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Constitutional Conventions

The unwritten rules that fill the gaps in constitutional texts — how conventions develop, why they are followed, and what happens when they break down.

The Unwritten Rules

Every constitutional system — even those with detailed written constitutions — relies on unwritten rules called conventions. A convention is a practice followed by political actors because it is considered politically obligatory, even though it is not legally enforceable. Courts cannot enforce conventions, but violating them carries political consequences — loss of legitimacy, public outrage, or constitutional crisis.

The UK's constitution is the most convention-dependent. The requirement that the Prime Minister must command a majority in the House of Commons, the convention that the monarch acts on ministerial advice, and the Salisbury Convention (that the Lords will not reject manifesto commitments) are all unwritten rules. But even the US relies on conventions: until Franklin Roosevelt, no president served more than two terms, following Washington's precedent. When FDR broke the convention by winning four terms, the convention was replaced by a formal amendment (the 22nd).