E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Constitution.
The fundamental laws of a state. It may be either despotic, aristocratic, democratic, or mixed.
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To give a nation a constitution is to give it fixed laws even to the limitation of the sovereign’s rights, so that the people are not under the arbitrary caprice of a ruler, but under a known code of laws. A despotism or autocracy is solely under the unrestricted will of the despot or autocrat.
