A fundamental law is either a written ( codified ) or unwritten ( uncodified ) organic structure of cardinal rules or established case in points harmonizing to which a province is acknowledged to be governed. Generally. a fundamental law is merely written after a major event. In the instance of America their fundamental law was written in 1787. after the American Revolutionary War came to a stopping point.

There are a figure of issues with America’s fundamental law which make it. arguably. unfit for the twenty-first century. The most evident issue with the fundamental law is the overall ambiguity that it’s based upon. Take for illustration the 8th amendment which forbids the federal authorities from enforcing cruel or unusual penalties on American citizens. However. what’s classed as a cruel or unusual penalty? Many have argued that capital penalty can be seen as a barbarous penalty. which has led to some provinces. such as Illinois. get rid ofing the decease punishment wholly. Though. despite 18 provinces get rid ofing the decease punishment so far. there has been no move to amend the fundamental law to include the decease punishment as an illustration of ‘cruel punishment’ .

Another illustration of an equivocal amendment is the first amendment which protects the right to liberate address every bit good as freedom of faith. However. how far this amendment applies has been questioned on legion occasions. For illustration. Texas passed a jurisprudence which prevented flag profanation ( combustion of the American flag ) . nevertheless the Supreme Court overturned the Texas jurisprudence due to it go againsting citizen’s first amendment right as flag profanation is seen as an look of belief. which the first amendment protects. This has led to legion calls for flag profanation being outlawed via a constitutional amendment. nevertheless merely like the eight amendment this would be improbably difficult to accomplish. This is strictly due to how hard it is to amend the American fundamental law.

The American constitution’s amendment procedure is long and hard. which is chiefly due to it necessitating a supermajority. A supermajority is where 2/3rds of both houses of Congress have to hold to the amendment put frontward. Even if either house falls short by one ballot. the amendment is dropped. This procedure was made to be difficult deliberately by the Establishing Fathers. This was because they believed that the fundamental law shouldn’t be invariably altering. and so they created the demand for a supermajority to halt the federal authorities from doing roseola. in the minute. determinations which they could turn to repent subsequently on. However. it is this founding belief that has made the fundamental law. arguably. indefensible for the twenty-first century. which can be contributed to Congress’ explosive growing over the last 200 old ages. For illustration. in 1789 there were merely 65 Representatives in the House of Representatives. which grew to 435 by 1963 and plateaued due to the House of Representatives being capped in 1911. This is an addition of 370 over a period of 174 old ages ( intending that there were two new Representatives every twelvemonth ) . This continually increased the sum of people who had to work in unison to go through constitutional amendments. and as evidenced by the 1911 Act which capped the size of the House of Representatives. America grew far more than the Establishing Fathers had originally intended.

The fundamental law can besides be seen as unfit for the twenty-first century due to an of all time increasing political gait. every bit good as quickly altering fortunes which have led to really different results when compared to the British political system. This can chiefly be seen with gun control which is protected in America by the 2nd amendment ( “Right to bear arms” ) despite the sum of shots which have occurred in recent times. An illustration of this would be the Sandy Hook shot. which occurred on December 14th 2012 at an simple school in Connecticut. This caused countrywide indignation which in bend caused support for disarming groups to increase. However. after several months the support fell off and no constitutional amendments were put through. despite pledges and runs from Barrack Obama and Joe Biden.

Now. when compared to England. there was a shooting fling in a Dunblane Primary School in 1996. Following national indignation. much alike that caused by Sandy Hook. guns were criminalised by an Act of Parliament. which was significantly easier to make as the UK does non hold a written fundamental law. instead an unwritten one which is drawn from several beginnings.

However. despite the mistakes with the American fundamental law. it must be fit for intent if it still exists. This is because if it wasn’t tantrum for intent. and didn’t work at all. it would hold been scraped by one of the American disposals after its construct. This is chiefly aided by the statement that the constitution’s ambiguity is what allows it to accommodate to altering fortunes every bit good as its ability to alter without formal reappraisal. What is meant by this is the fact that the Supreme Court can continue or revoke earlier determinations made in relation to the fundamental law. significance that if the correct determinations were repealed the fundamental law could be drastically changed.