constitution

A constitution is a set of rules which describes the key institutions of government —particularly the composition of the legislature and the executive —and specifies the procedures which government institutions must follow if their actions are to be authoritative.  A constitution can be thought of as a higher law because it limits what governments can do.

Constitutional documents vary in what they contain and how much detail they provide about the day-to-day operation of government.  British derived constitutional documents typically say little about the institutions of executive government, especially the role of the premier , ministers , the cabinet and the relationship between these institutions and parliament .

Many of the constitutional rules establishing the government of the Province of British Columbia can be found in the Constitution Act (British Columbia) .