2.2 Rigid and Flexible Constitution

Flexible: amendable by the ordinary legislative process — the same majority and procedure as any statute. The UK tradition: each Parliament sovereign; the constitution changes as easily as any law. Merits: adaptability, democratic responsiveness. Demerits: fundamentals exposed to transient majorities; instability where politics is volatile. Rigid: amendable only through a special, harder procedure — supermajorities, special bodies, referenda, ratification by units. Exemplars: USA (two-thirds of both houses plus three-quarters of the states — only 27 amendments in over two centuries); India (simple majority for listed matters, special majority for most, ratification by half the states for federal features); Nepal under Article 274: amendment bills on the Constitution's fundamentals are published for public perusal; ordinary amendments pass by two-thirds of the existing members of both houses; bills altering provincial boundaries or Schedule-6 provincial powers must first obtain the consent of the concerned provincial assembly (rejection by a majority of provincial assemblies kills the bill); and Article 274(1) places Nepal's self-rule, sovereignty, territorial integrity and popular sovereignty beyond amendment altogether. Merits of rigidity: stability and predictability; protection of minorities and federal bargains; deliberation forced upon constitutional change. Demerits: risk of obsolescence (the constitution ages while society moves — change then happens through interpretation or evasion); a cordon sanitaire against needed reform can itself provoke extra-constitutional change. Analytical point (this earns the extra…