Constitution of India
Supreme law of India (1950-present)
The Constitution of India is the supreme legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of citizens.
It espouses constitutional supremacy (not parliamentary supremacy found in the United Kingdom, since it was created by a constituent assembly rather than Parliament) and was adopted with a declaration in its preamble. The Indian Constitution does not contain a provision to limit the powers of the parliament to amend the constitution. However, the Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala held that there were certain features of the Constitution so integral to its functioning and existence that they could never be cut out of the constitution (known as the 'Basic Structure' Doctrine).
The Government of India Act 1935, mainly drafted by Samuel Hoare, provided the basis for the constitution of India. The Constituent Assembly of India adopted the constitution on 26 November 1949 and became effective on 26 January 1950. It became the country's fundamental governing document, and the Dominion of India became the Republic of India. To ensure constitutional autochthony, its framers repealed prior acts of the British parliament, in Article 395.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Constitution of India” is supreme law of India (1950-present). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Constitution, India and Supreme, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “supreme law of India (1950-present)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q477108. VIAF identifies the subject as 185117630. The Library of Congress control number is n85014503. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1935, 1949 and 1950.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
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Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Constitution of India”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Constitution of India primary sources, Constitution of India archive and Constitution research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Constitution of India” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.