ABSTRACT
A national constitution is primarily a political document whose main function is to create a structure of government and a set of limitations on government to protect individual rights. From an economic viewpoint, the constitutional principles of government can be seen as a set of given goals or constraints. While the states have been unable or unwilling to tax themselves for all the local activities, the federal government has become a major source of finance. The separation of governmental powers into legislative, executive, and judicial, together with a set of checks and balances, has the political objective of preventing monopolization of the coercive power of the state. Some express constitutional limitations, such as those enforcing procedural protections for the accused in criminal cases, present only two-sided controversies between citizens and government. Substantive constitutional limitations may be invoked in controversies between private factions in which one special interest gets legislation enacted that is detrimental to other persons.
