The International Constitution Center (ICC) is a prospective private, non-profit, non-partisan education center and museum with a mission to increase worldwide understanding of the function of a written constitution and to foster scholarship of and collaboration in the development and updating of constitutions.
The number of countries with a formal written constitution continues to grow and new ones emerge with greater frequency. Each country and their political leadership seeks guidance in all areas of constitutional formation and management. A new “international approach” is called for, and a center of excellence is needed.
The mission of the International Constitution Center (ICC) is fulfilled by two (2) divisions each working in tandem; the "Museum Area" which serves the public by a modest yet growing schedule of permanent and travelling exhibitions, and the "Education Center" which primarily serves the scholars and practitioners of constitutional design, development and modification.
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these principles are written down into a single document or set of legal documents, those documents may be said to embody a written constitution; if they are encompassed in a single comprehensive document, it is said to embody a codified constitution. The Constitution of the United Kingdom is a notable example of an uncodified constitution; it is instead written in numerous fundamental acts of a legislature, court cases, and treaties.
Constitutions concern different levels of organizations, from sovereign countries to companies and unincorporated associations. A treaty that establishes an international organization is also its constitution, in that it would define how that organization is constituted. Within states, a constitution defines the principles upon which the state is based, the procedure in which laws are made and by whom. Some constitutions, especially codified constitutions, also act as limiters of state power, by establishing lines which a state's rulers cannot cross, such as fundamental rights. Changes to constitutions frequently require consensus or supermajority.
The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any country in the world, with 146,385 words[5] in its English-language version,[6] while the Constitution of Monaco is the shortest written constitution with 3,814 words. The Constitution of San Marino might be the world's oldest active written constitution, since some of its core documents have been in operation since 1600, while the Constitution of the United States is the oldest active codified constitution. The historical life expectancy of a constitution since 1789 is approximately 19 years.
Woodrow Wilson, American President 1856-1924