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by dataflow 76 days ago
>> Is there a single human (or even computer program) that could even definitively list all the sentences in this "constitution"

> No, it's a living thing. Why is this your sticking point on the existence of a constitution or not?

Do you never write down or sign contracts? Are verbal promises adequate for you in all transactions?

If you don't see the value of laws being written down - especially the most important ones! - I can't really convince you of it here on HN.

But what I can tell is that most people who care about the legitimacy of government believe it is fundamental to fairness that there be a single source of truth that can tell them the laws under which they would be rewarded or punished, before those happen.
3 comments
howerj 76 days ago
I think you have diverged too much...well from reality, in order to try to prove a point. Do you think most people, or lawyers, or judges in the UK spend their time trying to enumerate all the laws of the land before they proceed in their court cases? Do you think that people think that the UK system of government is illegitimate? What point are you trying to make? Because it is not grounded in reality. You can debate the merits of a codified constitution versus an uncodified one, but the UK does have a constitution, the vast majority of which is codified into many documents. The following two links might help you:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncodified_constitution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_(political_norm)#Un...

Note the second one applies to the US - a country with a mostly but not completely codified constitution.

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AlecSchueler 73 days ago
> I think you have diverged too much...well from reality

> What point are you trying to make? Because it is not grounded in reality.

Your comment would have been much more valuable without these insults and I would have been much more likely to respond, to point you to where you seemed to be misunderstanding my point. But it seems you're not here for a discussion so let's leave it.

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exe34 76 days ago
> If you don't see the value of laws being written down

I don't think this is helping much in the US right now. The orangefuhrer has shown he is willing to ignore clauses that are inconvenient.

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dataflow 76 days ago
Nobody claimed it's helping or hurting. The debate is over what constitutes a constitution, whether good or bad. There have been great governments without a constitution and terrible governments with one. "You don't have a constitution" does not mean "your government sucks", but it seems somehow people take it as such.
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exe34 76 days ago
> If you don't see the value of laws being written down - especially the most important ones! - I can't really convince you of it here on HN.

It's a shame you can't really explain it. It's ineffable, isn't it.

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IAmBroom 76 days ago
"I like scrambled eggs."

"I do too, but the way Trump is behaving, pretty soon it will be illegal to ..."

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exe34 76 days ago
Pretty soon you won't be able to afford eggs.
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AlecSchueler 76 days ago
> Do you never write down or sign contracts? Are verbal promises adequate for you in all transactions?

I generally deal with written contracts but verbal contracts are recognised as having equal legal validity. I'm not sure how that's relevant.

> If you don't see the value of laws being written down - especially the most important ones! - I can't really convince you of it here on HN.

Where have I made a value judgement either way? I'm only pointing out that the constitution needn't be explicitly codified in order to exist.

> But what I can tell is that most people ...

[citation needed]

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