Point Constitution (documentary sense) Constitutional law What it is The single supreme written instrument — Nepal 2015: Preamble, 35 Parts, 300+ Articles, 9 Schedules The entire law governing public power — from all sources Content Only what the text carries Text + statutes + secondary legislation + judicial decisions + conventions + custom + scholarly authority Relationship The primary source — the core The field — the constitution is the largest stone in it Non-justiciable parts Contains some (directive principles — Article 55: no question may be raised in any court) Includes non-legal rules (conventions) beside enforceable law Change Only by Article 274 amendment Grows daily — by statute, rule and decision — without formal amendment One-line version: the Constitution is the document; constitutional law is the living discipline — the document plus everything lawfully built upon, around and despite it. Dicey's formula is the shortest route: constitutional law = constitutional law strictly so called + conventions.
Exam Focus Long questions: "Define constitutional law and explain its nature and scope." / "Discuss the sources of constitutional law with Nepali illustrations." / "Distinguish the constitution from ordinary law with reference to constituent power and constitutional supremacy." / "'Constitutional law is both narrower and wider than the constitutional document.' Explain." / "Distinguish constitution from constitutional law."
Short questions: the three senses of "constitution"; Aristotle/Wheare/Friedrich definitions; Dicey's law-vs-convention split; presumption of constitutionality; ultra vires delegated legislation; books of authority as persuasive source; convention vs. custom. Trick areas: (i) the syllabus's first head is definition of constitutional law — begin from public power, not from the document; (ii) Article 1 (supremacy) and Article 133 (enforcement) are the two anchors — never cite them for each other's job; (iii) a convention is breached with political consequence only — the court will not enforce it (unless a text has absorbed it, as Article 66(2) did); (iv) statutes are a source of constitutional law, not a rival to it; (v) the unamendable core under Article 274(1) is tiny (sovereignty/self-rule/territorial integrity/popular sovereignty) — do not inflate it into a full "basic structure" catalogue (that debate belongs to Unit 16).