Importance of Written Constitutions

Except Britain, Israel and New Zealand, all other countries of the world has constitutions documented in writing. So, a question may arise 'Do written constitution have any value?' the straightforward answer to the question is 'yes'. Written constitutions are significant in that sense they provide some indication of what actually happens in practice.

A Constitutional actor may look to the Constitution to see what is required of them in any given situation. However, regardless of the length and complexity of a Constitution, it is near impossible that a Written Constitution will contain all the answers to all the questions. Where a written constitution is silent on a particular matter, Customs, conventions etc can fill up the hole. Although written Constitutions are of value, there may be a wide discrepancy between what it says ought to happen and what actually happens in practice.