- foundational document defining the structure of a state, the rights of its members, and the limits of power
- encodes the social contract into enforceable rules
- historical milestones: Magna Carta (1215), US Constitution (1787), French Declaration of Rights (1789)
- core components
- separation of powers: legislative, executive, judicial
- bill of rights: enumerated protections for individuals
- amendment process: controlled mutability
- digital constitutions: DAO governance frameworks, on-chain parameter sets, upgrade mechanisms
- cyber protocol rules function as a constitutional layer for the knowledge graph: immutable consensus rules, mutable governance parameters
- a constitution is only as strong as the consensus enforcing it
- see also sovereignty, democracy, human rights, common law, civil law