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TheUn-codifableinanyConstitutionalOrder
17
Afertheaccountofthevariationsofthedemocraticpoliteia,Aristotle
presentsthevariationsoftheoligarchicpoliteia.OnewouldnowexpectAris-
totletoturntothenextpoliteia-eithertyrannyorthepoliteiacalledpoliteia
-buthedoesnot;rather,herepresentedboththeaccountofthevariationsof
democraticpoliteiasandthenoligarchicpoliteias(thelastclauseisnotclear).
Onlyaferthisrepresentationofthevariationsofdemocratic(whichslight-
lydińersfromtheearlieraccount)andoligarchicpoliteiasdoeshethengive
ablurredaccountofbotharistocracy(whichhesaidhehadalreadydiscussed)
andthepoliteiacalledpoliteia-whichunliketheaccountofthevarietiesof
democraticandoligarchicpoliteiasdoesnotońerclearcutvariationsforeach;
heseemstoalltooofenblurthembothwitheitheroligarchyordemocracy.
FromtheAncientGreeks,weturntotheRomans.linguisticallythereis
noexactterminlatinforthetermpoliteia-theclosestterminlatintoitis
respublica,thepublicthing.Butrespublica,translatedintoEnglishandlatin
languagesofEuropeasarepublic,cametomeanaparticularformofarule
ratherthanthesystemofpoliticalrule(Nederman,1991,Blythe,2015).Te
usageofunderstandingtheGreekconceptofpoliteiaasconstitutionemerged
withtheoriginalunderstandingofthetermofthewordasitemergedintothe
EnglishfromtheFrench.Teconstitutionofsomethingwasitscondition,its
stateorstatus.
TeEnglishunderstandingoftheconstitutioncamefromtryingtoun-
derstandtheconditionorstatusofthegivenbodypolitic-thecommonwealth
overwhichtheKinghaddominionandauthority.FromBractonon,theEng-
lishsawtheirconstitutionasthelawsandcustomsthatshapedwhattheKing’s
ruleoverEnglandconsistedof.Teoriginsofthissetoflawsandcustomsfol-
lowedfrompatternsofEnglishlawthatitskingsfromtheNormanConquest
imposedonEngland(fundamentallyunifyingEnglandinwaysmostother
kingdomsofEuropewerenot),re-establishedandreconfirmedintheReign
ofHenryII,constrainedbyMagnaCartaunderJohn,andredefinedbyJohn’s
son,HenryIIIasthefundamentallawthatshapestheEnglishConstitution.
TerestarerevisionsoflaworcustomssetbytheKing/QueenandParliament
(Carpenter,2015;Starkey,2015).
England’scolonialruleofNorthAmerica,andtherebellionfromEng-
land’smisruleoverthosecolonies,ledtothebirthofAmerica,whosegovern-
anceaspoliticalbodieshadpreviouslyalwaysbeenexercisedviacharter(ei-
thercorporateorpatrimonial(Pennsylvania,Maryland,andDelaware)under
