ABSTRACT
Constituent laws are the laws that constitute or establish the legal framework of government of a State, or a component political unit within a State. They may be, and usually are, contained in a written constitution, or they may be contained in legislation or subsidiary legislation. They may be, and usually are, given special legal status, and can be changed or repealed only in a certain way, or they may have the status of ordinary legislation or subsidiary legislation, and be able to be changed and repealed just like ordinary legislation or subsidiary legislation. In those countries of the region of which Queen Elizabeth II is Head of State, that is, Cook Islands, Niue, Solomon Islands, Tokelau and Tuvalu, some of the constituent laws are provided by the principles of common law, and these can be amended or changed by the courts, and amended or abolished by written laws.
