This judgement struck down the 39th and 41st
amendment. 

The case of Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerela, is a landmark ruling where the judgement
ruled that the Constitution cannot be amended as far as it is affecting the basic structure of the
constitution. This judgement was in variance with the earlier judgement given in the Golaknath
case. This case concluded that the Parliament cannot amend the Fundamental rights of a citizen.
The court observed that the constitutional amendments are to be done keeping in mind the basic
structure of the constitution.

In Golaknath vs the State of Punjab, the judges held that the parliament cannot amend the
constitution so as the fundamental rights of the citizens are taken. This case is the best
elucidation of the rule of law which says that even the “makers of law are not above the law i.e.
there is a supremacy of law”.

In the case Marbury vs Madison, the court said that the Judicial review gives the courts the
power to look into the laws of local, state & national government & they can repeal them if the
court violates the guidelines mentioned under the constitution. This case was the first time when
judicial review was exercised in the United States. After the judgment of this case,

India adopted Judicial Review. Judgement of the case came in 1803 and the Supreme Court of
US held that it had the power to invalidate the legislation. 

In the case of Brij Bhushan v. State of Delhi, the Hon’ble court held that the Fundamental Right,
the “freedom of speech and expression” has been taken from the 1st Amendment Act of the USA
which is the freedom of speech or the press and in India the freedom of press is embodied in the
Article 19 of the Indian Constitution itself and hence, there is no requirement for a separate head
for the Freedom of Press in the Indian Constitution.

Irish Constitution

Part IV, Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP), the method of election of President,
candidature to Rajya Sabha and the mandate standards of state strategy have been adopted from
the constitution of Ireland. 

Canadian Constitution
An interesting point here is that the same British parliament which passed the Government of
India Act, 1935 also made the constitutional laws for Canada. So, borrowing laws from Canada
means taking the same laws from Britain. The provisions regarding the Federation, the
appointment of governors by the centre, advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article
143, necessary obligations under article 51-A and the residuary powers with the centre under
Article 248 have been sourced from Canada.
 Australian Constitution

Indian Constitution has not taken much from Australia but “freedom of trade and commerce”,
the Concurrent list and joint sitting of the two houses of Parliament has been sourced. The
provisions of freedom of trade and commerce are put down  in the Articles 301-307 of the Indian
Constitution. Other features like the flexibility of exchange and business inside the country and
between the states have also been borrowed. 

Weimar Constitution

It is the constitution of Germany and the suspension of fundamental rights during emergency has
been borrowed from Germany. 

Soviet Constitution

India has borrowed the principles like fundamental duties and the ideals of social, economic and
political justice found in preamble. It is known for its socialism and since India is a welfare state
it borrowed from Soviet constitution. 

French Constitution

The ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity which in preamble is taken from France. Apart from
these Republic characters from the Constitution, balance and brotherhood and beliefs of freedom is
also taken from the constitution of France. 
 Current Scenario of our constitution

The laws of our constitution have been amended over ninety times which is one of the most
amended constitutions in the world. Originally our constitution had 395 articles, 22 parts and 12
schedules. Our constitution is also one of the lengthiest constitutions in the world with 448
articles, 25 parts and 12 schedules. Some of the constitutional rights came only after the
constitutional amendments. One was the right to education which came with the 86th amendment
in 2002, inserted in Article 21-A. At the time of making the constitution the fundamental rights
included right to property. But with the 44th amendment right to property is no longer a
fundamental right.  
 Conclusion

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar called our Constitution a “bag of borrowing”. Now we can see why he
named it. Our constitution was inspired by several constitutions of the world. However, most of
the constitution is inspired from the Government of India Act, 1935. The impact from the world
constitutions has helped our constitution in obtaining important parts such as the fundamental
rights and duties, the judicial review, the ideas for preamble, the basic structure doctrine and so
on. It helped us obtain the rule of law which gave us no monarchy or fascism or subjection of
any single party. 

Our Constitution gives us equal protection of laws and equal treatment before the law. The
constitution separates and delegates the three branches of the government which are legislature,
executive and the judiciary. The rules of the constitution which has established a parliamentary
form of democracy has been associated with a better economy in India. It was a study of 2004 by
two economists Torsten Persson and Guido Tabellini. 
 Bibliography

 WWW.legalserviceindia.com
 Blogipleaders
 www.latestlaws.com
 J.N.Pandey Constitutional Law