Unwritten Constitutional Principles Like Democracy Is Part Of Constitution; But Cannot Be Used As Bases For Invalidating Legislation: Canada Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Canada observed that 'unwritten constitutional principles' like democracy, though part of Constitution, cannot be used as bases for invalidating legislation.The court was considering a challenge against a law viz. The Supreme Court of Canada observed that 'unwritten constitutional principles' like democracy, though part of Constitution, cannot be used as bases for invalidating legislation. The majority judgment authored by the Chief Justice Wagner and Justice Brown, referred to its earlier rulings and observed that unwritten principles like democracy are part of the Constitution, in the sense that they form part of the context and backdrop to the Constitution's written terms "The democratic principle is relevant as a guide to the interpretation of the constitutional text. It gave two reasons to conclude thus: Such attempts trespass into legislative authority to amend the Constitution, thereby raising fundamental concerns about the legitimacy of judicial review and distorting the separation of powers unwritten constitutional principles are "highly abstract" -the nebulous nature of the unwritten principles makes them susceptible to be interpreted so as to "render many of our written constitutional rights redundant and, in doing so, undermine the delimitation of those rights chosen by our constitutional framers.