Before we can begin to understand the meaning and the implications that the British Constitution has upon the daily life of every citizen in Britain including our Sovereign, our Prime Minister, our Judges, our Church leaders, humble labourers and pensioners we require a definition. A definition that is understood and certain needs to be set down in a tablet of stone that is resistant to decay and alteration through the ages and free from political interference.

Constitution defined in the Oxford English Dictionary

We shall begin with our own Oxford English Dictionary and look for the word constitution where we find “A decree, ordnance, law or regulation” and “The system or body of fundamental principles according to which a nation, state or body politic is constituted and governed” and “The way in which anything is made up”. In the same Dictionary we can find an example cited of Thomas Carlyle’s writings (1864) “By the English Constitution we understand a few great traditional principles of government, any fundamental breach of which would involve either tyranny or anarchy”(1864). Here is a link between the word “constitution” with a small “c” to something much more specific and significant. Indeed it is the very principle at the heart of our search. Carlyle identifies- “Constitution” with a capital “C”- the English Constitution.