Module 3: The Constitution

Question 1

The procedure which details the requirements of constitutional change.

Answer 1

Amendment formula

Question 2

An August 1992 agreement in principle on what changes needed to be made to the Constitution; rejected in a countrywide referendum.

Answer 2

Meech Lake Accord

Question 3

A body of laws that are brought together in a single body to provide a relatively complete set of rules in one or more fields of law.

Answer 3

Code

Question 4

Are entitlements or duties owed to certain groups by the state, such as language protection or exclusive land use by Indigenous Peoples.

Answer 4

Collective rights

Question 5

The precise form of customary law that developed in twelfth-century Britain as a body of established rules based on the principle of stare decisis.

Answer 5

Common law

Question 6

A body of fundamental rules, written and unwritten, under which governments operate. Practically, it details the authority of the state and the basis by which that authority claims legitimacy. It details the division of authority within the branches of government and the levels of the state. It also details the rights of the citizens vis-à-vis the state.

Answer 6

Constitution

Question 7

The body of fundamental rules that influence the making of other laws.

Answer 7

Constitutional law

Question 8

A custom or practice that, while not necessarily a legal necessity, is nevertheless based on accepted reasons and practices

Answer 8

Conventions

Question 9

Results from the evolution of norms and customs, which affect the way individuals and groups are expected to act toward one another.

Answer 9

Customary law

Question 10

A political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority and instead, derives the right to rule directly from the will of God.

Answer 10

Divine right

Question 11

A basic premise of British parliamentary democracy. In Canada, it means that, subject to the Constitution, all 11 legislatures have the authority, in theory, to repeal or modify any principle set out in common law.

Answer 11

Doctrine of parliamentary supremacy

Question 12

The legal requirement that the state must respect all legal rights that are owed to a person.

Answer 12

Due process

Question 13

The embodying of provisions in a constitution so they are protected and can be changed only by a formal amendment procedure.

Answer 13

Entrenched

Question 14

The claims of every citizen, for example the right to life and liberty.

Answer 14

Individual rights

Question 15

The superior court of the United Kingdom, which until 1949, when the Supreme Court of Canada was established, was the court of final appeal in Canada.

Answer 15

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC)

Question 16

Law created by legislative bodies to supplement customary or common law. Or in other words, when common law is insufficient or has become out-dated, it can be amended by statute law, also known as legislative law.

Answer 16

Legislative law

Question 17

an April 1987 agreement, made between the federal Progressive Conservative government and the 10 provinces, for a constitutional amendment.

Answer 17

Meech Lake Accord

Question 18

A political system based upon the undivided sovereignty or rule of a single person. The term applies to states in which supreme authority is vested in the monarch, an individual ruler who functions as the head of state and who achieves his or her position through heredity.

Answer 18

Monarchy

Question 19

A clause in the Constitution that allows Parliament or a provincial legislature to override most Charter provisions by a simple declaration to that effect when passing legislation.

Answer 19

Notwithstanding clause

Question 20

Legal entitlements owed to individuals or groups as duties by others, or by the government.

Answer 20

Rights

Question 21

A guarantee that the state’s actions will be governed by law, with fairness and without malice. No individual should be above the law and no one ought to be exempt from it.

Answer 21

Rule of law

Question 22

The principle of following precedents set down in earlier court cases, a principle that also binds lower courts to follow decisions of higher-level courts.

Answer 22

Stare decisis

Question 23

A legislative act that is beyond a legislature’s jurisdiction on the basis of Canada’s federal division of powers.

Answer 23

Ultra vires

Question 24

A collection of customs, conventions, or statutes of governance that are not written down in one comprehensive document.

Answer 24

Unwritten constitution

Question 25

The fundamental state law set down in one or more documents.

Answer 25

Written constitution